Hello everybody and welcome to Hold up the show where we dive deep inside your childhood nostalgia. Pull the movies from your past out to see if they truly hold up today. We're gonna catch 'em all and we're gonna catch 'em all with our friend Kyle, who's back on the show. Hey, welcome back pal. We missed you so much.

Thanks. Wow. , I can feel the sincerity or lack thereof dripping from your teeth. Not at all. This is genuine. Really good. That was a really good rebuttal. I know. It was nice. I know. , did you listen to any of the episodes while you were gone to hear Andrew's   nonsense and shit talking and did you hear Chase's ignorant babble about every topic he brings up?

 Since I wasn't there to mitigate anything, it  got outta hand. , and if it wasn't for me, , . You all would be in a piss poor situation, which showed we're still in a piss poor situation. It's just less pissy than the Yeah, the average bear. But I appreciate the objectivity there, Kyle really drew.

Yeah. I am the glue that holds your relationships in your life together. , and if you forget that, and , we got problems, but , I did listen to bits and pieces, but we were on the cruise and it was very hard to get any kind of like cell service. We did get internet, but the internet was very hard to use.

Hey, let me ask you something about that, that cruise, did you do any, uh, running on that ship? I did. Nice. How was that? I ran about 70 miles that week, unfortunately, which is not a great idea. , how was that on the, was it like deck four or something like that? You just run around the ship? What was the, no.

 I mean, we were in the tropics, so it was, it was incredibly hot. I only ran on there like three times outta the eight days. So , you were on the treadmill, I guess. I was running on the treadmill, which was a whole experience that I probably shouldn't have done.

, because , I don't know if you know, but when you're out a boat in the ocean, it does move. Oh, damn. Which does mean the treadmills also, , move. Oh. So it was like every time the ship would roll, which was frequently in the chop, we had a lot of choppy weather. It would feel like you were going on the most like undulating path and like you would run and your foot would go under you, but there wouldn't be any grounds, so you would skip.

It was very strange feeling. Whew. Probably slightly dangerous for some injury, right? Yeah. I have a little hamstring issue now because of that. So. , yeah, but, , that's our, that's what Eric and I like to do. Eric and I like to do for vacation. , we like to be active. , yeah. It's, , it was good for that.

I'm happy you're alive. , I'm happy  you didn't drown. I'm happy that you weren't abducted by pirates, so I'm glad you're alive and back.  Well, congrats. We're glad you're back. Thank you. , I thank you, but I don't believe you. Uh, yeah. So, okay. That's fair. I lie a lot. , and then also you do.  , Andrew, guess what country has been listening the most this week? Would it be our friends in neighbors to the north? It would be our friends and neighbors of the north. Oh, Canada. Oh, Canada. Lovely country. Lovely country. Truly.

That's not sarcasm, sir. No,  , I've been to Vancouver and Victoria.  I haven't been all over Canada, which I would love to go to more places, but maybe we'll do a tour Germany, then Canada. Thank you everyone that's listening there. And then Cuba. That's right. I think Cuba is on the list, but Okay.

Cool. I dunno makes, I dunno , how censored our content is over there. Not at all. But speaking of censored, we watched Pokemon, the first movie, movie, oh. Also, , ME two Strike Back is also the title. So that's why I texted you because I didn't know if you're watching this same fucking movie. No, it is. I think, what is it that is just the US title name, I guess it's dumb.

, it was incredibly misleading. It was annoying, but we watched it and here we are, , talking about it. It happened, it was a movie that we watched. It was a huge movie back then. It was, I mean, I, this was one of those where I vividly remember like, being in my seat watching it like, , and , , let's go ahead and talk about Pokemon.

Yeah. There's a lot. There's a lot. Before we get into the movie, 'cause the movie is just kind of like a little. Sub sect of this whole entire Pokemon experience that we all had. So Kyle, I'm gonna start with you 'cause I know Andrew's gonna have the most to say on this topic. 'cause he is a Pokemon nerd .

He a Pokemon master, he's a Pokemon master. Come, yeah. Autism master the terminology. Right? That's exactly what that is. Um, mm-hmm. Kyle, I'm gonna start with you. What do you remember about Pokemon? Did you have any of the cars? Did you play any, the games? , what was your Pokemon experience as a kid?

, I remember it existed. I was on the fringes of that because I wasn't really into Pokemon. I was a very big Dragon Ball, uh, child, dragon Ball and Star Wars. So anything that was on tsunami, like I would watch Pokemon occasionally when it would come on. But like, I wasn't a big WB kid. I was more of like a cartoon network, um, Nickelodeon and then Discovery Channel Animal Planet.

So I wasn't really, I wasn't too deep into it, but I do remember. How big it was. Like it was,  it was huge back in the day. And just the cards and  how much they're worth and like kids just getting packs and packs and packs of cards to find one Pokemon and how it was just a cultural phenomenon, honestly.

,  I realized it back then, but I didn't really understand like too much of what the hype was about because it was a fun show.  Until I got the Game Boy game, I didn't understand and I got the Game Boy game and that kind of like really opened my eyes because , that was and still is like a top 10 game for me.

, I don't remember which one it was, , but it was one of the first ones. And I remember playing that for about six months and I would take my game boy into my room and hide it under, , my pillow and turn the sound off a really low and just play it until like 12 o'clock or one o'clock in the morning as like a.

A fourth or fifth grader, and I was deep into it, and , I had a, , a sparrow that turned into a Pharaoh. There you go. And  , , I got his peck up to like level 86 or something. And it didn't matter.  It was just op. And I just, I cr I murdered everybody. Don't think I beat the game though, because there was a couple parts that I didn't understand, but, , , that was my, the deepest I got was the actual Game Boy game that came out.

, but aside from that, like this movie, , I don't, I remember seeing it, don't remember too much about it. I remembered it being sad, , and looking back on it, like, yeah, like, , it's a little sad, but it's not really though. It's pretty,  yeah. Pretty, pretty much what you see is what you get. And we're gonna dive into that.

There's a little bit more to unpack there. I don't know how much research you did on this movie. , but  I'll go into my experience with Pokemon before we get to the main event, which is Andrew, this is the only time in life he'll be a main event. , correct. Thank you. Thank you for acknowledging begrudging it at least.

 You're welcome. But, I got caught up in the craze. I wasn't huge into Pokemon, I don't think, but, I got caught up in the craze because it was very popular and it seemed like everybody at school had the cards or the game boy games, which I never had any of the games.

I never played any of the Pokemon games. I just watched the animated show, , with some friends after school. But , I'd never had like this fascination with them. I just did it 'cause it was like a fad. And I did have some of the cards and stuff and I did remember watching a lot of the show.  I remember a lot of like the Pokemon cer certain ones. , but I was never huge into it, and that fad didn't last that long. I think it was my fourth grade year. And then after that I just, I kind of like lost interest in it. , and I never got into Dragon Ball Z or any of the other animes that got really popular at that time.

So you were a loser kid. Yeah. Fucking, no, I grew up is what it was. Oh, is that what hipsters say? Yeah, that's literally case. Yes. Fucking nerd. That's, that's what I would say it was. No, I respect, , the Pokemon world. I respect what they built and I respect the, like, the vastness of it and how it's  had a lot of staying power.

It's the, I think the like most successful like media franchise. Yeah. Ever. In terms of like highest grossing, like more than Mickey Mouse and friends, like more than Star Wars actually. Star Wars might have beat it at this point, but I think even most recently, Pokemon is still the highest grossing media franchise of all time.

Aren't people still buying cards though? Oh yeah. Oh yes. Those are still very popular for sure. I'm, I feel like that's $5, but no revenue thing for them that like, I don't even know if you can count them out. No, they've gotta be at least top three and they still have games. They have not stopped making the games.

