1999 was a big year for movies. It was the year that The Matrix’s slow-motion bullet influenced action movies for years to come. It was the year American Beauty won Best Picture at the Academy Awards and Oscar fans have been arguing about it ever since. It was the year Pokémon jumped from Gameboys and TV to the big screen. And worst of all, it was the year that disappointed a generation of Star Wars fans with the release of The Phantom Menace.
To celebrate that landmark year in film’s 20th Anniversary, The Pop Break continues its year-long retrospective of 1999’s most influential (at least to us) films with writer Tom Moore, looking back on Pokémon: The First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back.
I can’t really think of a game series, franchise, and, with Pokémon GO, lifestyle that has consumed my life more than Pokémon. Yes, I was that kid who brought his handheld with him to lunch to battle his friends in school and then roamed my town in search of Pokémon as a fully-grown adult in Pokémon GO.
Yes, I’m that guy who saw an Official New Jersey Gym Leader shirt and instantly bought it because, let’s be real, who could resist that. I even still actively await the releases of new animated Pokémon movies so that I can see them in theaters and, as a side note, jumped for joy like a ten year old when my review for the last animated film, The Power of Us, got listed as a reference on the film’s Wikipedia page. No seriously, it happened, it was awesome, and I still smile about it to this day – I’m reference number eight if you’re interested.
Ah, living in a Pokémon world has been a blast and is even better now that the 20th Anniversary of the first big-screen adventure, Mewtwo Strikes Back, has come upon us. To fully explain the major impact of this film’s anniversary–other than that it’s Pokémon related–we have to go back in time to a day that would change the landscape of Pokémon adoration forever: November 10, 1999.
On that fateful Wednesday, which is commonly referred to as “Pokeflu” because of the large amount of kids that skipped school to see it, there was so much momentum that made Mewtwo Strikes Back such a highly anticipated event. There’s the affinity that grew for, who I consider to be, anime’s favorite loser, Ash Ketchum and his partner in crime Pikachu. From the popularity of the anime series, the line of Burger King toys that had people clamoring for the King more than ever, and let’s not forget the special Pokémon trading cards that theaters gave out for opening screenings. Yes, the stage was set for an incredible big screen debut for the franchise and incredible it was.
While critics didn’t care for the film whatsoever, the fan base spoke with their wallets, or really their parents’ wallets, and the film was a massive success that sparked a greater intrigue in Mewtwo that would make him almost as iconic and popular as Pikachu. Made with the modest budget of $30 million, the film was actually more of a financial success in the U.S., as it grossed over $85 million at the domestic box office and eventually grossed over $160 million worldwide. While financial success seemed inevitable because, well, it’s Pokémon, the success of Mewtwo Strikes Back was pretty impactful for both anime films and video game adaptations.
By this point, anime wasn’t as popular as it is now. There weren’t really conventions to go to, only a handful of animes were respected in some form, and those that enjoyed the medium were pretty ostracized and labeled as weird. However, Pokémon was the kind of franchise that everyone unanimously enjoyed and it’s pretty fair to say that the success of Mewtwo Strikes Back, as well as the entire Pokémon anime, was likely a pivotal turning point to the greater acceptance of anime in American pop-culture. Not to mention, video-game adaptations weren’t exactly great at the time, and arguably still aren’t, so the success of the film revitalized the hope that video game adaptations could be great. It was even the highest grossing video game adaptation of all-time until the 2005 adaptation of Tomb Raider.
However, what’s made Mewtwo Strikes Back such an impactful moment for most fans was how it made Mewtwo more than just a fun, mysterious find in the games. Instead, the film creates a compelling and complex history that it explores right from the start. Personally, I love it when a film has the guts to start its story with the villain. It allows for viewers to understand the motivations and personalities of the antagonist the hero will be facing and, let’s face it, Ash’s motivation is pretty simple—he just wants to be the Pokémon master. So, by introducing viewers to Mewtwo first, the film sets a very distinct tone for the film and sheds light on the Pokémon that’s not actually a Pokémon.
Seeing how Mewtwo’s existence came to be is actually quite horrifying and almost reminded me of the scene in Spider-Man 2 with Doc Ock in the hospital. With him questioning his purpose and unfortunately falling under the wing of notorious franchise villain, Giovanni, there are some sympathetic qualities that made Mewtwo more than just a powerful Pokémon. Given the fact that most of the people around him want to use him for nefarious acts, it’s easy to understand Mewtwo’s issues, why he has a strong distaste for humans and why he finds all Pokémon that obey them to be weak. Not to mention, the opening also allows Mewtwo to be in that badass sci-fi armor that Giovanni puts him, and it just looks incredible. All of this excellently builds up to fans reuniting with their favorite trainer from Pallet Town and kicks off an adventure full of emotion, battling, and Team Rocket still trying to nab Pikachu.
