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If YOU Were Making a Live-Action Pokémon Movie (Series?)

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The most recent thread I could find on this subject is two months old, so I made a new one. I do realize that this topic has gotten very old, very fast, but if people would just enjoy the ride instead of taking it so seriously, it could be fun, ne?

On that note, please realize that this thread is for entertainment purposes only. Absolutely none of it is to be taken seriously. At all.

My question is: if you were at the helm of a live-action Pokémon movie or series of movies, how would you do it?

I would start with Generations I and III—the film would simply be titled Pokémon. I would try to follow the games as closely as possible, but it's pretty much a given that a few things would need to be changed. And here's how I'd do it:

  • Red and Leaf—presented as twin siblings in my interpretation—would speak throughout the film. The same would be true of May, presented here as the main protagonist of the Hoenn plot. Brendan would need very little tweaking.
  • I'd be aiming for a PG to PG-13 rating, so I'd probably boost the protagonists' ages from eleven to at least fourteen, to allow slightly more mature themes to sneak in. It'd probably be more about the trainers than the Pokémon.
  • Most of the gym battles, and probably the entirety of the Elite challenges, would be cut, allowing Teams Rocket, Magma and Aqua to take the spotlight.
  • The Ruby and Sapphire plates, the Soul Dew, and the Regi chambers—sans Regis—would be repurposed, all having something to do with Deoxys.
  • The climax would likely take place in the now-deserted Sevii Islands, featuring a gargantuan battle between Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza, as well as the (long-awaited?) big-screen clash between Mewtwo and Deoxys.
This film would star Robin Williams as Professor Oak, Christopher Judge as the voice of Mewtwo and Jason Isaacs as Giovanni. In addition, I would definitely try my best to get Junichi Masuda on board to compose the score.

Next, I'd adapt Pokémon Colosseum as a prequel, in the form of Pokémon Encrypted. I'd try my best to follow it to the letter, though undoubtedly certain things would need to be changed. In particular, I'd try to give Ho-Oh more focus in the plot, as well as giving Wes a few lines (though he'd still be very quiet most of the time).

This film would star Tom Felton as Wes, Bonnie Wright as Rui, Ray Park as Nascour and Stellan Skarsgård as Es Cade/Evice.

Perhaps concurrently with the prequel, I'd produce a sequel to the first film in the form of Pokémon Revisited, which would focus on Johto and Sinnoh. Again, several things would be changed—most of the gym battles and the entire Elite Four challenge would be omitted, allowing Teams Rocket and Galactic to get most of the story's focus.

Gold/Hibiki would serve as Johto's protagonist while Dawn would serve as Sinnoh's. Kris and Kotone would be fused into a single character, and her first appearance would be moved from New Bark Town to Goldenrod City. Silver would probably become an anti-hero from the start—though he'd still be a total jerk. :lol:

Once again, I'd be aiming for a PG to PG-13 rating, so the main protagonists' ages would, again, be boosted slightly. Particularly in the case of Dawn and Lucas, we might be looking at some major 'Shipping fuel.

This film would star Hayden Christensen as Lance, Amanda Tapping as Cynthia and James Franco as Cyrus, and featuring a cameo by Robin Williams as Professor Oak.

Time for the sequel to the prequel: Pokémon Decoded.

....although, seeing as I have no idea what XD: Gale of Darkness' storyline is at the moment, I can't say much on the subject. I guess we'll come back to it later.

Which brings us to the, again, concurrently produced Pokémon Forever (not to be confused with Pokémon 4Ever: Celebi, Voice of the Forest).

This movie would focus on the return to Kanto as seen in Generation II and HeartGold and SoulSilver. In this film, Kris/Kotone would swap out her old outfit (based on Kotone's outfit) for a new one (based on Kris's outfit). As it turns out, blue hair is very popular in Kanto. :XD:

Once again, there would be alterations. The main one being the fact that Dawn and Lucas would be going to Kanto as well. As for the rest....Arceus knows. But it would definitely focus on Red's mysterious disappearance and ultimate seclusion on Mt. Silver. Given the fact that we only have one region to work with this time, more gym battles could probably be squeezed in. Either way, Green's gym absolutely must appear.

There would be a possibility of Robin Williams and Jason Isaacs returning as Professor Oak and Giovanni, respectively. May, Brendan and Leaf would have cameos at the very least, though I would personally hope for them to have supporting roles.

