Pokémon: The First Movie is a 1998 Japanese animated fantasy adventure film directed by Kunihiko Yuyama. It is the first in the Pokémon anime film series. The film was first released in Japan on July 18, 1998, to positive reviews, with praise directed at the film's emotional impact and exploration of ethical topics such as cloning, genetic modification, and existentialism.
The English-language adaptation was released in North America and other countries on November 10, 1999, by Warner Bros. Pictures. This version was received far less positively than the original Japanese release, with much criticism pointed at the inclusion of an anti-violence message contradictory to the series' overall concept. Further, retrospective criticism of the dub has been targeted against the removal of most of the ethical topics from the original Japanese version, such as part of Mewtwo's origin story. Despite mixed reviews, it was a box office success worldwide, topping the box office charts in its opening weekend and eventually grossing over at the worldwide box office. It also sold 10million home video units in the United States, including 4.2million VHS sales that earned in 2000.
On July 8, 1999, an aired on Japanese television. In addition to an added prologue, the release included new animation and CGI graphics. The film primarily consists of two segments: The Uncut Story of Mewtwo's Origin, the ten-minute prologue added to the extended version; and Mewtwo Strikes Back, the main 75-minute film feature. Overseas, the prologue can only be seen as a bonus short in DVD versions of Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns. Several versions of the film, such as the theatrical release, also include Pikachu's Summer Vacation, a bonus side story featuring Pikachu as the protagonist.
A full CGI remake of the movie, titled Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution, was released in 2019.
Plot
Giovanni, leader of Team Rocket, recruits scientist Dr. Fuji to create a cloned supersoldier from an eyelash of the Mythical Pokémon Mew, with Fuji intending to use the research to clone his deceased daughter, Amber. In a laboratory, the weapon eventually gains sentience and is named Mewtwo. Mewtwo befriends the salvaged consciousness of Amber, named Ambertwo, as well as the clones of other Pokémon in the laboratory. However, Mewtwo becomes traumatized after Ambertwo and the rest of the clones decompose and die. To stabilize him, Fuji tranquilizes Mewtwo, causing him to fall into suspended animation.
After Mewtwo fully matures and awakens from his long slumber in the laboratory on New Island, he learns of his origins. Infuriated that Fuji and his colleagues see him as a mere experiment, he uses his psychic abilities to telekinetically destroy the laboratory and kill Fuji and the scientists. Giovanni, witnessing the carnage from afar, offers Mewtwo his help to develop and perfect his mental abilities. However, after Mewtwo realizes his purpose as a weapon for Giovanni's benefit, he destroys Team Rocket's headquarters and returns to New Island, plotting to exact revenge against humanity and Pokémon alike.
After rebuilding the laboratory and establishing a base there, Mewtwo sends invites to several trainers through hologram messages to battle the greatest Pokémon Master in the world on New Island. Ash Ketchum, Misty, and Brock receive a message and accept the invitation, but by the time they arrive at the port city, Old Shore Wharf, Mewtwo has created a storm, causing the boats to be closed off for safety. To make it over there, Ash's group is picked up by Team Rocket, disguised as Vikings, on a boat. After the storm sinks their vessel in the middle of the ocean, Ash and his friends use their Pokémon to reach New Island.
Escorted into the island's palace by the woman who appeared on the hologram, Ash and the other trainers who reached the island encounter Mewtwo. The woman is revealed to be a brainwashed Nurse Joy after she is released from Mewtwo's mind control. Mewtwo challenges the trainers using cloned Pokémon. Team Rocket, having also reached New Island, explore its inner sanctum, with Mew innocuously following them. After Mewtwo's clones effortlessly defeat the challengers' Pokémon, he confiscates them and expands his clone army. Ash chases after his captured Pikachu to the cloning lab, where Team Rocket's Meowth is also cloned. Ash destroys the cloning machine, frees the captured Pokémon, and leads them to confront Mewtwo and his clones. Mew then reveals itself, and Mewtwo challenges it to prove his superiority.
All the Pokémon originals battle their clones, save for a defiant Pikachu and Meowth, the latter reconciling with his clone after realizing the senselessness of their fighting. Ash, horrified at the pain and anguish felt on both sides of the battle, puts himself in between a psychic blast caused by Mewtwo and Mew's fighting, which petrifies him. Pikachu tries reviving Ash with his electricity but fails, and he and the other Pokémon, original and clone alike, are reduced to tears. However, Ash is revived by these tears, and Mewtwo is moved by the boy's sacrifice, realizing that he and others should not have to be judged by their origins, but rather by their choices in life. Departing with Mew and the clones, Mewtwo turns back time to just before the trainers leave Old Shore Wharf and erases everyone's memories of the events.
Back in Old Shore Wharf, the now-restored Nurse Joy reopens the Pokémon Center to shelter the trainers. As the storm outside clears up, Ash spots Mew flying through the clouds and tells his friends how he saw another legendary Pokémon the day he left Pallet Town for his journey. Meanwhile, Team Rocket find themselves stranded on a revitalized New Island, unable to remember how they got there, but enjoy their time nonetheless.
