To print this page, select "Print" from the File menu of your browser salon.com > Mothers Who Think Nov. 12, 1999 URL: http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/1999/11/12/pokemon "Pokémon: The First Movie" The latest kids' movie is taken on by the real critics -- five kids. - - - - - - - - - - - - By Lisa Moskowitz In the opening scenes of "Pokémon: The First Movie," an entire island goes up in smoke. Fires rage. Humans run for cover. Mewtwo, the most powerful Pokémon in the world, is having an identity crisis. Engineered from ancient Pokémon DNA, this rampaging catlike Pokenstein has no purpose beyond serving as a specimen for scientific study. That makes him really mad. After all, hostile Pokémon with malicious psychic powers have feelings, too. So Mewtwo decides to destroy all humans, enslave all Pokémon and take over the world. But our fearless heroes, Ash, Misty and Brock, and their loyal Pokémon -- Pikachu, Squirtle, Bulbasaur and others -- find a way to save the day. Seventy-six minutes, 151 fantastically mutated animal-like monsters and five expert points of view later, I'm still not sure I really get the whole Pokémon thing. But I'm an adult, so it doesn't really matter. Now my five experts, they matter -- and they had plenty to praise and dis about "Pokémon: The First Movie." Joey Talbot, 9, thought the movie was pretty cool, although the ending was too predictable. Nora Walsh-DeVries, also 9, called the film "hella tight," but would have liked to see more blood and guts. The special effects were a highlight for 9-year-old Logan Weir, while Walker, his twin brother, loved seeing the Pokémon fight each other. Refusing to kowtow to pop culture, Sydney Benfer, 10, thought the movie was only "OK" and that Pikachu -- a chortling, red-cheeked, yellow fuzz ball of a mouse -- was ugly. Blasphemy. "Pokémon: The First Movie" uses the ruse of good vs. evil to show that fighting is wrong and, as one character put it, "Real strength comes from the heart." Our five savvy critics spotted the cliché right away, and one announced he was ready for a little realism in kids' movies. Wake up, Hollywood: Kids don't fall for happy endings. There's plenty of violence in the movie, but it's the beat-'em-up kind rather than the blow-'em-up kind. Still, I felt a little squeamish when Pikachu was being slapped silly by his more powerful clone. I know Pokémon never die in battle -- they just faint until you revive them -- but I still felt bad for the little guy. The kids weren't bothered by the fighting at all. Nothing, they said, could be as gross as the chicken feet they had to dissect in class that day. Here's more from our five critics on "Pokémon: The First Movie": What did you hear about the movie before you went to see it? Sydney: That they gave out cards. Joey: I heard that they were selling cards, but I never believed it. I was like, Oh my God, no it's not true. Nora: We're going to take the cards to school ... Joey: ... and show off! What did you think of the movie? Walker: I think the ending was good, when all the Pokémon were fighting, and then when all the tears were coming in from a bird's-eye view and you see all these little specks of light going into Ash. But then after that, when the narrator was talking, at the very ending, I thought that part was kind of dumb. Sydney: I thought it was OK, better than I expected. Logan: It was on a good subject and it was good animation ... Nora: It was horrible animation! When they talk they don't move! Logan: Well, I like Japanese animation mostly. I think it's cool and I also liked the special effects, when all the tears were going into Ash and Mewtwo and Mew were bouncing off each other. Were you worried at the end when Ash [the hero] was turned to stone? Joey: Not really because usually all the kid movies always have a good ending and it's not really freaky. Logan: We knew he was coming back to life. Joey: 'Cause he's the main character. Logan: The main character never dies. I wish he'd really turned to stone because I don't really like the humans. I just like the Pokémon; they're the only cool ones. Nora: They [the humans] have nothing to do with Pokémon. They just stand there. They're not good trainers, they only fight Pokémon. Joey: I disagree. I think that the humans are very cool because without the humans, the Pokémon wouldn't be fighting because no one would have captured them. Nora: Then they [Pokémon] could just fight wildly; that would be cool. Walker: Yeah, that would be cool. What was your favorite part of the movie? Walker: I had two favorite parts. One, when [Mewtwo] was in the lab and he blows everything up, and the other is when all the Pokémon doubles are fighting the originals. I thought the special effects were really good, like when Mew and Mewtwo are in those balls and they're crashing into each other. Nora: When all the tears were going into Ash, it was really freaky. They were going into him from