, that's  unfortunate in my opinion, but we'll get into that in a second. E and now we'll say this. And Kyle, I think you can talk a little bit on this as well.  What's amazing about Pokemon, and this may not be true, I didn't wanna research it 'cause I think this is more of a, how I see it from a nostalgia kick.

Think about anime before Pokemon. Did that exist in the US , and like Western culture? It it may not as much. Yeah. Right. Like it, it felt  like some things trickled in, but Pokemon made anime popular and we're gonna talk about that once we get to some box office numbers here in a few minutes.

Yeah. But there is definitely a significance to, and we already know a little bit of the box office numbers We do. 'cause if you were listening to our previous episode, , we talked about top 10, 10 highest grossing video game franchise. Yeah. , we kinda know a little bit about that.

But  Japanese media didn't make it into the US for a very long time due to like post World War ii. Traumatic events , and also just like  cultural difference.

It's a huge cultural difference. Yeah. But now like it's fully in the us like the west, the western world gets a lot of the Japanese influence , for a lot of good reasons. And vi and honestly , vice versa too. , it's mutual mutually shared in that, in that regard. And, and Japan got a lot of like cultural influence from the US when the US was governing them for that time in the, , late forties, fifties.

There's a reason Japan's like one of our top five allies in the global market. Like, it goes beyond just,  that's kind of the influence that happened after World War II when we were occupying Japan.

, a lot of that had to do with like, , Godzilla and what we were talking about with that, , a year ago, like that's still pretty apparent with the important export of, especially media. , when we were talking about like video games and stuff, like, that's kind of like where we would know about it and, see it the most would be, , not only the TV shows, but just like the video games that came out of there.

And again, talking about the Pokemon video game and like how many Pokemon video games have there been, like would Smash Brothers even be the same thing without having Pokemon in there? , there's a lot of different layers, but I think ultimately the biggest export when it comes to what we're talking about, nostalgia in this nostalgic way is  it's, a lot of it has to do with those video games.

Yeah. Yeah. The video games were the precipice of it All. Right. So I think that's a good leeway. , it is a video game movie and , it came as an anime too,  and the US fingerprints is all over this. , , but Andrew, tell us a little bit about your Pokemon childhood.

Yeah. , you were their target demographic. , I remember I got blue version with my, , purple game boy color for like my. Oh, what? Sixth birthday? Fifth birthday, something like that. Sixth or sixth. Difference. Difference between these colors? I have no  clue. What do you mean? Like what's blue version?

There's blue and red and yellow. Yeah. Originally it was red and green. I, they're different colors, but what's the, is that just the title of the game? There some Pokemon that aren't in one. And you pretty much need both of them. If you want to like complete the polka deck or whatever. Brilliant marketing, that's how you market to children.

And it was also just like, what's your favorite color? Do you prefer blue or red? Or how about the special edition yellow version? And then you move on to next generation game. But were they the same gold, silver game? It was essentially this, it was the exact same game. Okay. Just different Pokemon. Not even.

, there was like four that you couldn't get in one and then there were four that you could get in the other. Like it was pretty much the same game. Did your mom say Pokemon Man? Did that piss you off too when she did it? Probably Game Boys and Pokemons. It was not that. Yeah. Also the featured Pokemon, like on the cover,  was different with Blue version.

It was Blasto with Red. It was, um, char, char Art Green, the Japanese version. , was that, , which I do have a copy of. It was Venza. Yes. And then of course yellow version, uh, was Pikachu. , yellow was a little bit different though. It was a special edition. , the plot was still relatively the same, but , there were bonuses and things that you could do in that, that you couldn't in, in red that like grand theft.

You can go to strip club. Pokemon Strip Club. Yeah. You go to sell on City, you can go to the game corner, , and you can rack up a bunch of debt and get thrown in jail. I love that. No, but , I got blue version, , with my Game boy color when I was six, and all my friends played the game.

, it was just  mystifying for me as , a young boy. Like, it just completely captured me. . I went on and I played other generations. I played Silver Golden Crystal, which is still my favorite generation. I went onto the third. I played Ruby Sapphire and Emerald. I kind of stopped after I did Diamond and Pearl, but then I got worn out with it 'cause it was just New World.

It's a lot too many Pokemon. It was, you know, originally 1 51, then it was 2 51 and then it was, , 300 and something, then 400. And I was just, I can't,  keep track of 'em. And also some of the new creations were just lame, like the original three. , generations were creative and , you didn't question the creations.

, but the games were what brought me in. I love those games. I still love them. I play them from time to time. , every few months I'll get bored and I'll start a new campaign. I'll pull out my old game boy color or sp and , I will play and , I will , start a anew. And it still captures me.

It does not, it is never, it never gets boring. , there's also new simulators and like different like rom hacks. You can find that, , change the structure of the game and offer , levels of difficulty. So I've done that and , again, , it still captures me. , so you're really into , this was like a big thing for you.

Oh, yeah. And I collected the cards.  I was spoiled and, , my family and my aunts, and they got me packs upon packs upon packs to the point where I had every single of the original 150. Do you still have those or did you I, I still have 'em. They're not worth much. , there's a few that might be worth like a hundred or so just based on, , just based on, you know, , what quality they're in.

But honestly, , they don't have much worth. But it was still cool to have the original English 150. I didn't get mu because mu was like, just like in the games, almost like rare. You, you don't get mu Yeah. , but , Erica had me and  we were watching this movie and she told me the story of how she gave, , or she didn't give Izzy, her youngest sister found out that she had that Pokemon and Erica let her borrow it.

So she could go show a classmate and, the classmate convinced her to trade me for like a charr. Oh, wow. And she never gave it back, so, Hey. Not bad, actually. No. I think I, I think I did get, and I'm not bad. Not bad as in like that kid just totally rifled everywhere. No. 'cause ARD is rare too. Char Ard is one of the most, , sought after, , cards.

And if you find a holographic, , non shadow char art,  that is worth thousands. Literally thousands, like maybe 5,000 tens of thousands.  Depending on like the quality, if it's , mint condition. Yeah. , you could reach 10 k like it is that sought after. I don't get that. And , I don't get into the, the whole, so you haven't spent $10,000 on an old anime card and No, unfortunately.

Listen, if I'm going out to buy some of those, I'm not getting out of bed for less than 10,000. No. Alright. Yeah. It's gotta, it's gotta mean something to me. Yeah. Yeah. And it's somebody else financially. Yeah. Um, for a little card. I will also say I did watch the anime series. . I didn't stay with that , for multiple years, but before the movie and even after , I watched it, it wasn't like a religious watch, but I definitely watched it.

I stayed up to date with the storyline and everything, and eventually , I kind of wore out. The games have never left me and they never will. , my love for, for Pokemon and that world is, it will never, I wouldn't say it will never be matched, but it will always be with me. Like I'll take that with me when I die.

So, yeah.  Kyle,  we got some listeners out there that weren't a part of the Pokemon phase, , , how would you describe Pokemon to someone who's never seen it? What is Pokemon? So Pokemon , is a universe that humans live alongside of, I guess there are animals, but there are different kind of animals we would know.

And they're called Pokemon, and they all have special abilities and , they come from, , , like water, fire, earth, Andrew, ground, ground. Yeah. And then  what's the green? , that would be grass type. Grass type. So, and then there are other ones that there's electric, there's ice, there's flying normal psychic ghost fighting.

All right? We're losing people by the minute fire. But, but the main, main ones that we need, the main ones that had come out at the beginning were essentially those with a couple smattering of others. And these Pokemon AK animals that have special, magical abilities, essentially,  they are in the natural world.