As always, Ash is still on the hunt to become a Pokemon master, and, like most films, he’s already battling another trainer with a very familiar logo on his bandana. When I first saw it, I swore that I had seen it before and with some research, it’s actually very possible. The, essentially, skull and crossbones on the bandana have actually made fans believe that Ash is fighting an early member of Team Aqua of the Ruby/Sapphire series. It’s actually kind of cool if it is or that’s how the team came to be since Nintendo and Game Freak hadn’t started working on those games yet (they were still working on Gold and Silver). Either way, their battle is still cool, even though one of the lamest renditions of the Pokémon series theme songs is playing over it. Listen, if you’re going to sing one of the greatest theme songs that will likely ever exist, you put everything you have into it to make it as epic as possible and this one is just too laid back for me.
The rest of the film and story, up until the group meets Mewtwo, is pretty standard fair for a Pokémon movie and I was actually a little bummed that it wasn’t as epic as I remembered. Maybe I’ve seen too many since then capture a similar story archetype or maybe it’s just that I’m an adult now. The story is pretty predictable, to be honest, and the humor has the kind of jokes that are accompanied by a rimshot. The film is definitely still suitable for kids and even the opening short film, Pikachu’s Vacation, will make kids laugh, and it still made me too. However, as an adult, I actually found some interesting in-jokes and adult humor that were cool to see. When Team Rocket is dressed as Vikings to sail the group to Mewtwo’s island, Ash talks about how he thought all Vikings were from Minnesota and I actually died laughing thinking that Minnesota was now a part of Pokémon canon. Also, when on the island, when Team Rocket is exploring Mewtwo’s genetic facility, there’s a nice callout to the “Who’s That Pokémon” section of the anime that made me laugh.
Realistically, though, the film is just trying to get viewers to Mewtwo as quickly as possible – which is fine by me because it’s still easily the best part of the film. Mewtwo’s power is clearly unrivaled here and it presented the strongest foe that Ash had ever faced. He literally just tosses anything that comes at him to the side like trash and it makes for a worthy film antagonist. What’s even crazier about Mewtwo is that he doesn’t care to just be the strongest Pokémon, but also the strongest Pokémon trainer as he uses his own genetically modified versions of Pokémon to decimate those in front of him. All of this leads to an incredibly epic battle of Pokémon fighting their clones that leads to one, really two, of the biggest issues in the film.
The first one is the incredibly unnecessary, syrupy-sweet song that plays over all of the Pokemon fighting their clones. Look, I get that this film is essentially falls in line with the anime and that even was song-heavy at times because it was for kids, but I laughed my ass off the entire time because of how dumb it was. I mean, we’ve got Bulbasaurs head-butting each other, Charizards fighting mid-air with the moon in the background, Squirtles trying catch these hands, and any seriousness I could have for this moment is completely stripped away by this song. The other, and more serious issue is that the film attempts to add in this theme of peace that’s completely contradictory.
While I won’t delve too deeply into the heavy-handed themes of cloning and genetic modification, there’s a moment where the trainers are saddened that Mewtwo is forcing the Pokémon to fight one another and even say that it’s wrong—says the series that’s capitalized on Pokémon beating the crap out each other for decades. Now, if this were played off more ironically or they had a moment of self-realization, this would’ve been fine. However, this doesn’t happen, so it comes off so oddly pretentious and contradictory. This was actually a major complaint by critics when the film initially released and, as much as I hate to say it, it’s a critique that definitely rings true.
The fan in me, however, tends to look over these two botched moments because there are two iconic moments that over-shadow them. The first is the moment of Ash’s Pikachu not fighting back against its clone, as it’s a much stronger pacifist moment than the group talking about Mewtwo’s actions. It’s heartbreaking to see the Pikachu clone tirelessly slap Pikachu and have Pikachu just take it. Even this moment doesn’t compare, though, to the emotional climax that comes from Ash sacrificing himself to end the senseless fighting. When Ash turns to stone, you could feel your heart breaking because Ash’s drive to be the very best was what made him such an impactful character for fans. So, seeing him sacrificing himself for the better of the Pokémon was not only a strong turning point for Mewtwo, but a surprising moment at the time. It still hits hard when Ash steps into the battle between Mew and Mewtwo and it hurts even more to see all of the Pokémon cry as a result. It’s a moment that showed the maturity the series could have and that has cemented the film as an instant classic for fans.
So, the big question is, is it still a classic? Absolutely. Mewtwo Strikes Back showed that Pokémon could belong on the big-screen and what made the twenty animated films that followed possible. There’s even a CGI-animated remake of the film that released earlier this year in celebration of the film’s anniversary. Not to mention, Mewtwo already made a return to big screen earlier this year in Detective Pikachu and will likely do so again in the games as a new Pokémon game is set to release in the coming weeks. But, as for Mewtwo Strikes Back, it was an absolute blast to revisit and if you enjoy living in such a vibrant and thriving Pokémon world as much as I do, then you have to pay your respects to a film that transcended what Pokémon could be.
