'Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You!' Has Bigger Issues Than Pikachu Talking

Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! is the 20^th Pokémon anime film, and is a reimagined retelling of the season one of the anime TV series.  It follows 10-year-old Ash Ketchum starting off with his adventure to become a Pokémon Master with his starter Pokémon and best friend Pikachu.  Along the way, instead of Misty and Brock as it was in the show, he’s joined by Verity and Sorrel in his journey.  Their party then sets off in search of the Legendary Pokémon Ho-oh.

This movie garnered controversy because it has a scene where Pikachu is depicted to talk for the first time ever.  But, for me, though it was weird, it was no big deal.  First, being a reimagination, I assumed that this film is non-canon anyway.  Second, it happened during a scene where the talking could be organically attributed to Ash’s hallucinating brain or Ho-oh’s magic or both.  Third, it’s so fleeting that it’s really irrelavant to the overall context.  Besides, it has bigger issues than Pikachu talking.

The plot is dumb and conventional.  Now, it’s not the first dumb and conventional Pokémon film.  But while other Pokémon movies manage to make it work, I Choose You! is all over the place as a result.  To be fair, the first third is actually enjoyable, but the rest of the film suffers from weak storytelling.  It has one flashback scene involving the death of a Pokémon – an occurrence in this franchise that is rarer than a shiny Pokémon – that adds some depth to it, but nothing of eventual significance and impact comes out of it.

Being a reimagined retelling, what I’m expecting to see from this film is how Ash’s rookie season would have turned out in the realized, extensive Pokémon world that it is currently now instead of under the original assumption that there are only 150 kinds of Pokémon.  Thus, I was expecting to see it retain old things and play out new things.  Well, it does do these.  But it mostly retains wrong old things – e.g. a “Bye Bye Butterfree” subplot that doesn’t really add anything to the narrative but create a pretentiously heart-rending moment – and plays out wrong new things – e.g. Pikachu talking.

At the very least, I was hoping to see Ash’s initial lineup – his first six Pokémon – to come out differently, a mix of various Pokémon that he has gotten at different points in the anime series.  However, to my disappointment, Ash has only had three Pokémon in this film – Pikachu, Caterpie (which turns into Metapod, then Butterfree), and Charmander (which turns into Charmeleon, then Charizard).

I Choose You! rehashes key elements from the TV series, as well as the early movies, and this is done in such a way that either these elements appear so random and don’t cohesively mesh well or they only lead to forced and lazy melodrama.  In addition, it relies on the likelihood that the one watching it is a lifelong Pokémon fan, or at least have seen the first season of the series, in order for his or her mind to fill in the gaps – which I’m fine with, actually, since this is almost true in most movies based on anime series; but when matched with the weak storytelling, this becomes an annoying detail.

The pacing also suffers.  It fastforwards a lot in almost the same way Pokémon Origins did it.  But while Origins is delightful – because of being a faithful parallel to the original games’ mechanics and storyline – I Choose You! simply looked disjointed and hard to get invested on.  By adapting a couple of story points from the first season of Pokémon, it sometimes feels like one of those anime summary films that splice scenes from an arc of the series.  Things happen, but there are no concrete developments.  Thus, though the narrative may be coherent enough for fans, the audience are not made to care for it.

And, oh, Team Rocket is around as comic relief.  But they don’t add anything of worth.  If you remove their scenes from the movie, nothing will really change at all.

One notable positive thing I can point out is the visuals, especially during action sequences.  The Pokémon battles are beautiful to behold, as the animation and camera work realize them in a very exciting and absorbing manner.  Aside from this, there is nothing else quite praiseworthy about the film.

In the end, Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! is such a letdown.  Now, it isn’t totally bad and devoid of fun.  It has some entertainment value.  However, for being the 20^th Pokémon film, it’s supposed to be a milestone for the franchise.  But what it turns out being is simply something utterly unrewarding.