Like you could encounter one here, there, and anywhere. And you in this world, people collect and train their Pokemon to battle one another so that they can gain fame, fortune, and everything in between. , PETA's a very big fan of this. ? Oh, they love this peta. If you're listening, , nobody gives a shit.

, but, . Essentially  , these Pokemon people like that are catching these Pokemon, get to the point where they're trainers of Pokemon and , the trainers make their own gyms and to gain notoriety and clout, you go to different gyms to defeat the gym leaders with your Pokemon.

So you can be the master of the, of all the Pokemon, , which it does say in the theme, but you also want to collect them all or catch them all. Yes, you want to have your poke decks filled up all the way, but that'll, and , that's kind of the world that they're, that's you're living in.

These animals are sentient. Some are, some are really dumb. , like dumber than a blanket, like with side suc is horribly stupid. , but  they're all cute though. That's the, they're all of pretty, some of them, yes. Yeah, they're all like, but that's part of pink. And she was is it's cute. The most cute thing you're ever gonna, it's like a cat mouse m with aig.

Yeah. , it's a whole bunch of those and they're, they pull, they tug on the heartstrings. They're animated and a very, it's very child. It's very child driven. Like a child would love that. Oh my gosh, it's so cute. I want one. I love it. , and it's the perfect thing, like I said, for children, because you gotta collect 'em all.

You gotta keep opening your parents' pockets and pouring those out.  It's very effective marketing, , for sure. And that's kinda like the main driving force when it comes to how successful it got, was how good the marketing was. , through all different media in that space.

But,  Andrew. I'm sorry. It is pretty surface level. There's not a lot of , deeper stuff going on. But like, I'll say this though, , that leads me into what we were gonna talk about with the US adapting the scripts and changing how the dubs went.

And it's a heavy in this movie. Yeah.  ' so a lot of Japanese anime. It really derives from real life. There's a lot of metaphors, a lot of like stuff that happens. It makes you think and they're very deep and sometimes they can be pretty dark.

And Pokemon has a lot of like dark metaphors 'cause it is based on like animal cruelty and what's ownership and what things exist for. And they serve a purpose. , and a lot of the US like writers think  that's like too much for children in the western world.  Especially in this movie, they took a lot of liberties in rewriting the dub.

And it happened with the Godzilla movies too. Like some of the dubs were rewritten for American audiences.  It is surface level. It's a layer of propaganda that we in the United States didn't really realize that we were consuming as children or in general. That is pretty apparent now that , it's just been whitewashed by our government and by our institutions so that we're getting spoon fed the, , the good stuff that doesn't matter.

It's a fun show about cute animal things. Yeah. What the fuck ever They'll buy it. Just, just don't make it too complicated. , I do think it is whitewashed,  there's still merit , in its existence.

And while it was a huge marketing ploy, I don't believe that is. The root of it. So, no, , they created a universe and built it up and wrote these characters and stuff. It just, we are just talking about it, is the perfect storm. Oh, a hundred percent. The perfect storm for children. Yes. Especially like us.

 I wasn't even the biggest Pokemon fan, but I had some of the cards, I watched the anime, bought some of the VHS tapes, you know, 'cause when they re-release in the US they, what was it through WB Kids? Yeah. Or four kids WB Kids. Yeah. Something like that. Yeah. So, well, Andrew, let's talk about this movie now.

Yeah. What kind of numbers did it do? Uh, it was successful. It was pretty damn successful, which we kind of, we, we hinted that in our previous , little episode.  , had a budget of 30 million and that domestic opening earned all that back in some 31 point, six. So it, it already made back the budget, but then, , domestic altogether, so this is gonna be a weird one.

Is this domestic Japanese, or is this the u This is the US version. Okay. We'll include international as well. Okay. For a complete worldwide domestic, , grossed 85.7 mil, , international 77.9. And then for worldwide, that's a cool 163.6 million for a video game animated movie. That's insane. And I want, from 99, I wanna talk about it's significance in America and anime significance in America.

This is the highest grossing, , Japanese anime movie  in American history. , you can think of spirited away, you can think of Kiki's Delivery Service and all of those that were really successful. They don't hold a candle to what Pokemon did in America. Yeah. And it hit it the right time, Tim.

Yep. I would say that this movie and just the anime series in general really ushered in a new wave of interest for Japanese manga and anime in general. And that's what I was saying earlier is, , anime  it wasn't a big thing.

No. Into Pokemon. And then you had the, what, like Digimon. You had  Digimon. You had Yugi. , and that still is all under the same umbrella. But then after that, that's when you start, you know, hearing about things like, , one Punch Man or , Naruto and things of that nature. And now it's like so popular.

It's so popular. And if you don't watch, you know, anime, then you're a looser. Yeah. Honestly, , it's kind of the cool thing to do. Yeah. , and  it's good stuff. It's not like, it's not like it's a hipster thing. Like it's, it's quality and less censored than when we were kids now. Yeah. Now it's like fully on and like it is the Japanese version.

, it's just much more, it's more mature too. It really  hits you in multiple areas. So do you remember the soundtrack, Kyle? Do you remember the soundtrack to this movie? Oh, , I remember. I mean, are you, if you're talking about like the opening, yes, I remember the opening to all of the shows , and all of this.

But like the soundtrack to this movie, I. It was not bad until a certain point that we'll get to. Yeah. Yeah. That was the American sprinkle. It really , really took me out of it. What was funny is I had this soundtrack as a kid. I do remember that. Yeah. And 'cause this movie came out in November of 99. Yeah.

And so for Christmas, I got the soundtrack and it had Britney Spears in Sync, 98 Degrees. It was like a pop explosion on that soundtrack. 98 Degrees , Nick Leche. Oh my God. Cincinnati native. And I love that soundtrack. And I was like, oh, it's a banger of a soundtrack. And then I went and listened to it.

It's total shit. It's awful. It's not awful. It's God awful. It's awful. Awful. And it does not fit with, no, it's the movie. It's, they were just trying to capitalize, and I'm sure Japanese  executives were just to fucking dying when they heard that. Hated a lot of this movie. And they hated the marketing in the US over this movie, 

  there's not a whole lot here, but, , we'll do our best to kind of give you an overview anyway. To start off the movie that you can watch, it's Pokemon first movie. If you go to Amazon right now and type it in, it is the shortened cut. It doesn't have the short, , what was it?

Pikachu's vacation. Pikachu's vacation. Sadly, I wanted to see that. But yeah, I wanted to, its a whole experience. So this is a shorter runtime. , when Warner Brothers purchased this movie, they. , instead of just putting it out and dubbing it into US markets, they rewrote a lot of it.

 And they edited the first part of it out. So where does this movie open Andrew? , some lab on some island, and I believe that, , you see a bunch of like dark faces and they're talking about what they've created and it kind of pans to this creature in some tank that's hooked up to all these wires and whatnot.

And they're talking about the creation of MU two and what they've done to create this genetic,  masterpiece of a Pokemon and all powerful Pokemon, all powerful. And then all of a sudden you just  hear me two talking to him. So I'm just like, where am I? Who are all these people? Is this a dream?

Is it real? And , he's, getting his senses and, and he's one of the only Pokemon, if not the only, right? That doesn't just say his name over and over again, right? Mm-hmm. Well, he's the only one that, that's that. And me out team rockets, Jesse, James, me out. It's just those two.

The rest have their little cry or they say their name over like, Ong Ong. , That one made me laugh. We'll get to that. But, , yeah, , they're in a lab and he had this dude named Dr. Fuji who was a video game character. He wasn't the, or he wasn't Dr. Fuji. He was Mr. Fuji. And it , wasn't exactly.