Once again, none of this is to be taken seriously. It is purely for entertainment purposes and I hope you're all laughing at me instead of facepalming.

But anyway, that's how I'd do it. How would you do it?
 
Well for a movie, I have to think about how the pokemon are done.


See, all thoes "real" pokemon pictures you see online arent what I imagine a real pokemon to look like, (you know, the chipmunk with a skull to look like Cubone) theres a difference between animals and pokemon, even though goldeen is the goldfish pokemon, it still is not a goldfish. I for one would really like to see what a very detailed real looking (CGI definatly)Metagross would looks like...

oh wait, I already know... badass


You know what I mean though right?
 
I won't make a live-action Pokemon movie even if you pay me. It would ruin everything- you can't portray Pokemon the way we like them in live-action.

P.S. Okay, it depends on how much you pay actually but you get the main idea. :)
 
Since seeing Avatar, I have some hope that Pokemon could be portrayed in live-action in a way that doesn't look cheesy, but overall I still believe it is much better suited as animation.

I would love to see a new Pokemon series/anime/movie that isn't so little-kid-oriented. A more mature story line would certainly be awesome!
 
I would call it "Pocket Monsters".

I like the idea of somebody going "Star Trek" on the franchise sometime in the future. Maybe not doing the whole alternate universe thing, but a radical reimagining would be great. With a really, REALLY nice rendition of the theme over the end credits.

And, that's all I got.
 
Misty would be played by Scarlett Johansson in the future and Ash would be playing by Tom cruise in the future. I can't come up with the kid actors though.
 
I'd do all four generations! I'd cast all sorts of celebrities in it! I'd love to add hilarious OCs and give it an R rating for crude humor. And there would be an intermission in the form of a few funny commercials.

As for the Pokemon, I'd put in computer animation.

I'd make one rival be a girl and be played by Selena Gomez or Miley Cyrus to provide annoyance!
 
Yeah, but what about Ash, Misty, Brock, and Gary? No offense, I LOVE your ideas, but I didn't see them in there...
 
I don't know about the whole, live-action Pokémon movie idea, seeing as it would probably be made by a US company and the creators would have little overall say on what goes into the movie. Movies like this tend to miss out on all the little stuff, like in-side jokes, entire side-stories, etc.
 
Your ideas are decent, certainly one of the best ones I've heard, but I still can't fathom a "film". I see that you want to take out the gym leader and elite four quest and that the main conflict would engage the villainous teams, which is a good plot device for a single film, but the battling quest is what makes Pokemon what it is and it would certainly create a hole in the development of the characters and basic structure of their journey which is why condensing the story into a film probably won't work.

I think another mistake people make is trying to cast the characters so soon. Maybe it is good to have an idea of what their live-action counter parts look like, but there could be an actor out there perfect for the role of lets say, Cynthia, who isn't even in the spotlight yet all the while we fantasize about our favorite celebrities taking on the role instead. Unless you're ABSOLUTELY sure they suit the role then it's best not to bring it up because it's about the character and not the actors who play them. It's not bad to think about it but I would advise not to seem so sure.
 
You may take note of the fact that, in most cases, I didn't pick out anyone to play the main protagonists (the exceptions being Wes and Rui). This is mostly due to one simple fact: by the time these movies get made—if they ever get made—anyone I pick for the part now is going to end up being way too old.

Also, as a point of interest, I originally wanted Alan Rickman as Giovanni. However, according to Ryuutakesh!, Rickman would never play an obvious villain. Jason Isaacs, on the other hand....

As for the removal of the gym battles and the Elite challenge, I said most of it would be cut. There would be a few left intact, but only enough for some character development.

Just out of curiosity, Versityle, might I ask what sort of plot you would employ? I'll throw in a little extra flexibility: you can make it a TV series/miniseries, if you like.
 
Giovanni would steal every scene that he's in, as he'll be portrayed by Christopher Walken.

...and for some reason I can't shake the mental image of Tracey being portrayed by either Ryan Reynolds or Dane Cook. Is something wrong with me?
 
If it has a good plot, good characters, is based specifically on the games and IS NOT MADE BY UWE FUCKING BOLL, I know it will be a success.
 
Please note: The thread is from 8 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
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