Plot: Lawrence III is a Pokemon collector who plans to fulfill a prophecy by capturing the three legendary bird Pokemon Molters, Zapados and Articuno so that he can capture the "Beast of the Sea," Lugia. But by capturing the bird Pokemon one by one, the power the birds have over the world's climate begins to collapse, causing weather phenomenons across the world. Meanwhile, Ash and his companions Misty and Tracy get caught in a storm and are washed ashore to an island where a festival celebrating the legend of Lugia is about to begin and Ash is selected as the festival's chosen one by he festival maiden, Melody. Melody explains that as the chosen one, Ash has to venture the legendary birds' islands, retrieve the magical orbs representing each one and take them to Shamouti's shrine where Melody has to play the festival's song, which is the song of Lugia. But along the journey, they discover Lawrence III and his evil plan and realize that Ash must now complete his quest for the orbs in order to save the world.
My main thought about this movie - and I cannot believe I'm saying this, is that this film is actually better then the first one. Not to the extend that I personally like it better then the first movie (too many memories and all that), but when I got down to it, I realized that Pokemon 2000 - while not a great film, is the better flick.
What could possibly make this film better? Well...the story surprisingly enough. As I said in my previous review, the first movie had a flawed story with some elements not playing out particularly well. But I think because the premise is much more simple here - in that it's a hero going on a quest to find these artifacts to save the day as opposed to Ash trying to stop Mewtwo's elaborated plan for revenge against humanity, it was easier to follow and thus I was more likely to be invested in what was happening. It also did a better job at establishing how high the stakes were. The fate of the world is at stake in both films, but the first movie -while having a darker tone, condensed the events to mostly take place at Mewtwo's fortress and the destruction of the world was explained through dialogue more then it was shown. Here, we see all of these weather phenomenons affecting the whole world and we witness how the human characters are reacting to it and all of these Pokemon are coming together to witness the fight because they know the gravity of what is being transpired.
The main characters also get a lot more attention. While Ash and his friends did play a big part in the first movie, it was really Mewtwo's story at the end of the day. Now we have Ash, the character that the audience has been following throughout the entire show up to this point in time, be the center of attention as the hero. Even though I've grown out of the anime, there was a part of me that enjoyed Ash getting such a big role. With that said however (and I realize that this a childish nitpick, but I just can't help it), I called bull crap when Ash was unsure about being the chosen one. Sure there needs to be conflict and everything, but I can't help but think that I remember Ash as someone who takes the job to save the day without thinking. Granted, I do remember watching episodes where he doubted himself, but when it comes to something like the fate of the world, I always viewed him as someone who just goes off and recklessly tries to be the hero like he sort of did in the first movie. But, this is a nitpick that I just wanted to throw out there. The weakest of the characters however was Lawrence III. His gimmick was interesting, but the character himself was very two-dimensional. Mewtwo made a good antagonist because we saw why he developed his hate for humans and to a degree we cared about him. Lawrence III is just this greedy man determined to capture a specific Pokemon and that is it. I think he had something of a backstory that was to do with discovering this legendary Mew card, but it was all summed up in one sentence and that's all we get. No explanation as to what the card has to do with the prophecy connecting to Lugia or even why there are Pokemon cards in the anime. And just to throw it out there, I wanted to see a little more of Lugia. Why? Honestly, because I had enough hype for the Pokemon as a kid even though I never got to see the film that I feel like I didn't get enough of him when I finally did see the film. But that's just me.
There's also a subplot between Ash, Misty and Melody that apparently (according to some people on YouTube) is the closest thing fans have to any romance between Ash and Misty. There are hints here and there in the show, but Pokemon 2000 seems to be the only thing that truly plays around the question of "will they or wont they?" A good chunk of the film focuses on Misty being jealous because of Melody kissing Ash and flirting with him. The story line was no doubt beloved by fans and I'll admit that I liked it myself just out of nostalgia, but in the end it doesn't go anywhere because Misty did eventually leave the show. So at the end of the day, this subplot is a major highlight of the movie, but it does suck that nothing else came out of it and that there will never be a girl like Misty that we would love for Ash to get together with. (*cough cough* Serena!)
The dialogue is also stronger...at least for the most part. There still are some lines that are not that great, but they are better then the dialogue from the last film. There's even a joke with Team Rocket that I found myself laughing at. It was one of those jokes where it should not have worked but the way they delivered it made it funny anyway.
And that's my review for Pokemon: The Movie 2000. The first one has a stronger hold of my childhood, but after finally watching this movie I have to admit that because of its easier to follow plot, more focus on Ash as the protagonist and the subplot between him, Misty and Melody, this was surprisingly a decent flick. It's not great, but I had a nice time.
Rating: 70%
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