Um, this is before he went back to school, correct? Yes. Yeah, it was actually, apparently the lore is, he abandoned his position of Dr. Fuji because , he had like a moral awakening or whatever, but, uh, moral awakening. I mean, he was , cloning Pokemon for team rocket or for, , old ulterior motives.

And he, you know, walked, it sounded like he just like left and went to the Florida Keys and married a guy named Mike. The Dr. Fuji in the film , is a very different character from the one of the video games. But regardless, , Fuji is telling, , the screen and MuTu like who you are and , what you've become.

And MuTu is like, w so I am just a creation am mere experiment. And he fucking gets pissed and blows up the island and kills everyone. , Yeah. And he like disappears them, doesn't he? Injury? Doesn't like when he holograms pe or like when he lifts them up, telekinetically or whatever.

He has the option to like poof them. I don't even know. I mean, he uses his psychic powers. It's not even, it's very unclear. It's, but all we know at this point is that he has some kind of. Psychic ability. , he is the strongest psychic Pokemon , in the games essentially. I wouldn't say in the games now, but the first three generations.

, He was like the strongest Pokemon there was. And he's been created Yeah. In a lot. And he feels vengeful towards that. So I will say , this opening scene was different. It was great because I think like the idea of creating a genetic experiment and it not knowing its purpose in life and thinking that it doesn't have a purpose because it was created as a, an experiment by men.

I think that's heavy. Yeah. This is gonna be an interesting ride , and then it just, it tails off in there. But I've gotta talk about the Japanese. They left out a lot of context in the American version. So Kyle, I don't know if you know this, 'cause this goes back to what we were saying earlier it's all surface, right? Yeah. So in the Japanese version, the beginning of , the movie starts with Mewtoo being created, and he's in this like stasis mode, . But he meets this other little girl, this human girl that's also being genetically created, which is Dr.

Fuji's daughter who had died. Right? He was trying to bring her back to life. Back to life, and he, he had successfully done that, right? . He can connect through telekinesis with her. So they're growing up as clones together. And then the girl dies in the middle of all this, and , Mewtoo starts crying, which we'll get to later. And she's like, don't cry. Being alive is what's important. It doesn't matter about what your existence is. And it's super heavy, super sorrowful, and really creates a sense of ambiguity for the rest of the movie that the American version doesn't have.

So, right. And, and, uh, they thought that that was too heavy for American audiences, so they pulled that whole scene. So you just see me two at the beginning of this. He's an asshole and he destroys and kills everybody. Yeah. And that's pretty much, , that's the depth of his character until the very end.

Yep. And then Giovanni, , just, , appears out of nowhere from his helicopter. Giovanni is the leader of Team Rocket. If you will. He goes all the way back to video games. He's kind of this like undercover mob boss type who's always around. But , he shows up on this blown up island. He looks like he wears cowboy boots to the casino.

Yeah. And that's exactly the kind of character he is. , But he shows up to this island and he starts talking to me. You is like, we can become partners. I can unleash your power and we can have a mutually beneficial relationship. And me two's still like not knowing who he is or what he is doing. He's like.

Okay, cool. And just leaves. , Giovanni introduces him to Pokemon battling. . And that's where MuTu is like, I have found my power, but what is my purpose? And that's at that point, , he's battled an onyx, he's battled some other big Pokemon and just completely wiped the floor with him because he's just that powerful.

, And then , he's connected to, , this armor that's, , Giovanni has created for him. , I wouldn't say he's locked up, but Giovanni keeps his distance because he knows he's volatile and can't be trusted. And I don't remember what Giovanni says to him, but he's like, you have now found your power and your purpose will be great as you battle and, and serve me for the rest of time.

And me too is like. What we didn't agree upon this. I'm not your slave, I thought we were partners and Giovanni's like you'll do, as I say, bitch, you're gonna battle for the rest of time. And which is a weird thing to say to something that could kill everything. Yeah. And what does he do? He fucking explodes, kills everything.

Explodes Giovanni's like layer and Giovanni escapes as he always does. And that's when Mew too rebuilds, that entire island that he was born in, , creates his own lab in a matter of 14 days. Yeah. He does it pretty quickly. , And , we're moving along here, , he's, who do you think he hired to construct all that?

I don't, I don't know. , What kind of contractors were going out to these like, they definitely broke union laws, that's for sure. So the same ones they had for Jurassic Park, right. There you go. Exactly. Yeah. And except you saw those guys working in the amber. , we also are introduced to Mu during all this, which Mu is like the Pokemon that mu two was created out of.

And it's like a very, he's like , the original Pokemon. Yeah. He is like , the all mysterious, , cutest little guy. Yeah. Origin. He is a legendary, he is the og, like a , legendary Pokemon. , And then the Japanese version, he's a big part of that first scene. They cut, they find this mu in some jungle or whatever, and then they create mu two from Muse, DNA.

It was like a fossil, I think. Yeah. Is what they found or something like that. Which again goes back to the lore of the video games that you find , in those games. But Americans didn't want that for whatever reason. , No. They cut so much out of this. They cut so much that would've. Made this move. , Anyway, continuing on Kyle, who are we introduced to next?

A, after we see all this and me two set up his layer and all is well in his world for the players international waters. So now we meet , the biggest most recognizable character outside of the Pokemon is a human named Ash Ketchum, good old ash. And he is hanging out on a meadow, on top of a cliff overlooking what I would assume is the Pacific Ocean.

And it's, this is one of those points again where I've always drawn to like the aesthetics. It's a very well drawn, well animated scene. , Very just really pretty, it's quintessential Pokemon. , It's quintessential like , the anime series, , exactly. Well, it also reminds me , a lot, there's a lot of scenes like that in Dragon Ball.

Yes. In the Dragon Ball series. Mm-hmm. Where there's very, just very beautiful visuals. , And I think something that. I was always drawn to was how well , they did animate certain aspects of it. There are a couple points in this one though, where it got the nineties treatment of too much CGI and it was just a little too heavy.

It was kind of jarring. 'cause you got, yeah, and I don't, I don't know if that was like in the original Japanese version or if that was something added in on the American. I feel like it was probably in the original just because like, , it was so expensive back then to just do it on as a one-off that, , I don't think, I would think it would've just been baked into the original that they would've just worked around.

But I do think that moment right there, there's a moment at the beginning and the end that is, that are very similar to that. And I do that they at least had the artistic vision to, to bookend it that way. , But Ash is out on this meadow with Misty Brock, who are also Pokemon trainers who have their own gyms, which in the original.

Ash has to beat them. And they all become a band of folk. And they all have their Pokemon, but they're all hanging out. And then some guy comes up to Ash and goes, are you Ash? Catch him from, , where? Pallet town? Yeah, from pallet town. Pallet town Indiana. And he's like, I am. And he's like, , I'm here to tell you're going down.

And he goes, I'm afraid I tell you that you're going down. You're like, oh shit. They're gonna fuck each other up. So then , they start battling Pokemon. Can I make one comment real quickly? I want to, , it was a pretty big moment for me as a kid, , because in this scene that first Pokemon that Trainer throws out is a Don fan, which was a second generation Pokemon.

It had not been introduced until this movie. So, it was a big reveal moment of like, oh, that's a new Pokemon. And, , the new games were right around the corner. So it was very exciting for people who were, , curious as to what new Mons would be introduced in the coming games. But this one, , besides Tokai was one of the first introductions to the second generation.

Interesting. Yeah. But go on. That was just, a little nugget that most people, , such as yourself wouldn't, you know. Yeah, Andrew. But I bet that you knew every single one of the Pokemon's name when you were. , Seven or eight. , I still do 50. He hasn't lost that. Yeah. Yeah. , That memory's still there and unlocked.

