Preview M20: I Choose You!

[Cresselia92]

Eh, timeskips not always are synonymous with quality. Otherwise, "A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner!" would be the best Fairly Odd Parents movie to date.

And yet, it simply… failed. Really hard. The premise of seeing Timmy as an adult was nice, and it would have been interesting to see how he handled life as an adult and how he lost his wish-granting fairies. And yet, what we got was a weird movie about a Timmy with Peter Pan syndrome struggling with puberty, where the villain is another guy with evident childhood problems. Yeah… it was quite the mess.

Besides, I wouldn't judge a movie by a simple summary. Otherwise, we could get something like this about this movie:

"Follow Ash, a ten-years-old boy from Pallet Town who aims to become a Pokémon Trainer. After obtaining a disobedient Pikachu to start his journey, the boy goes through many ordeals to befriend the little creature, ending up having a fateful encounter with a mystical Pokémon with rainbow-colored wings, which left behind a special multicolored feather. After becoming friends with two Pokémon Trainers, the group decides to go search for the legendary Ho-Oh, while a mysterious creature made of shadows follows them for unknown reasons. Will they succeed in meeting the mystical phoenix?"

Now, doesn't that sound epic?

 

[KenzeyEevee]

Sorry it was just a suggestion. But if it true that Ash had grown up and have kids that would be very cool.

 

[Silktree]

Eh, timeskips not always are synonymous with quality. Otherwise, "A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner!" would be the best Fairly Odd Parents movie to date.

The point isn't the timeskip or the new protagonists, but rather the new tone of the franchise. It has never taken itself seriously before now.

Now, the Pokemon movies have always taken themselves seriously, but they've been following a rigid formula for quite some time. They're too heavy handed in how they rely on legendaries rather than a compelling plot, and this movie looks to be no different.

Now, doesn't that sound epic?

No, because Ash's ordeals are barely going to be seen beyond anything that involves Ho-Oh, and his two companions won't get much characterization in all likelihood because the focus is on Ash (how many movie-exclusive characters do you remember fondly?). The trailer makes these issues obvious, while the Yokai trailer doesn't look problematic to me in any shape or form.

 

[SinnohEevee]

I see no reason to get interested in M20's Ash the same way I am not interested in M16's Mewtwo.

 

[Silktree]

Yeah. The symbolism of Ash finally meeting Ho-Oh is completely lost once you realize that this is a different Ash. Either use the real version or a different protagonist inspired by Ash.

 

[Shadao]

Yeah. The symbolism of Ash finally meeting Ho-Oh is completely lost once you realize that this is a different Ash. Either use the real version or a different protagonist inspired by Ash.

It was always going to be a different Ash the moment the first trailer came out. And if the Ho-Oh story is ever going to get a resolution, might as well do it in a movie that has no restraint from the show.

This is not a Newtwo situation. That was a breaking of continuity. This at least admits it's a reboot.

I should also note that there is no central villain in this movie based on the trailer. At least not in the way that the previous movies has. Only Cross comes close and even then he's more of a rival than a villain.

 

[KenzeyEevee]

It was always going to be a different Ash the moment the first trailer came out. And if the Ho-Oh story is ever going to get a resolution, might as well do it in a movie that has no restraint from the show.

This is not a Newtwo situation. That was a breaking of continuity. This at least admits it's a reboot.

I should also note that there is no central villain in this movie based on the trailer. At least not in the way that the previous movies has. Only Cross comes close and even then he's more of a rival than a villain.

Strange there isnt a villain we dont know much about the movie seen in the trailers

 

[Mikuri]

The third Yokai Watch was a flop compared to the first two (the first exceeding any Pokemon movie, and the second exceeding any after the first two), and yet it pulled the same numbers as the Volcanion movie.

I'd like a source on that statement.

The first Yo-kai Watch movie, Yo-Kai Watch: The Secret is Created, Nyan!, made 65kk. The movie was released in 2014, back when Yo-kai Watch's popularity was at its peak. 2010's Zoroark: Master of Illusions, thirteen years into the Pokémon franchise, made 71kk.

The Pokémon movies don't need to bring back former main characters and appeal to older fans. The Pokémon movies don't need a "dark" plot nor a timeskip. What we really need is a good plot. The Diamond & Pearl movies were very successful, and they performed better at the box office than the Advanced Generation movies. Surprising no one, they also performed better than the movies of both the Best Wishes and the XY series. Why? Because DP movies were good.

