Mewtwo Strikes Back! (M01)

[Raindrop]

There's a problem with that. There was no such explanation in the Japanese version. So it confused the hell out of everyone and made them wonder how in the world Pokémon tears could bring someone back to life.

And the music IS better in the original. It had alot of orchestrated music. I feel no sympathy when a song like "Brother My Brother" plays when Pokémon are wearing themselves out in a fight to the death. :\

Okay, then I understand why. But still there are many people who saw the english version.

I don't mind them playing "Brother my Brother". I actually like it very much And it's about that they shouldn't fight, which gives a good message when you see all those poor Pokémon, forced to fight to the death even that they never wanted to.

Anyway, I believe you when you say that the music is better in the japanese version. There they take Pokémon seriously, something that USA made into a wimpy childrens thing.

[Jesse GS the II]

What can be said about this movie? Well, when it first came out in 1999, I was all over it - I counted down the days, went to Burger King to collect the Kids' Meal toys, and I even got the teaser poster to hang in my room (I've long since given it to another kid I know who likes "Pokémon"). I planned on going back to see it four more times so I could get all five promo cards they were handing out - but naturally, my theater ran out of those in the first hour of the movie's opening.

Looking back on it now, this wasn't a particularly good movie. My opinion of it was certainly affected by Dogasu's website, and now that I know how much 4Kids changed the story, I see that this one could have been a lot better. On a side note, I will say that this is one of only two movies my sister has cried at ("The Rugrats Movie" being the other one - don't ask why she feels such compassion for cartoons), but I remember when I saw this one in theaters, the group of kids sitting in front of me thought the scene where Pikachu continually shocks Ash's petrified body was hilarious and would not stop laughing throughout it. Really killed whatever mood was left in the movie that hadn't already been erased by that "Brother, My Brother" sequence.

This is also the only "Pokémon" movie I own on video. When my mom watched it with me, she kept pointing out that the exposed vein or spinal cord or whatever it is on the back of Mewtwo's head makes him look like a teapot. I still don't see what she meant. And what is that thing on the back of his head, anyway?

EDIT: Even before I knew how many changes the script went through in translation, I knew 4Kids had screwed it up quite a bit. Aside from the Pidgeotto, Sandshrew, and Alakazam bloopers (how the HELL do you mistake Scyther for Alakazam?) I knew that lines like "I think they mostly live in Minnesota" couldn't possibly have been in the original Japanese version. Shows how much 4Kids underestimates its audience sometimes. Though I will concede that Jessie's line "Stroke! Stroke!...And I think I'm gonna have one" made me laugh.

[Chris]

I don't mind them playing "Brother my Brother". I actually like it very much And it's about that they shouldn't fight, which gives a good message when you see all those poor Pokémon, forced to fight to the death even that they never wanted to.

Another problem there. No one forced them to fight. Mewtwo didn't disable their powers nor did he do anything to them. They all fought on free will.

The whole conversation in the Japanese version was talking about how when one animal invades the territory of another animal, it doesn't give up until it's driven the trespasser away. And then everyone expresses fear that the pokemon will never give up, resulting in their deaths. Yet for some reason, all that had to be rewritten.

So as you can see, Brother My Brother really didn't fit at all when they were all combatting eachother to the death on their own free will. They were fighting for their lives, not just a silly little battle they could recover from or because the clones were "bad." Not to mention, the song is really hypocritical in a show involving trainers forcing their Pokémon to battle others. o_O

The good that did come out of this dub movie though was the Burger King advertising (hey, I went to Burger King every two days just to get all the toys XP) and the cards that came with ticket purchase. Oh how I loved the movie promo Mewtwo. <3

[Raindrop]

Another problem there. No one forced them to fight. Mewtwo didn't disable their powers nor did he do anything to them. They all fought on free will.