Yeah. I don't think, I could not like go through. Not, I, we show you exactly. Not like we show you a picture. I bet you could get through at least half of them. From memory alone. I could, , I don't know if I could go in the sequential order. , 'Cause I get, doesn't matter, fuzzy doesn matter, but, I could name all of them.

I absolutely could. So wild. Right. Good to know. But anyways, , they do that battle Ash beats him and he beats him handling, he wipes the floor , with like weaker Pokemon too. Wow. Like much weaker Pokemon. But while they're battling we get the Song of Our Generation Oh yeah. The Pokemon theme song, which is still a banger.

It's still great. I will go ahead and it's good. Stamp this right now that holds up. It fucking slaps up. Yeah. That holds up it slaps, man. , I wanna lift to that. Yeah. It was a more drawn out version of that song so they didn't have to fit in the TV spot. So it was a little bit more epic.

There was a little bit more rock and roll to it. Yeah. Had some more , yeah. So, if you're going to listen to that and you're gonna start singing the, , the one from the TV shows, you're gonna be over pretty quick. 'cause that one lasts a lot longer. 'cause they had a lot more time, which was pretty, it was a pretty epic.

Opening sequence for that. Yeah. And , at this point of the movie, with MU two and everything, I'm kind of in it. . I love where , the arts' going of, , the genetic mutations and, creationism and existential crisis that mu two's going through.

And it's not mentioned like it is in the Japanese version, but it is mentioned here, which I was like, that's pretty good material to work with. And then great animation, great theme song. , I'm feeling myself at this point. And then what happens next is, um, you know, you see me two and his layer or whatever, and he sends out, a messenger.

He's in the death star of what it looks like. That's what it looks like. He sends out a messenger Pokemon, which is a dragonite, , a dragon type. That's one we can talk about. Well, and he's like talking to, , the nurse, right? , She's not, she's brainwashed. She's brainwashed. Yeah. This human.

She's not brainwashed. She's been taken over by Mew too. Her mind's been manipulated and controlled, , because he's a psychic Pokemon, which is, yeah. Is he the only psychic Pokemon that can manipulate people? N no. Psychics. I mean, you don't see anyone besides me, two manipulating humans.

, So I, I guess he's the only one that really dabbles that line. But like there are others that. Potentially could have that, , capability, but that's not something that, , they usually get into in the games or , the MA series. It would be a pretty, a big existential thing, which is what this movie kind of we start rolling into with this.

Yes, absolutely. , But, , he talks to Nurse Joy or whatever the fuck she is, but the, the point is that she's an rn, have, some respect. I'm sorry. She, she got a degree, , from a major university. She did. He went through Covid, so shut the fuck up. Yeah, you're right. , But long story short, MuTu sends out an invitation to a bunch of trainers across the globe because he is spying on them.

He was spying on Ash, , through whatever, , psychic, , telescope or whatever. And, and the nurse has asked , should I send the trainers the invite? Yes. And he's like, yes. So he sends out the, what'd you call it? The big dragon thing? It's called a dragonite. , And Dragonite delivers the invitation.

,. What would you even call that invitation? It's very like a star. It's a Star Wars hologram, , invitation where the character's like, you've been invited to the battle of all battles against the greatest Pokemon Master on the globe. Please check. Yes. Or, and , Ash is like, well, yeah, of course I gotta do it.

And what does Brock say? I don't know. Oh, , he, Brock is, he goes, Brock is eternally horny. Always. Always. That's what I gonna get hor into always. Was he like that? Yes, always. He, there are so many memes about Brock's horniness nowadays. My God. He goes, she's small but cute.

Yeah. It's like he's small but pretty. That dude thought with his dick from the start. I was like, that's a hologram Brock. Yes. , I guess there are worse ways to get after it. I don't know. , There, there are so many memes about Brock just like glazing over women. This is not the only time in this movie either.

No, he does it. Consistently like three or four more times does not pass the Bal test. It doesn't, but it's funny. And he never opens his eyes either, there actually is a moment in the series where he opens his eyes and like cries and it's such a groundbreaking memeable moment that, , real fans like go to this day.

Was it because he, , he kissed a lady? , It could have been, I actually don't remember what it was, but in one episode he opens his fucking eyes and , it was groundbreaking. , It's just, it's such a petty line. Like , I'm glad it was in there because it's a little, this movie's a little too much Ash and like Team Rocket and not enough like everybody else, I think.

But like I was glad that he got , a little something for his character in there, even though it was very bass and silly. Brock's a loser. But, , yeah, he is and kind dumb too. And then, and speaking of Team Rocket, they're there on the island too, 'cause spying because what are, they're trying to, they're trying to capture Pikachu the whole time that's what they, that's what they're trying to do since the very beginning.

So , that's the only reason they exist. They're trying to capture Pikachu for that Giovanni guy. And they're stupid too. They're dumb as shit. They have this cat. With, , Meowth Kat with him name's Meowth Cat that can talk and meow. He's also, but how does he talk though? What does he talk for? I'm meowth.

I'm meow. He's like the opposite of snf. Like he's, yes. More annoying, like Snar character. And he's dumb too. , He's like, oh man, I wish I would've thought about that. That was that. He always makes a fricking cat reference. He's like, that's crazy. Are you from Catman?

Do I think, I think at the end that , he made a joke like, that's clawful. And I was like, oh God. He also said, I'm gonna get on a catamaran. Yes. Yes. , And he like, emphasize the cat. Yeah. And brand cuts away. , I wish I could get some catnip right now. , It's like really phoned in, , it's so bad.

Oh, lot. Lots to dissect with this plot here. We're doing a great job. , And that's it for plot after this. Yeah, pretty much. , We just pretty much summed up the movie for you, but obviously Ash is gonna go and battle the best Pokemon master of all time. And , he convinces his friends to go, even though they're kind of a little weary.

Then , they get to like this. It's a ferry station. This ferry station. They have to go to New Island, which is where mu two is located. The new island. Sorry, we don't even know it's MU two. It's, , just , the greatest master of all time. It's a trainer. Yeah. And , there's thousands of Pokemon trainers there, I would assume.

Yeah. And they're all in the station and there's these two. Nimrod Officer Jenny, she's actually a big part of Pokemon lore. She's like the main police officer. , It's so iconic though. She sounds the same throughout the entire series. It's so bad.

, It's listening to it now. It's like, oh God, how did we put up with that? But you accept it. And then the other woman, Natasha, I don't remember who she was, but she was a part of , the series at some point too. Yeah. And they're like, the nurse is missing and it's like, oh, we know where she is as an audience.

So, yeah. And Brock's like looking at a picture of the nurse. He's like, she's hot and, and she looks familiar. And so, um, but yeah, he gets a horn on about that one too. . He's got three lines in the movie and I think all of that is referencing and a constant erection.

But you don't see it 'cause it's very small. Yeah, no, he's got his hands in his pockets. You're right. But they're at this station, this ferry station, waiting to be ferried across the water. And Nurse Joy and Natasha come in, they're like. There's a bad storm coming and it's just so, I don't know, anti-climatic.

And because ME two has created this awful storm, which he, I he did that, I'm assuming to like weed out. It was a test. Yes. Yeah. , And then you have this fat guy that comes outta nowhere and he's like, well, my Pokemon have evolved to get me across the water. No, there, he's, he says, I've got water Pokemon.

I can ride him across those waves. And he does that. , And then the other wise, and the other chick, I don't remember what she does. She has a water Pokemon too. She's got a Doong and, Ong Doong. Some of them, some of these Pokemon and their trainers drown and die and then Oh, do they?

Yeah. Some. And then some make it across. The reason that Ash makes it across is because Team Rocket shows up as Vikings. Yeah. And make a , horrible joke about Vikings all being from Minnesota. Yes, yes, yes. I thought it was pretty clever. Did you? I laughed. I thought they only existed in Minnesota.