above. I thought that was a really interesting viewpoint. Logan: Yeah, it was. Walker: I think the lamest part was kind of the introduction and everything. When the narrator says, "This is a mystical tale" and "I do not know who I am. I was not meant to be here." [Walker mimics Vincent Price.] Logan: I thought it was sort of good, but not the best. I give it two stars because some of it was sort of dorky because the really weak Pokémon beat the real powerful Pokémon. But it's also really cool. My favorite part was when Mew and Mewtwo were fighting. But I don't like tragic parts, like "Oh boo hoo hoo hoo," when the Pokémon were crying. Why were Mewtwo's powerful Pokémon, the bad guys in the movie, also crying when Ash was turned to stone? Joey: They realize that fighting is wrong ... Walker: Fighting is bad. Joey: They see how the other Pokémon, how emotional they got and how hurt they were getting. Joey: And I think Pikachu was a really good influence for the other Pokémon because he wasn't fighting at all and the other Pokémon was slapping him in the face. Did you think it was kind of violent? Walker: Well, if Pokémon were real, it would be a violent movie, but ... Nora: Pokémon aren't real, so it's violent, but it's hella tight. Joey: I don't think Pokémon is violent because it's not one of the those shows like, Oh you're dead. Wow. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! I have a machine gun! It's not like their guts are exploding and blowing up and you're shooting back. It wasn't like you were dissecting chickens. What? Chickens? Nora: That's what we did today. We dissected chicken feet! Joey: Yeah, at school. Nora: It was tight because we were pulling the tendons. Walker: And when we pulled one tendon one of the toes moved, then the other and the other one moved. Joey: Actually it was pretty similar to Nora's foot. Nora: Actually, I think it was pretty similar to Joey's brain! OK, let's go back to the movie. If you could make another Pokémon movie, what would it be like? Nora: Mew and Mewtwo would fight and all of a sudden Mew would turn into this 85,000 pound, 44-feet tall [Pokémon], and all of a sudden he'd flick Mewtwo with his little fingers really lightly and Mewtwo would go flying like this [Nora makes a roaring sound, stumbles backward]. Then all the Pokémon would evolve from Mewtwo's blood and sweat and then ... Joey: She's a little more gory. Nora: ... everybody would die and the movie would end. Walker: She's mentally ill! Nora: Everybody would die! Logan: I would make it sort of like actiony, like there's some Pokémon fighting, and not all tragedy, but a little tiny ounce of tragedy. It would have a little tiny bit of everything. I would try to make it about the same thing that they made the Pokémon movie [about] because I thought that was a good subject. Sydney: I wouldn't make a Pokémon movie. Walker: My movie would be three hours long and what would happen is, it would be the same idea: Mewtwo and Mew are fighting and all 150 Pokémon are fighting each other and then the same thing would happen. Then all the Pokémon, even the bad ones, would go against Mewtwo and destroy him. Then he would come back to life and they would be friends, instead of that stupid ending with the crying and no one remembers what happened. Joey: I would make it a little different. I would make it have a little more tragedy because, you know, it's like Disney and all the little-kid companies always have a good ending, you know, the "Little Mermaid," la-la-la-la-la. So I would make it have a little more tragedy. Like, for instance, you may lose one of the carriers [at Pokémon's home or Pokéball], or something would happen to Pikachu. Because it's really boring 'cause you really know, oh and Ash is going to come back to life, yada, yada, yada. Mewtwo is going to be good and everything will work out. It's like always the same thing every movie. It, like, starts to get boring. I would make it that Mewtwo would turn good but maybe it should be a little more tragic, like Brock loses one of his Pokémon or a character dies. But that's the thing about Pokémon, they never die, right? Joey: Yeah, so that's why it should be different. They wouldn't expect it. They'd be like, oh, this is a good ending. What did you think the movie was trying to say? Did you learn something from it? Logan: I learned that fighting's bad. Nora: ...fighting's bad. Joey: ... that violence is wrong. Walker: ... that Mewtwo's the bomb. Sydney: Good always wins. In the end, the humans forget that they even met Mewtwo or went to New Island. What did you think of that ending? Nora: That was stupid. I mean now they're never going to remember about Mewtwo. Joey: I think they should remember it because, like, maybe they can tell it to their grandkids and have a big story around the fire. Logan: It would be a legend. Joey: Then they'd have proof of it from other people. Walker: And be popular. salon.com | Nov. 12, 1999