We just need a good story. The DP movies did great without appealing to genwunners.

how many movie-exclusive characters do you remember fondly?

Tory from Destiny Deoxys, Manaphy from Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea (I cried when it said goodbye to May), and Grings Kodai from Zoroark: Master of Illusions. There's more, but I didn't feel like listing all of them.

 

[Silktree]

I'd like a source on that statement.

The first Yo-kai Watch movie, Yo-Kai Watch: The Secret is Created, Nyan!, made 65kk. The movie was released in 2014, back when Yo-kai Watch's popularity was at its peak. 2010's Zoroark: Master of Illusions, thirteen years into the Pokémon franchise, made 71kk.

Way to miss the fact that the Zoroark numbers include South Korea and Taiwan, where the Yokai Watch ones only include Japan. So you're actually comparing $47 million to $65 million, and even that is misleading because the yen-dollar conversation rate changed from 2010 to 2014.

The first Yokai Watch movie pulled 7.8 billion yen according to your own source, while the first Pokemon movie pulled 7.5 billion. The Zoroark number was just a little shy of 4 billion yen, while the Darkrai one was just a little shy of 4.8 billion yen. The other two DP movies were in between (around 4.7 and 4.4).

What we really need is a good plot. The Diamond & Pearl movies were very successful, and they performed better at the box office than the Advanced Generation movies. Surprising no one, they also performed better than the movies of both the Best Wishes and the XY series. Why? Because DP movies were good.

They weren't better than the Lucario movie, lol. Most fans would attest to that.

They did better because the DP games themselves were more successful than RS and BW, probably due to being the first games for the popular DS.

And of course a movie's quality is correlated with its success (although sometimes that correlation is elusive), but if you only have a single trailer to go by... How can you tell how good the movie is? How many people got excited about the April trailer?

Tory from Destiny Deoxys, Manaphy from Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea (I cried when it said goodbye to May), and Grings Kodai from Zoroark: Master of Illusions. There's more, but I didn't feel like listing all of them.

Okay.

It was always going to be a different Ash the moment the first trailer came out. And if the Ho-Oh story is ever going to get a resolution, might as well do it in a movie that has no restraint from the show.

That has nothing to do with my point that the symbolism is lost. They didn't have to set a Ho-Oh movie in the past, either. A flashback to the first episode would have sufficed.

Here's the thing: What is so special about the movie that it couldn't have been done for, say, the 5th or 10th anniversary when the regular Ash was still around? I've always thought of a Ho-Oh resolution as being the end of Ash's story, but this new Ash is hardly an experienced trainer. From the looks of it, he has yet to participate in a single league, and there's a distinct possibility that he is actually the past version of SM Ash. I don't see why kids would assume otherwise with how the movie is being marketed.

I should also note that there is no central villain in this movie based on the trailer. At least not in the way that the previous movies has. Only Cross comes close and even then he's more of a rival than a villain.

I'll give it that (although Cross is a bigger villain than anyone from Movie 8), but I don't see where the conflict in the movie is. What happens after Ash defeats Cross? Marshadow stomps over the legendary beasts to prove its courage? How is Ash meeting Ho-Oh actually going to be meaningful?

 

[ii kanji]

What we really need is a good plot. The Diamond & Pearl movies were very successful, and they performed better at the box office than the Advanced Generation movies. Surprising no one, they also performed better than the movies of both the Best Wishes and the XY series. Why? Because DP movies were good.

We just need a good story. The DP movies did great without appealing to genwunners.

Wo-oah! The DP movies had better stories than Jirachi and Lucario? Controversial!!

 

[Galactic_V]

I'm not following new movie's news. Are there any more trailers, maybe one that shows the new characters' speaking?
All I've seen (present on Pokemon's Japanese Youtube channel) only features Satoshi and the narrator talking. The companions have almost no screentime either...

Little weird the film's close to the premiere and we've got so few things.

 

[jonathan keller]

Little weird the film's close to the premiere and we've got so few things.

Exactly! It's almost like they don't care about the movie themselves.

To everyone saying "Give this movie a chance. It could be good" then why aren't they trying harder to market it? Why haven't we got another trailer? All the marketing i've seen is a poster, a random charmander and charizard stuffed toy, and a screenshot of a clip from the movie of makoto with her hair down.

That is LITERALLY all the marketing I saw. What role does marshadow play? Is there a villain in this movie? As silktree stated, what makes this movie so special that it couldn't be the 10 year anniversary's movie?