No, I, I rolled my eyes very hard. Yeah. But, , but that doesn't even get 'em across. 'cause like the waves are too big and they're in this tiny wooden boat and fucking cap sizes. And then Ash has to rely on a squirtle. And, , Misty relies , on her star u which she has a very weird cry, if you recall that.

But can't a little bit. Yeah. I can't even do it. But then , they just ride their Pokemon to New Island and that's that. , There it is. Yeah. There's, , we're there, Nita , we're at the next point. And everybody's like in the lobby of this massive castle, but also like, lab warehouse.

It's like, I think it's a Hilton. Yeah. Marriott. I think it's , a Marriott. Yeah, it's LaQuinta. Oh, is it LaQuinta? Yeah. Oh, I missed that. I'm sorry. It's okay. It's okay. , It's not, , this episodes sponsored by Quinte, please, , sponsor, don't forget, get the continental  breakfast. It's great. , , so essentially there's, , the three Pokemon trainers plus Ash and his folk that make it, and we found out very quickly that like they're all very full of themselves and they all start trying to battle each other then, and then they're all arrogant pricks.

, It would be very hard to be in that room with all those people. Yes. And they're all like scum of the earth, kind of people like that are, , Hey, they're just competitive folk. Come on man. They're the kind of people that talk on their phone, on speaker out loud in a grocery store or gym or?

No, . , They FaceTime everybody that they talk to and then they do that in public. Oh my God. They're the kind of people that need. Like 15 items, pre-workout powder and everything else just to make, just to set foot in the gym. None of those guys worked out well.

, They are not very likable, but, and that, that gets, , exploited even more in a second because me two like comes down from like the heavens and introduces himself and they're like, well, I thought you were a Pokemon master. Yeah. I was like, there was a perfectly good escalator next to him, but , he just floated down.

Yeah. Um, uh, to make a grand entrance and he's like, ah, I'll fuck all you up. Yeah. And these loud, this one loud mouth is like, I'm gonna stick my rye horn on. You go rye horn. And he like, sends him in a fury , and then two Ricks its heart out and eats it. Yes. Yeah. He psychically picks him up, opens his chest psychically, pulls his heart out, and has it, you know, devours it in front of everybody.

Yeah. What Andrew's saying is that would've been a better scene than what we got. He just throws him away into like the water or whatever. But then we, then it's revealed that like he is the one that brought them all there and he is the master Pokemon trainer. But is that when the guy, , the bigger, the big character, , human is , wait, you are a Pokemon, Pokemon, can't be trainers of Pokemon.

And then he flips out and has this whole racist like moment, like bigoted moment in his head. I. Which I thought was like, that's something to explore right there, . Yeah. That's, that is what happened. It was that same dude and yeah. And that's what sets me two off. He is like, you humans, you think you, you know, blah, blah, blah, are so much better than us, but you're swine.

You didn't say that, but , it's something of the sorts. Yeah. And he's like, you don't understand, , these Pokemon you, they do all your bidding for you kind of thing. , And then again, good plot. Good we're we got it going and then it just. Stop evaporates. Well, me two pretty much unveils his mastermind plan right off the bat.

He is , you don't deserve Pokemon. I'm going to kill your Pokemon, but clone them and run off of them and start a new world and destroy the world that you live in currently. That's exactly what he wanted to do. Right, right. , Basically his existence now is to just murder everybody and create the ultimate powerful Pokemon.

Yeah. 'cause that's what he was created for. . And at this point, you know, they're like, clones, , what clones And then me two moves the out to like the Pokemon battlefield and then he introduce the beer, which, because this is, which is.

It's just a soccer field. Yeah, it's just, and it's weird because it's like you got this nice ass like castle that's like state of the art and then he just opens the door and it's just this ratty ass field that looks like it hadn't been mow dirt. That's what the all battlefields kind of look like, whether you're in a gym or the Elite four or whatever.

That's, that is like the. Quintessential Pokemon battlefield. He didn't even turn the lights on in that room. It looked like shit. Yeah. Yeah. , Like comparative to the rest., It looked like he took 'em out back into , a grass field in Nebraska and was like here battle here with like a high school like stadium.

Yeah. Like seating around the bleachers are half collapsed. Yeah. , But half of 'em are wooden. We're gonna move along quickly here 'cause there's really not much more for, we're really like halfway through the, we're more than halfway, but at this point, well, much more at this point. You know, he's talking about the cloning and,

all , the trainers, Ash, Misty Brock are like, what? Cloning if you can't do that. And he's like, yes I can. I'm making the Pokemon stronger and better. And he, decides to show them, , blasto clone Venus, a clone and Charizard clone. And there happened to be , a real chars are real ven azore and real blasto in the group of trainers.

And they try to pit the types against each other. And the clones win handily because they are superior. Okay. And you can tell the clones 'cause they have the markings. Markings on them there.

. Andrew, you might be able to lend more light into this. This was a story hole for me because why are the same types fighting the same types?

Wouldn't their attacks be less effective on the same type? Why wouldn't they pit each other against like a water type versus a fire type? Or, a psychic type versus a ground type. Like, well, I, what would, , you have a point, but I think it was just more of a metaphorical, , I think he was just trying to show that this clone type is more, more powerful than this clone charge are.

It's better than your charts are. Yeah. This clone, no blast noise is better than your blast stories. Or shell shock or whatever the fuck. She nicknamed , her Pokemon fucking blame. There was, it was, I think the Venus R was like, boo boo or something like that. It's, I like, what names like terrible boo boo.

Uh, go boo boo go. But at this point, the clones are, , the regular Pokemon, the Blasto, Venza chars are, they're no match for the clones. And at this point, MuTu deploys all of his, , lab made psychic pokeballs and captures, , all of the Pokemon in the, , gymnasium, if you will.

And he takes 'em down to his lab that's currently being investigated by Jesse James and Meow, because they've been tailing Ash the entire time. They're the ones who've discovered the cloning lab. First Muse has been with them, kind of tailing them as well, because Muse's curious and doesn't like what's happening or whatever.

. And muse there the whole time and no one sees him. Yeah. He is in the shadows, just kinda lurking, just kind of catching everything, surveying shit. , As he's catching all the Pokemon with his, these black poker balls, he sends them down into the chute so they can put them in their stasis chambers, cloning machines.

And as he's doing that, Pikachu gets captured after a long like running scene where Ash was running up a steep incline. It wasn't like spiral stairs, but it was just a spiral like. I don't even know what you call that. Yeah, it's, it's a, it's an arbitrary artifice that was made to solely for this moment in this, like the engineering of this building.

When they made it, they were like, , I bet in the future there's gonna be a chase and we must have something that adds to the chase and adds and makes tension. So we will have to build a, a spiral thing up to the sky that doesn't really go anywhere. We don't really know where it goes.

It was a really good scene though. It was well like paced out and it was very tense and like it shows. It shows that Pikachu is special. Yes, he does get caught, but he is the last one.

He's able to fight off so many of those and then he just gets overwhelmed. Yeah. And he gets tired , and yeah. And then the, , he, his poker ball falls into the chute and Ash jumps for him. And so Ash goes down the chute with the poker ball. So while Team Rocket's sitting there going, oh, this machinery, what are they doing with all this machinery?

You see the Pikachu coming through and as you see it, they like the silhouette of the Pokemon, like flash on this screen , and that got so tired of them going, what Pokemon is that, that's, that was speak at you. That was I know, but it was Okay. I agree that like it got a little. Overdone. But the first two times I did it, I was like, okay, that's pretty cool.