Cast
+ Main cast Character Japanese voice actor English voice actor English name Japanese name Ash Ketchum Satoshi Rica Matsumoto Veronica Taylor Pikachu Ikue Ōtani Misty Kasumi Mayumi Iizuka Rachael Lillis Brock Takeshi Yūji Ueda Eric Stuart Togepi Satomi KōrogiJessieMusashi Megumi Hayashibara Rachael Lillis James Kojirō Shin'ichirō Miki Eric Stuart Meowth Nyarth Inuko Inuyama Maddie Blaustein Fergus Wataru Takagi Jimmy Zoppi Corey Tōru Furuya Ed Paul Neesha Aiko Satō Amy Birnbaum Miranda Sachiko Kobayashi Lisa Ortiz Pirate Raymond Johnson Maddie Blaustein Mewtwo Masachika IchimuraFujiko Takimoto Showtaro Morikubo Jay Goede Mew Koichi Yamadera Giovanni Sakaki Hirotaka Suzuoki Ed Paul Officer Jenny Junsar Chinami Nishimura Lee Quick Nurse Joy Joy Ayako Shiraishi Megan Hollingshead Yōsuke Akimoto Philip Bartlett Narrator Unshō Ishizuka Ken Gates
+ Characters exclusive to Pikachu's Vacation Character Japanese voice actor English voice actor English name Japanese name Raichu Urara Takano Snubbull Buru Naoki Tatsuta Jimmy Zoppi Marill Mika Kanai Kayzie RogersCuboneKarakara Chiyako Shibahara Michael J. HaigneyCommentary Aiko Satō Pokédex ("Dexter")Pokémon Encyclopedia Eric Stuart
+ Characters that appear in the radio drama and The Uncut Story of Mewtwo's Origin Character Japanese voice actor English voice actor English name Japanese nameAmbertwo Kyōko Hikami BulbasaurtwoEtsuko Kozakura Tara JayneCharmandertwo Yūji Ueda Michael J. HaigneySquirtletwo Satomi Kōrogi Eric StuartDoctor Fuji's wife Shinobu Adachi Hiromi Tsuru rowspan="6" Yumi TōmaAnnouncers Kentarō ItōKatsuyuki KonishiSaori HigashiInvestigator Shinpachi TsujiResearchers Katsuyuki KonishiTakuma SuzukiTrainer Saori Higashi
Production Kunihiko Yuyama directed the original Japanese version of the film, while Choji Yoshikawa and Takeshi Shudo served as producer and scriptwriter, respectively. Unlike subsequent Pokémon films, this film was not produced by the Pikachu Project. According to Shudo, certain episodes in the anime were intended to tie-in with the movie prior to its release in Japan, and provide background information behind the events of the film. However, the controversy surrounding the "Dennō Senshi Porygon" episode on December 16, 1997, delayed the tie-in episodes, causing Shudo to expand the beginning and overall length of the film.
Themes Shudo explained in his blog that Mewtwo being torn over his life purpose reflects the film's theme of existentialism. In the Japanese script, for instance, the moment Mewtwo realizes he has a right to be in the world just as much as any other living creature represents the central message of accepting one's existence. Amber, who is named Ai (アイ) in the Japanese script, was named so to highlight the film's overall message of self-existence, with Ai being a homonym of the English word "I".
English-language adaptation Norman J. Grossfeld, former president of 4Kids Productions, served as the film's producer for the English-language North American version. Grossfeld, Michael Haigney, and John Touhey wrote the English adaptation, and Haigney served as the English version's voice director. The English script was heavily edited from the original Japanese one; along with various content edits, Mewtwo is portrayed more maliciously because Grossfeld felt American audiences needed to see a "clearly evil" villain rather than a morally ambiguous one. As such, the existential themes seen in the Japanese version were significantly toned-down. These changes were not well received by the original Japanese production crew, with executive producer Masakazu Kubo describing Warner Bros.' proposed changes "a hassle".
The English version editors translated various Japanese texts, including those on signs and buildings, into English. The Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions (formerly Shogakukan Productions) also altered various background from the original version of the film in order to enhance its presentation overseas. In the English dub, three Pokémon are referred to by the wrong name. Pidgeot is called "Pidgeotto", Scyther is called "Alakazam", and Sandslash is called "Sandshrew". 4Kids said that they decided to leave the latter two errors when they noticed it as something for the children watching to notice and because they felt it was plausible in context that Team Rocket could make a mistake.Pokémon: The First Movie DVD Audio Commentary
Grossfeld had new music re-recorded for the film's release, citing that it "would better reflect what American kids would respond to." John Loeffler of Rave Music produced the English-language music and co-composed the film score with Ralph Schuckett. Loeffler collaborated with John Lissauer and Manny Corallo to produce the English-language "Pikachu's Vacation" score. Grossfeld revealed that the English version of the film "combines the visual sense of the best Japanese animation with the musical sensibility of Western pop culture." Grossfeld revealed in a 2022 interview that while shopping the film around to distributors, one studio suggested having Leonardo DiCaprio dub over Ash's lines, a decision Grossfeld found "weird". Ultimately, he managed to work out a deal with Warner Bros.
Warner reportedly paid less than $10 million for the rights to the film in the U.S. and foreign territories outside of Asia.
Marketing Burger King promotion Burger King released a limited series of kids' meal toys to tie in with the film. Also promoted were six 23 karat gold Pokémon cards, each enclosed inside a large plastic Poké Ball. Every card is a 23 karat gold plated slab of metal inside a clear protective plastic case that came with a certificate of authenticity signed by Nintendo of America chairman Howard Lincoln. The first run of gold cards sent and released to Burger King locations were packaged in a limited blue box that sold out immediately. A large second print of gold cards was packaged in a red box until the film promotion ended.
Controversy