Seven months after he hit theaters in Japan, Pokémon: Mewtwo Holds Back Power – Evolution, remake of Pokémon: The First Movie, keep it on the payroll in America, arriving directly on Netflix. And, no surprise: it's as painful as ever.
The new, molded version follows the same structure as the original: Mewtwo, created from Mew's DNA, begins to question his existence. His stamina with Giovanni has left him tired of working with other people, so he is determined to see if there is someone who can beat him. The challenge gives her a reason to live. He invites powerful trainers on his island to fight him, including Ash, Misty and Brock, as well as chaos.
The only difference between this movie and the original 1999 is the rendering of every character and pokémon with 3D CGI hats, and very little details about Mewtwo's origins to the madness. The style is a revolutionary change from what we are used to seeing from the beginnings of Pokemon Pokemon. In 3D, Ash and his vocals look just … a little paralyzed. The eyes are not good. My mind tells me this one is not Ash, but Sash, his mysterious cousin, and his evil cousin
But combined with how well the Pokémon behaved, the pictures still work to tell the same story with the same feeling. While Ash and his friends look a little surprised, the Pokémon are even more alive. Meowth and Pikachu are something extra and endearing, and the style is simple enough that the curl on Wigglytuff's head is not yet made out to be exactly the same hairline, Detector Pikachu.
The prophetic message still holds, with its fascinating story of how life can unfold in so many different contexts and that the thing you do with your life is in you, nothing goes wrong. Watching the movie as a kid, I felt like Mewtwo was obviously a writer. He endangers these children and steals their Pokémon, whistles, and forces them to fight on their own. That's obvious.
It's hard to say if the little tweaks to Mewtwo's performance have made me feel this way, or just the way I feel looking at him as an adult, but … man, he didn't ask to be born! Watching Mewtwo happen to be living in the hands of scientists who do not follow through with the proper challenge of creating an almighty creature in the DNA of a god and being told that he is the only one to serve humanity made me feel bad for him.
Pokémon: Mewtwo Holds Back Power – Evolution it also updates some of my favorite events. The best is when the Dragonite gives the book to Ash and the plane leaves, stopped only by Team Rocket, pressing the panel on his head. Even the place where Ash it comes out in a loud voice proclaiming, “You can't do this. I did not consent, ”
The movie also contains a fresh and beautiful meta reference Pokémon jelly donut joke, as Brock tries to impress the girl with her cooking, telling her to "eat her (famous) donuts made with love." The original Japanese sound says onigiri, which could have been translated into anything else, such as "cooking" or "drink," which he did at the beginning of the movie. But this is a big change to go Evolution, telling you everything.