Pokemon: The First Movie (G, 1999)

First of all, let me clear some things up. Not as bad as most people say (and certainly not excruciating to endure!) and no sexist treatment of girls (where did they get THAT from!?). The violence may be a bit much for a G rating, but nothing worse than large cartoonish explosions. All that said, the story is pretty boring. It's not as good as later movies, most notably the sequel, Mewtwo Returns, which is much better (possibly the best Pokemon movie ever).

Of corse theres product placement. Their ENTIRE theme is "gotta catch 'em all!" but this movie isn't sexist at all. Where'd you get that from? The battles are nothing, just a ball of smoke and two pokemon getting knocked on their tails. The part where ash dies is a bit sad, but they bring him back to life, so theres nothing really wrong. Sure it's not the best movie ever, but it's ceartainly not "excruciating to endure". I reccomend this movie. ^^

Pokemon is a Plural and Singular noun. Where in this did anyone use sexist treatment of girls? The child didn't appear dead he WAS dead, then the Pokemon used their magic healing tears,(I don't get it either) and he came back to life. Why is consumerism not an issue here when it is everywhere else in the Pokemon series? If I ever find the guy that wrote this thing I'll really give him something excruciating to endure. A five-hunded word essay on why Pokemon rocks, that he has to write, with a pencil, not a keyboard.

This movie's point is often misunderstood, which is why that is the first thing I'll cover. Many say that its message of nonviolence is hypocritical considering that's the whole series' point, but this is not the case. In the series, trainers battle each other for fun, as a sort of sport or recreation. Think of it like football or boxing. It's harmless fun for them, especially since their pokémon are power-brimming creatures always eager to express their abilities. However, the sort of fighting this movie shows as wrong is not the same. Mewtwo forces his superclones to battle their regular versions tooth and nail, suppressing their special abilities. The helmet and pads are gone from the football game; the boxing gloves come off. They're no longer fighting for fun, they're fighting just to prove superiority. If anything, this movie tries to explain this difference to the naysayers saying Pokémon promotes violence. It stresses the difference between friendly competition and pointless fighting. Again referring to sports, it's the difference between boxing and street-fighting. Now, on some other points, I do not think this movie is unbearable for adults. The plot is pretty cheesy, granted, but one shouldn't always take things too seriously. Keep in mind that half the dialog is spoken with the character's tongue jammed into their cheek; Team Rocket especially feels the need to deliver humorously ridiculous puns such as "I wonder if [the clones] feel... Clonesome" at every turn. As for noticeable product placement, well... it's a movie based on a show that's based on a video game. All of the characters can be seen in said video game; that's promotion enough if you ask me. There's also mountains of merchandise out there too, but as a recommendation I say stick to the games: they're actually worth the cost and are the reason I still love this series after 12 years.

So, the moral is "Fighting is bad"? That's a pretty nice moral considering that's what the show is all about. Another thing, those monsters cried to bring him back to life at the end, now what message does that send? If you cry hard enough, you can bring people back? I don't know, I don't favor this movie.

Great movie - watched it as a kid! There are some rather violent and INTENSE battles - very sad scenes sometimes. The thing is, most adults will find the movie too sad and emotional to watch it. But most children will see the movie much less emotional. However the movie has positive messages, such as war is a very bad thing just as violence, and that everyone has a place on this planet.

This is an awesome movie. I do not agree with CSM about it being bad for 5+.

fight that b**ch