So as you can see, Brother My Brother really didn't fit at all when they were all combatting eachother to the death on their own free will. They were fighting for their lives, not just a silly little battle they could recover from or because the clones were "bad." Not to mention, the song is really hypocritical in a show involving trainers forcing their Pokémon to battle others. o_O

The good that did come out of this dub movie though was the Burger King advertising (hey, I went to Burger King every two days just to get all the toys XP) and the cards that came with ticket purchase. Oh how I loved the movie promo Mewtwo. <3

Meh, the dubbed version seems to talk about totally different things. But I still don't really get that they would fight of their own will. How do you explain where Mewtwo points his finger over the arena at the others and shouts "Go!", and then all the clones rush over to fight them. If he dosen't say the same thing in the original version I don't know what that would mean otherwise Oo

Anyway, I'm very interested about the original version. Everybody seems to appreciate it. Does anybody know where you could get your hands on it? And I need it with english text then, I would have a VERY hard time to understand japanese ^^;

[Chris]

The Pokémon were already willing to fight. Mewtwo just signaled them to fight. It's as Takeshi said. They were basically like animals fighting over territory. It's like the old saying "This place ain't big enough for the two of us." The clones wanted to live normal lives, so in order for that to happen, they'd have to be just as equal or better than the originals. The originals were defending their rights to live and be allowed to share their world with humans.

My copy of the movie is the only one I don't have on my computer. >.> I happened to buy my VHS copy fansubbed for only $5 at a comic store. You could probably find fansubbed copies at comic stores if you looked and asked. Can't really talk about downloads here, though.

[Raindrop]

Ookay, I understand now :P But then actually the dubbed version seems to be more sad than the japanese one. In the dubbed version they are forced to fight even though they don't want to, which makes it pretty sad to see them fighting like that (remember the scene where the cloned Pikachu slaps the original in the face until it starts to cry, which I take as that it really don't want to fight but he has to because Mewtwo forces him to). And then in the end they realize that they shouldn't fight like that, this violence never leads to anything. Oh, well.

Yeah, I know, it's against the rules to talk about downloads here. I'll just try to get my hands on it somehow X)

[Chris]

Actually, it's more sad in the Japanese version considering the Pokémon are fighting desperately and for so long that they're tiring out their bodies. The background music (which Murgatroyd supplied earlier) helps the emotion of the scenes as well since neither one wants to lose but they're pushing their own bodies past their limits.

Not to mention, Mewtwo's reaction seeing a human step in the middle of things and sacrifice himself for the sake of all the Pokémon.

[Hales]

How did Mewtwo react to Ash stepping in anyway? I mean in the dub he looked shocked.

[Chris]

He was just as shocked, but the effect had a harder effect on Mewtwo in the original. He didn't turn entirely goody-goody like the dub lead on, but rather he felt somewhat accepting towards humans and figured that whether someone was created by man or God, they're still living creatures and deserve to live (since he questioned his existince about whether God or humans created him).

[Hales]

Sounds about right... I just recently watched this movie again... and somehow I always wondered how the Japanese version went

[Raindrop]

Oh, Mewtwo sound like a very interesting character in the original version. And I loved him in the dubbed one, so :P

[Pika Hikari KT]

I watched the first half of the original(w/ subtitles!). Mewtwo did question if he was created by God, but isn't told he is a Pokémon until after the battles that showed us his pwning abilities. My favorite scene was...yep, Mew playing on the windmill. Kept EXACTLY the same in both versions and is just TOO CUTE TO RESIST!-^_^- Other than that, Ash's sacrifice left me in tears when I first saw it; and the theme remixes were great! I give it...7/10.

[Yellow]

I loved this movie, after all how couldn't I, it was the 1st Movie!!
Anyway, I think the battle between Mewtwo and Mew was awesome! In the end, remeber when Ash saw Mew, that was the best part.

[TheGhostRevolution]

I thought It was a good movie 8/10, but It had some flaws that made me mad, like how two attacks from two legendary pokemon turn someone into stone? I thought Ash was going to be just a pile of err... ash!

