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Review M22: Mewtwo Strikes Back—Evolution

I think the real question is - how long before we get a fan mix of the new dub dialogue with the original movie footage?
 
Wow an actual competent dub from what I’ve watched so far. Turns out the dub is actually watchable when the background music isn’t garbage.

I felt dirty watching the Japanese version with Pokémon Theme playing but hey, it’s a start. The dub voices so far are pretty decent, though JCC still needs to retire!

The 3D animation is still weird and I’ll forever be sad they didn’t do an updated original series art style.
I'm both fascinated and disgusted by the thought of the dubbed TRio Boat Song. Any thoughts/warnings not to before I am inescapably drawn to watching it?

It actually wasn’t terrible! The original was way better but it was actually pretty decent. JCC did his normal James voice during the song then switched to some psuedo-Gary voice when he was in the sailor costume, which was weird.
 
I'm so glad the dub corrected mistakes made in M01

Pidgeot, not Pidgeotto

The 4Kids script was still there in spirit.
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I would like to compliment Ed on the Pokémon Theme (Mewtwo Mix). It sounds just enough like the Billy Crawford version from the original Mewtwo Strikes Back dub to hit the right nostalgia buttons while still being good in its own right. Well done.
 
Wow I'm legit impressed here. I was legit anticipating the worst from the dub, but instead this might just be their best dub yet (not counting outsourced dubs like Origins of course). So I do have a few minor things to mention.

-Using the dub theme for the English version is one thing, but using it in the Japanese versions was uncalled for. Did they do this when they premiered the Japanese version at that con last year?
-English CC but no subtitles of the Japanese version? I hope this is something they correct at some point.
-Giovanni's voice sounds a bit different, not quite as menacing as he normally is. Oh well
-Brock mentioning jelly donuts was cute but also stupid

I do however forgive them for these minor gripes since this dub keeps the rest of the music, and was able to go without making that stupid reference to the Minnesota vikings. If every future dub of Pokemon is handled this well, I'll be satisfied.
 
They basically butchered all of the most epic and emotional moments and gave us visuals that look only look better some of the time- so thanks for that.

At least we got to sea Seadra bouncing around on its tail- I’ve waited 20 years for that.
 
Now that I'vefinally seen it I will say that the animation is not nearly as awful as screenshots and trailer snippets made it seem, although there is still some uncanny valley going on with some of the humans in some shots, and Miranda's model really doesn't look good even in motion.

The dub was pretty good too and I enjoyed the improvements in dialogue and translation it made over the original. It's certainly nice to be able to see the story with a more accurate English dub. However the actual movie itself was a bit lacking compared to my memories of the original and seemed to drag in parts where the original did not. The lack of the Amber scenes was no less disappointing than it was when we first learned they weren't in it.

For these reasons I will probably return to the original next time I want to see Mewtwo strike back, however this film is far from the worst thing ever and there probably is a place for it to exist, if only to provide a source for a good dub of M01.
 
Listening to the dub, sounds like Corey, Fergus and Neesha are voiced by Ted Lewis, Carter Cathcart and Lisa Ortiz as in M01

If so, it was good to see them reprising their roles
Lisa voiced Neesha here, but she voiced the harbor master in the original, not Neesha. That was Amy Birnbaum.
 
That's so fucking gross.
Unfortunately Netflix doesn't seem to have much pride when it comes to presenting a show, they'll just do it as cheaply as possible, case in point when they sniped Takagi-san Season 2, preventing Funimation from simulcasting it like they had with Season 1, then Netflix had it dubbed long after it had finished airing in Japan without even attempting to get any of the Funimation cast from Season 1 back. Most of the new voices weren't especially bad in their own rights, but they were generally speaking not improvements on the Funi cast. TCPI will have handled the English dub of this movie, but I think it's highly likely that Netflix simply couldn't be arsed licensing the Japanese songs so they just stuck the dub songs in there.
 
The animation was really good, once you get used to it you can appreciate the attention that was put into the Pokémon's movements, making them more expressive. The humans were fine too, my only complaint would be that Ash looked too young at times.

The script being the same is disappointing, specially when there are many ways to improve the movie such as including the Ambertwo parts, adding more scenes of the Ash/Pikachu relationship, giving more personality to Corey and the others, etc. Also, I felt that while this version has sightly better pacing, the key moments were more impactful in the original except for the part when Ash turns to stone (which also needed an explanation, but Ikue Ohtani did a wonderful performance).

So yeah, I don't know what to think about the movie. But I loved the Latin American dub, as they kept many lines from the original intact (I said to myself "That sounded familiar" like 50 times) but without hurting the plot, and added a line from James where he said "We may not be vikings but we can still help you!".
 
So I hear TPCI clumsily added in other Pokémon cries on top of the scene where Pikachu's crying for Satoshi at the end?
 
Seeing casuals complain about things like
-4kids lines being removed (in actuality the lines are now actually translated)
- the "original" music being removed
- "Brother My Brother" is apparently actually liked

And this is how TPCi gets to do what they want with the dub. People who care about the JP version are a minority
 
It actually wasn’t terrible! The original was way better but it was actually pretty decent. JCC did his normal James voice during the song then switched to some psuedo-Gary voice when he was in the sailor costume, which was weird.
Thanks to everyone’s favourite pokefan Felipe I have heard the song without having to watch it and I must say, it was actually alright wasn’t it? Michele Knotz’ high pitched falsetto was the highlight obviously but even if JCC’s James remains unbearable, the man at least can hold a tune.
and added a line from James where he said "We may not be vikings but we can still help you!".
:ROFLMAO:

With that, the Latin American Spanish dub reclaims it’s title of most hilariously self aware international dub.
 
I finished watching the English version and am writing up the comparison now. This movie...it's a mixed bag, really.

Seeing casuals complain about things like
-4kids lines being removed (in actuality the lines are now actually translated)
- the "original" music being removed
- "Brother My Brother" is apparently actually liked

Context is important. If you (general "you," not you specifically) are someone who watched Pokémon The First Movie like a zillion times when you were 10 years old or whatever, and then watched the remake on Netflix once when you're in your thirties, then of course the latter is going to be the one that feels off, or weird, or awkward, or worse. It's so completely different from the version that's been imprinted in your brain since you were a little kid! Being a "casual fan" also has the added bonus of making you less likely to have ever come across the Japanese version, even by accident, because the powers that be refuse to include it in any of the discs sold at Wal-Mart.

Also, plenty of casuals complained about the 4Kids dub as well. Read any professional critic's review from 1999.

People who care about the JP version are a minority

Well yes, obviously. But - and I think I saw this in a movie once - originals and their clones are allowed to co-exist side-by-side.
 
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