Pokemon Heroes

Miramax produced a second Pokemon movie in mid-2003. Pokemon Heroes: Latios and Latias was the fifth Pokemon film and stars Veronica Taylor, Eric Stuart, Rachael Lillis, and Maddie Blausten. It grossed $20 million at the box office and was the first Pokemon movie to not have a number after the title.

Ash (Taylor), Brock (Stuart), and Misty (Lillis) are in the Venice-esque city of Altomare where they meet an artist named Bianca (Tara Sands) and her grandfather (Wayne Grayson). They hold the secret knowledge of Latios and Latias, twin dragon Pokemon who protect the city and the Soul Dew, a mystic orb that keeps the city safe from natural disasters, but a pair of thieves named Annie and Oakley (Mega Hollingshead and Lisa Ortiz) seek to steal them.

Yes, I did watch the dub for this, but mainly because it was at 2 in the morning and I really didn’t care at this point. As far as I can tell, the story didn’t change much, there were no twists that 4Kids ruined and I still think this film shouldn’t have been made.

The main villains are probably some of the worst I’ve seen in Pokemon, especially with the names Annie and Oakley. It’s obvious that 4Kids wanted to continue dubbing the villain teams on well-known historical figures, like Jesse James. But here’s the thing: Jessie James was a notorious outlaw that robbed every bank and train he came across. It makes sense to have Jessie and James because they steal things. Or at least try to. Annie Oakley was a sharpshooter and exhibition shooter in Buffalo Bill’s show and one of the first American women to be a superstar. She never went against the law. These two should have been named Billy and Kidd. That would have made more sense.

The plot, while it makes sense, just takes a while to get anywhere that by the time the climax comes, extreme boredom has set in and you’re just wishing for the movie to be over. Continually meeting the legendaries throughout the films is fun, but actually get somewhere other than “hey, Latias can transform into a human and it’s funny because she’ll always look like Bianca and mess with everyone’s heads.”

I’m a firm believer that Pokemon should have ended during the Johto League, with Gold and Silver being the last games and Pokemon: The Movie 3 should have ended everything. But since it became the second-most successful video game-based media franchises in existence (behind Mario), Nintendo just won’t let it die.

 #87

Pokemon 4Ever

The fourth Pokémon movie, Pokémon 4Eever: Celebi – Voice of the Forest was released in America in late 2002 by Miramax. Aired on Cartoon Network, Toon Disney also aired it five years later. Starring Veronica Taylor, Rachael Lillis, Eric Stuart, Maddie Blaustein, Tara Sands, and Dan Green, it grossed $28 million at the box office.

The forest guardian, Celebi, is chased by an unknown Pokémon poacher. But a young trainer, Sam, saves it and they travel through time to the present day. There, Ash, Misty, and Brock find and befriend him. However, the Team Rocket member Iron Mask Masked Marauder, plans to capture Celebi and overthrow Giovanni.

There’s quite a lot of things wrong with Pokémon 4Ever, even more so with the dub. About halfway through, I realized my error in watching the dub, which was produced by 4Kids Entertainment. But while the dub isn’t all that great, it’s definitely not the worst thing in the film.

It tries to bring about a message of the dangers of permanently wrestling the environment. It does this by killing off Celebi. Which is an important issue to tackle, but always needs to be done well. This message is rendered completely null and void by the use of a Deus ex Machina, where every iteration of Celebi from the beginning to the end of time just suddenly appear and revive it.

The film is also a mix of CGI and traditional animation. But while many other animated films have succeeded doing so in the past, this one doesn’t do it so well. Suicune and the weird monster thing that the brainwashed Celebi makes look very out of place.

On the other hand, the film does provide a nice twist. That the dub ruins by spelling out for the audience. 4Kids had the Japanese animators create additional scenes to do so as well, because kids apparently aren’t smart enough to put two and two together and figure out who Sam is without a scene that blatantly told them. I’ve done a little research, the Japanese film actually makes the hints quite nicely.

Tracy, Oak’s assistant, had two scenes that were removed in the dub version. He finds a sketchbook in Oak’s closet that has a sketch of a Pikachu sleeping next to a Celebi. Also, if the kids have seen this movie, then chances are they saw the second Pokemon movie, The Power of One, where Oak’s first name is shown to be Samuel. Calling back to a previous film along with the hints with Tracy are a great way to be subtle with a twist. But no, 4Kids had to have Oak close the sketchbook himself and make a comment on it after he let slip Sam’s name to the trio, even though they never told him his name. And they’re still clueless.

There is a humorous battle during the opening credits (aren’t there always). With this Australian kid named Dundee and his Croconaw though.

I wish I’d watched the original version.

#71