[Evanescence]

Okay, who here cried when Pikachu cried. I did. He is just so cute and I had to cry when he did. It was the saddest thing I have ever seen in Pokemon except maybe "Bye Bye Butterfree". Also, in the commentary, they only mentioned the "Scyther/Alakazam" blooper and of course they said that they never did find the trainer that flew in on the Fearow. Anyway, they never mentioned that they said Pidgeotto when it was clearly a Pidgeot.

[Pinky the Mew]

This movie is the best of all the others from me and my brother's opinion. Though Idon't understand why they took out Mewtwo's origin. That would have better explained all of the questions of Mewtwo's behavior.

On top of which (drivng a little off subject), Anther movie about mew! has been announced and I'm soooo happy!! I just know it's going to have Mewtwo in it!! Come to think of it He really doesn't know much about the mew himself.

[Raindrop]

Also, in the commentary, they only mentioned the "Scyther/Alakazam" blooper and of course they said that they never did find the trainer that flew in on the Fearow.

I believe that was one of the trainers that simply didn't make it through the storm.

[pika_power]

good movie favorite scenes were when ash ccame out of the smoke leading the originals to battle and when all the cllones were batleing with the originals as for all the mistakes its the first movie after all.

[Shining Dark Riachu]

That part when Ash was dead, and all the pokemon stop fighting with each other and started crying, and their tears revived Ash almost put me to tears. Though it wasn't my favorite movie, my favorite was Heroes. And the Mew one no matter what anyone tells me is obviously going to have a new legendary in it, hence the second part of the title. I'm not ruling out an appearance of Mewtwo, but I don't think he'll have much focus if he's in it at all, and I hope/wish it has nothing to do with Ash, he's starting to bore me.

[AscendingLatios]

Quick question: Was the messenger Dragonite one of Mewtwo's clones, or was it a Pokemon-for-hire?

[Sumnor]

Ah, yes, my favorite Pokemon movie!! This is also the very first Pokemon movie that I saw, and that made me the Pokemon fan that I am today!

Quick question: Was the messenger Dragonite one of Mewtwo's clones, or was it a Pokemon-for-hire?

I've wondered about that for quite some time! The Dragonite probably was a Pokemon-for-hire, but I think it belonged to the Nurse Joy Mewtwo manipulated. At first I thought it was one of Mewtwo's clones, but since it never made another appearance later in the movie and Mewtwo Returns (like the Fearow with the camera)... oh well. A clone of Dragonite would have been a great asset for Mewtwo's group of clones.

[AscendingLatios]

The Dragonite probably was a Pokemon-for-hire, but I think it belonged to the Nurse Joy Mewtwo manipulated.

Yep, I like that explanation because it makes perfect sense! (TR sure did give him a bit of headache, though. )

[Juputoru]

I liked it, but I would've liked it more if not for:
-The insert song. BLECH. It was TOTALLY inapproriate for the scene. Granted, I don't like insert songs in general...the mini-explainatino sucked too(the original one was something about animals fighitng to the death to drive off intruders, or something like that...it wasn't THAT great, but it was better than the sappy, parental-approval "A fight to the death is a fight that no-one wins" message)
-4Kids' dumbing down of it. Seriously, everything they dumbed down/turned into parent approval could have easily been left in as is.(maybe even the God stuff...the g-word isn't evil, 4Kids!)
-Mew. It...didn't seem that important. It just hung around for most of the movie, then had a fight with Mewtwo that didn't seem to get as much detail or attention as I would have liked. I know the movie revolved around Mewtwo, not Mew, but still...

I give this movie a 7/10.

On a side note, why were the starter Pokemon the only ones that had different markings on them? They looked about the same as the ones in the Origin of Mewtwo, maybe that had something to do with it...

[Kasumi]

I like this film, but it;s the worst movie of four Pokemon movie which I watched Mew is cute, but he came on too seldom in this movie. I like Mewtwoo's phylosophy :>

[DarkerShining]

This movie is the only pokemon movie I've seen, I like it.
I'm better than Mewtwo, I'm getting my own movie! Mwahahaha!