With the first theatrical Pokémon movie returning to theaters next weekend, there’s no better time to reflect on that film than right now. Pokémon: The First Movie released in Japan in the summer of ’98 before making its way to the United States in 1999, helping to fuel the rampaging PokeMania taking place around the world.
Pokemon: The First Movie focused on events concerning Mewtwo – at the time considered the most powerful Pokémon – who was the result of a genetic experiment funded by the villainous Team Rocket. Mewtwo’s distrust of humans leads him to building a castle on the remote island where he was created, and he mysteriously invites a number of trainers, including protagonist Ash Ketchum, to the island. What is originally believed to be a battle tournament turns out to be just a ruse for Mewtwo to clone the trainer’s Pokémon for himself. The ensuing battle leads to the appearance of Mew (the original Pokémon that Mewtwo was cloned from). Mewtwo eventually learns the errors of his ways, and disappears with his clones after erasing everyone’s memories of the events.
A number of changes were made to the film for its English release. Notably, Mewtwo was changed from a morally confused character to a rather straightforward antagonist; the message of the movie also changed from “all life is equal” to “fighting is wrong.” Mew’s character was also changed, going from rather antagonistic of the cloned Pokémon in the original Japanese version to more of an aloof hero in the English version.
Though the movie sits at an abysmal 14% on Rotten Tomatoes, the Pokemon fans ate it up. It grossed $163 million during its run, becoming the highest-grossing anime film in the U.S. and the highest-selling film based on a video game (until Lara Croft: Tomb Raider came out in 2001).