You can call us 'haters' or you can say that we're just going to bash everything they put out. But can YOU answer ALL these questions yourselves?

Until then, we'll continue to be skeptical.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

I'm sure nobody's said this but if there is a credits montage, they must AT LEAST show Ash in various other regions with the companions. It'll be so weird if it's just Ash.

 

[Galactic_V]

Exactly! It's almost like they don't care about the movie themselves.

To everyone saying "Give this movie a chance. It could be good" then why aren't they trying harder to market it? Why haven't we got another trailer? All the marketing i've seen is a poster, a random charmander and charizard stuffed toy, and a screenshot of a clip from the movie of makoto with her hair down.

That is LITERALLY all the marketing I saw. What role does marshadow play? Is there a villain in this movie? As silktree stated, what makes this movie so special that it couldn't be the 10 year anniversary's movie?

You can call us 'haters' or you can say that we're just going to bash everything they put out. But can YOU answer ALL these questions yourselves?

Until then, we'll continue to be skeptical.

Idk but for me a "hater" would be if we only rudely bashed the film entirely, I don't see a negative critic as "hating".

Also PokeAni's been a cash grab since its debut in 1998. With some exceptions, I consider the series average to low in terms of writing (DP and XY are out, of course). However since I grew up with Pokemon, discussed it a lot with my friends back in pre-school, pretended to be Satoshi while wearing his hat, and even having an entire party dedicated to the franchise (I have pictures of this xDDD) I can't say I'll ever stop liking it. The attachments are too big, I feel as I have a lifetime worth of the anime (more tham the games).

 

[Rath]

I'm sure nobody's said this but if there is a credits montage, they must AT LEAST show Ash in various other regions with the companions. It'll be so weird if it's just Ash.

Or since this franchise has been talking about alternate universes lately and this very movie is an AU, they could just make it so that Ash traveled alone in every region but Kanto, until joining his new friends at the Pokemon School in Alola.

If Misty and Brock aren't Ash's companions in this movie, then I don't see why the others would be any different.

 

[Shadao]

Exactly! It's almost like they don't care about the movie themselves.

To everyone saying "Give this movie a chance. It could be good" then why aren't they trying harder to market it? Why haven't we got another trailer? All the marketing i've seen is a poster, a random charmander and charizard stuffed toy, and a screenshot of a clip from the movie of makoto with her hair down.

That is LITERALLY all the marketing I saw. What role does marshadow play? Is there a villain in this movie? As silktree stated, what makes this movie so special that it couldn't be the 10 year anniversary's movie?

You can call us 'haters' or you can say that we're just going to bash everything they put out. But can YOU answer ALL these questions yourselves?

Until then, we'll continue to be skeptical.

I would say that this is standard marketing based on past movies since DP. Nothing really that different. From what I can tell, the whole plot revolves around Ash and friends looking for the Ho-Oh. No world crisis or anything like that. Just Ash finding the Ho-Oh, the legendary he saw on his first day of adventure.

Which rather refreshing considering that most Pokémon movies are about an evil villain or some world crisis that needs to be resolved (which is blatantly shown in the previews and ads). This is movie appears to be humble, personal, and down-to-earth. After all, what better way to showcase how a live-action movie could be done than those aspects?

Why couldn't this be the 10 year anniversary? I believe it's due to the fact that 10 years ago, Pokémon did not reach nostalgia phenomenon it became right now until HeartGold and SoulSilver. Most people during 2006 had outgrown Pokémon and the franchise was still going through the Gen III growing pains. It wasn't until 2010 that Pokémon became ripe for young adults to go back and reflect on their childhood youth, and it wasn't until 2013 (around XY and Origins) that Kanto nostalgia began settling into people's minds. Origins was really the beginning of remembering the past as a childhood thing (with the 20th anniversary and Pokémon Go solidifying it). The anime simply took advantage of this nostalgia trend with its own 20th anniversary.

 

[Silktree]

A personal and down-to-earth movie should heavily rely on its cast. If the marketing isn't there to show how those characters are interesting, and many people find them controversial for a 20th anniversary movie...

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

Considering how much focus Kanto and Hoenn pokemon get in the last year(s), it's refreshing to get more focus on Johto and Sinnoh pokemon.

 

[SammyW27]

Pre-screening on July 9:

テレビ東京・あにてれ　ポケットモンスター サン＆ムーン

 

[kantoskies]

So you know how the past few movies have had the soundtrack tracklist revealed a week or two(?) early and the track names are usually spoiler-ific? Has this movie had that yet/is it going to?