I mean, that, that's pretty funny that who's that Pokemon is, , a nod to the TV show because every time a new Pokemon was introduced, they would show the shadow of it. With this back red background, it was like, who's that Pokemon? And you would have to guess kick at you. And then once you came back from commercial break, they'd be like, it's Cypher.

And it would show the actual Pokemon. , I wanna say a few things. , In the American Dub, they got some of the Pokemon wrong, , they mixed up an Alakazam and Cypher in that moment. And that's a, those are two very different Pokemon. Like it was just a bad, it's, I, you wouldn't even call it, you can tell the people reading this like script, they were doing it at home while they were like drinking Jim Bean.

Oh, that, that's a major like typo. Typo is like even putting it lightly. Like you can't fuck that up. And then earlier, a few scenes prior, I told Chase this before we started recording, , the, one of the cocky trainers refers to his piggy as a piggy oto, , yeah. To any, to anyone who knows what Pokemon are or what a Pokemon is, like you, you know that is not a pito, it's a fucking piggy.

That's the third evolution. You can't get that wrong. So. Uh, shame on the editors. So Pigge is not as good as Pharaoh ever. That's done. , That's debatable. , I would actually say you were right. , But depends , on how you build 'em up. That's a different topic. Yes. Topic for now.

We've been talking, I've been waiting to talk about this for years. Well, you're gonna wait more years. Pikachu is captured. Team Rocket sees it, and this is the, probably their chance to get, , Pikachu. And then Ash comes through and he grabs the poker ball , as he's going through this machine and how he's not torn to pieces by this piece of machinery is beyond me.

So it's like this sorting machine and Ash somehow breaks it and is able to get , the poke ball out and free peek at you. Indeed. And, , this is where all hell starts breaking loose because all the copies get put out of these Pokemon then all the Pokemon break free as well. Yes. Now that now we've set ourselves up for this big battle on the actual like big battlefield, it's an epic, like they're gonna be an epic arena fight and they're gonna all battle again each other at the same type , as one another.

Yeah. But this is where we start getting into , the climax of everything. Yeah. And this is a big scene, so moving forward to the battling all the Pokemon are battling mu is battling mu two at this point, but the clones are battling like they're inverse, right? , And you see that, and then all of a sudden, and this is a Western audience thing, this did not release in the Japanese version.

Oh God. The, they start going into this anti-violence message because they're all like, they're Pokemon. They don't want to fight. They're fighting immoral. Do they do it? But what, how do they do it Chase? They just, they go around the arena to all the trainers and the people there, and they're just giving you the exposition.

, It's so stupid and conflicting because the whole point of Pokemon is to battle your minds. Yes. And, , advance and create the ultimate team and party. It's, yes. , It's not about the violence because in the games and whatnot, it's not really violence though, because nobody's actually.

, It's happening in an honorable way, , in a way that's structured. It's not like hateful violence against a group of people. Yeah. Or like death. , It's because they're fighting their, and their entire structure and culture , is based around battling their Pokemon, , and , it's just one of those things.

So why are you trying to make it immoral now? And it ne never made sense , and it didn't make sense with the rest of the movie because at this point. It's still supposed to be about existential crisis and what's your purpose in life, and that's what the original script were. But Warner Brothers decided to write this entire script, and it does not match tonally the rest of the movie. This tone is just completely shifted. It throws you off and throws you into a grinder of a like emotional thought, like, you're like, this is stupid.

No wonder Toho hated this because you're shitting on the entire thing that makes Pokemon exist. , And so they get this battle going and it's like anti-violence speech through every character. And you and me two , are battling and Ash is like, no, stop fighting. You shouldn't fight. Even though I'm a Pokemon trainer, I've been doing this for a long time, and I came here to fight, but don't fight.

No, don't fight. And he jumps in the middle of their battle as they shoot these like powerful rays, I guess out. I don't know. And Ash just. Collapses in a heap in terms of stone. Stone of, yeah. Thankfully. Because at least there was some level to this movie that there was some sense of sacrifice or risk , or what have you, but Right.

, think about the Japanese version of this movie. So at me two at the beginning, he understands that he's just a clone and he has say existential crisis of like, why do I exist?

I'm just an experiment. And the little girl that dies in front of him tells him, no, you're alive. Be thankful for being alive. And then we have this whole rewritten scene at the end. But in the Japanese version, it's more or less like purpose. Right? And so Ash sacrifices himself, which makes sense in , that world.

It doesn't really make sense here other than like, this is what violence caused. You caused ash to turn to stone. Honestly, I was okay with it 'cause he stopped talking. , But he goes down, Pikachu walks over, starts crying, crying. And it's a very, it's very sad. Sad. It was very sad. The music, Erica's Erica started sobbing when that happened.

She started welling up and tearing up and I mean, that was a, that was a, was a very sad, it was a sad moment, especially when you were seven years old. Like the seven years probably hard. It's the best so much of the film though. It's, I, would it say , it's the redeeming quality of this film If there is one.

Well Pikachu starts crying and then all the other Pokemon, including the clones, start crying and their tears collectively come together and save them. It makes no sense. Somehow it brings Ash back to life.

This version's just like, oh, I, that Pokemon loves that guy, and that guy sacrificed himself for the Pokemon, so , maybe we shouldn't fight. Maybe we're all the same. And MuTu just ends his plot to destroy the world and just leaves. And he has that famous quote that again, isn't., It's applicable, but like, not really for the, you know, the version we saw at Lasan or the story.

Yeah. He says, I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are, which fits with the Japanese version. And it does not , make any sense with the American. It falls so flat. It was like, okay, so you go, that's neat, but like, that's our fourth tonal shift in this entire movie.

Yeah. And then that's it. That's pretty much it. They end up like it's over. But what happens is, thank God ME two starts to fly off. He takes the clone Pokemon with them flying into the skies, and they're all kinda watching below. And U2 says out to him, you know, U2 believes in Scientology, and he was just going to the mothership.

He, I mean, this was all a big Ponzi scheme. Clearly. Um, he, but he was just gonna euthanize all of 'em when it's done. And he literally says, I think the events today are best forgotten. And all of a sudden, you know, things kinda fade away and Ash and Misty and Brock are back in that ferry station.

They're like, huh, how do we get here? What's happening? And Misty says like, I think we're just here because we're here. And the storm magically stops. Doesn't Brock even say, all the women here are pretty Yes. Or something like that. Something like that. So we gotta get him another line. , And the storm stops and, , that's pretty much it.

And then we pan into Jesse, James and Meowth on some like Bear Island, like, how do we get here? Oh wait, this is Paradise. Oh, do you have some sunscreen? And then Meowth makes that stupid line about the, and that's the end of the fucking movie. That's it. Yeah, that's that. That's it. Literally it, that's Pokemon.

The first movie. We wasted a too much time getting to this point, but , I call it Pokemon the first disaster. So tell us how you really feel it'll get there. So let's start with you, Kyle, this movie when you were a kid versus this movie now. , I don't remember watching this as a child. I remember I did watch it and it was sad, but I remember it being happy at the end.

And it's kind of like great mouth detective where it's like, , you're like, oh, that's right. That what we was lit. 'cause this happened, this happened, this happened, this happened. But it doesn't happen the way you think it does and it's empty is an empty shell of a movie, in my opinion. , It has a couple of shining moments, but most of it is just I don't know.

, The game, the other media do more justice than this movie did. And I, looking back on it, this is just, this is a money grab that they did a really good job on. Andrew said it best. It, this is just an extended episode of the show. It's just, yeah, it's an hour long episode of the series. It's not really a movie.

And , it was really underwhelming because , I saw the movie a bunch when I was a kid. I had the soundtrack, but , I didn't remember anything about it. And then I got in, I was like, that's it. That's what I watched. , And to come back into reality as an adult and find out like , the tonal shift was abrasive and hurt the overall film tremendously.

And we can go ahead and say this, it's panned , the US version is. , And then on top of that, knowing that they took out what would've been a , great overall plot and just. Mangled it up and threw it away like it didn't matter, like thinking that they knew better for American audiences and made that dog shit.

I want to give you a quote, , , this was from, , Kubo Maa Masao Masao. , he's one of the Japanese producers or creators I would imagine.

, This was him talking about the people at Warner. He said, , they gave us some hassle over the script. According to them, the Japanese original does not distinguish clearly enough between the good guys and the bad. Such a movie would not be successful in the multi-ethnic country like the United States.

Oh my God. This is what they insisted, because the viewers would not know who to identify with and who to cheer on. In other words, the heroes and villains needed to be identified clearly, which is why they made me two. Mm-hmm. And the evil force, if you will, and they changed it and just brought it down into the mud.. I am gonna go ahead , and quote Kyle here, Warner Brothers, if you're listening, no one gives a shit. Yeah. Multi-ethnic country since when does that really factor in to things? , It had too many questions and they didn't wanna take a risk on it. Yeah. And they didn't want, they didn't want a character that was multi-layered, that could be seen as good and evil at the same time.

Where brother,, it was a calculated financial decision to limit risk when making this movie so they could maximize the profit. And here's the deal. They would've maximized regardless, because Pokemon was such a big draw regardless. ? You didn't have to change anything.

They didn't, it would've been just as successful in my opinion, probably even more. In fact, there was such fan backlash for them taking out that beginning part of me Two's origin. Yeah. That it got rereleased on I think it was me two strikes back or something.

Yes. They made that a short, it was a short movie. It was that, that 10 minutes that they cut out from the beginning of this movie, , they put it in as bonus material. I'm not sure where we go from here, but, so Andrew, as a child, you loved this movie, right?

I think I did. I remember being very excited. , How do you feel now? I was pretty underwhelming. I hate to get on the same train, . You can love Pokemon a hundred percent and you can love the universe that we live in. Obviously it's thrived. , It's come back from this.

But we're just strictly talking about the move. Think about some, series TV shows that had a movie that was made like the Simpsons movie. I'm sure there are other ones that we could find that was so much bigger and different than the series itself. This movie was not it. Like I said, it was just an extension of the series.

That's a long, extended episode. There was nothing that. It's special about it, in my opinion, and , , I really want to watch the Japanese cut now because I feel that it will be, I wouldn't say that much better, . I saw the beginning that they cut out and that 10 minutes is.

, It's amazing. It's incredible. Yeah. I don't, I didn't get to watch the se the final scene where they put in the anti-violence, so I don't know what all the dialogue looked like, but they changed a lot of it apparently. Yeah. So I honestly, I have a proposition that we find the Japanese version and for a holdup, just a minute we talk about the Japanese version.

Just, you know, see if it holds up or if it's significantly better than what we've discussed today, it's gonna be better. There's no way this can be worse. I think it'll be like, , how better? How much better? Yeah. Does it completely redeem itself? Is it something that truly makes it hold up at that point?

You know? So I think that's something that we should look into doing because I'm curious. I'm, I know we can find it on online somewhere. Kyle, does this movie hold up? Nope. Simple. I love it. , I don't think it holds up at all. , Andrew, , you're the Pokemon expert. It's up to you.

No. If it was viewed as just like an episode, I'd be like, yeah, fine. But as a movie, as a film, no. It's disappointing. Yeah. And it's a shame because there's a lot of nostalgia attached to this, and it was the first of its, , kind in a sense that it was the first, it was the first Pokemon movie.

Like that's a big deal, but it's pretty underwhelming. , What's funny now is , they remade it in CGI. Yes, they did. And I haven't seen it. I didn't see that. I heard it was cut, cut for, cut, cut. Like, so I'm like, I'm sure it's probably not that good if it's cut for cut. I am not watching it. I like, I, like I said, the nostalgia though, that's attached to this.

If I don't think about the plots and the movie, but , if I think of it as a all inclusive experience with the memorabilia and the things that were sold, burger King and McDonald's, and the toys that came with it, like that. Brings me to a place where I want to say yes, but no. The movie itself is not Yeah.

That, that's why we created this show is 'cause you can't live on nostalgia. This thing sucked and . It's like everything else in the world can be fine, but this movie as a movie, as an adult is the nostalgia. Can't carry you on this, on this. Andrew, do you have any final thoughts on Pokemon, this is your platform to do it. This movie still doesn't like change how I feel about Pokemon as a franchise as a whole.

In order of what I liked most. It was games number one, two, the cards, and then three, the series. So the fact that this first movie was not that great doesn't change anything for me. I'm still, I still love Pokemon. And honestly, Pokemon to me is really the video game. , The music, , the graphics, the environment, that is what brought me in and will always have me not this movie.

, This wasn't even a stain, it was just a blip, . . Kyle, what would you rate this movie? I'm gonna give it about a 4.80, that's higher than I thought you were gonna give it.

Yeah, , I was entertained while watching parts of it. But it was short enough. This is an hour, 15 minutes, so like, yeah. , It's a merciful watch. It's not crazy, but like you, anything above a four point, and I'm being generous with 4.8 because I was originally a 3.7. But I did like the animation good.

The animation, the animations were good and, it to a certain degree hits on some parts of the childhood, , but not anywhere near enough , to be like , a movie that you wanna watch over again over again. I'm going 4.5. Yeah. Yeah. Is it below mediocre to me? I am going to go a little bit higher just because.

It doesn't matter. You're gonna do what the people do on IMDB, right? They ju these like nostalgic scores. I know the score, this one on IM db, I'm gonna do a 5.1, just get into the fives and you know, above and you can't do 5.0 'cause you don't like to do that. You can't do hole numbers like that.

, 5.5 0.1, and that's generous. So, all right. , What is IMDB on it? I bet it's like 6.4 . God. Oh my. It's way too high. Is it? Yeah, it is. And that's the US version, right? That is the US version that is Pokemon the movie. It's not that good guys. It's not even, I wouldn't even say it's good. It's passable.

I don't like thinking of the first Pokemon movie in this light.

Truly. It's trash. It's trash. Yeah. It is just not, it's not good. And I hate that we all agree and where there's no descent here, but , , it's pretty obvious. Yeah. , We hate to bring back your nostalgia and just to shit all over it, but you know, there's still good things to I you go upstairs and play some Pokemon and make yourself feel better.

, I might have to go break out silver version and just start a new, , a new story. I was gonna say, thank God, silver version, not gold. Like I'm really buying fuck gold, . , 

so that puts a pretty little bow on season three. Kyle, do you know what we got for season four coming up? Friends. Summer blockbusters are on the way. We're gonna hit the good ones, the bad ones. And all of 'em are ugly. There's gonna be some shining examples, I think , in the midst and some that were sleepers that we never really thought about.

But just, , be on the lookout for those. You're not gonna wanna miss them. Yeah, that's right. We got summer blockbusters heading your way, , all summer along. , These are gonna be a lot of fun to go through. I'm very excited. , I know Andrew's excited too. In the meantime, please follow us on social media.

Please reach out to us. Let us know what summer blockbusters you'd like to see us record. There's a chance that we get to one, maybe if you're lucky. But in the meantime, . You know what we do here? We reach into your , nostalgic brain. Pull the movies from your past to see if they hold up.

Today we pulled out Pokemon and sadly, with a tear in his eye over here, Andrew has decided it does not. So don't watch it. Maybe go watch the Japanese version. Let us know if it's any different. Let us know if you like it. Summer Blockbusters launch in two weeks, we will see you next time.