Pokémon, le film : Je te choisis !

I'm 23. You might wonder why I'm telling you this, but that is not without significance.

When I was 6 years old I would get up every Sunday morning at 07.00 to see the latest Pokemon episode, and it was some of the happiest Sundays I spend watching, and because of that I was very nostalgic watching this movie.

NOW FOR THE REVIEW

What doesn't work:

1st off The movie is very fast paced, and because of that, some of the touching moments in this movie, some new, some recognizable doesn't really pay off.

2nd The animation has some of the old style, but also some new style which doesn't come off great. One moment you're like: Wow, that's like the old days, and in another: ugh that's not good.

3rd Because it rekindles some moments from the old days, you feel bad for the moments left out, which leaves you feeling a bit annoyed and cheated.

4th Team rocket is utterly wasted in this movie. They could have left them out, but they kept them for comic relief, which was a HUEEGE MISTAKE! WHAT A WASTE!

5th It's not for hardcore Pokemon fans. If you're deep into Pokemon new gens and hate the old stuff, this will leave you unsatisfied and feeling like they f**ked the community over.

What works:

1st off The movie is a mix of nostalgia and new gen Pokemon's and characters, and they actually made it work. Kudos.

2nd. If you are anything like me, an OG Pokemon fan and a bit of a GENWUNNER, this is gonna be pure nostalgia love-fest. Right off the bat you're taken back to pallet town and you know where this is headed, nostalgia adventures. You get to see some old legendary encounters and some heartfelt moments, which sweetens this roller-coaster ride.

3rd. We finally gets some closure an in depth story regarding ash an Ho- Oh. The chapter I waited for so long as a kid is finally here.

A MUST WATCH for GENWUNNERS and people who are nostalgic for the old seasons.

It gets a 6/10 and a +1 for nostalgia.

On a last and more serious note. This could have been a 9/10 Pokemon if they made it an hour longer. That would have allowed them to slow it down, focus on story and would have made the heartfelt moments pay off more than they did.

Plot of the film is basically alternate version of the first season of the series. It has many same scenes but has changed the plot to build around the Ho-Oh encounter, which happened in series but in series that didn't affect Ash's journey. Many of the later scenes are still same ones from series, but just in different places since Ash is traveling with different goal and direction. His travelmates aren't Misty and Brock but instead Verity and Sorrel who are basically same characters but with different names and look. Bad as a movie but if you want to watch how it all started. I think it's better to watch this instead of season 1 of the series. If you are not looking for nostalgia, there are better movies.

It's decent. The animation is refreshing and elevated and the storytelling is what one is to expect from a Pokémon movie. It's not a ground-breaking concept nor is it a stand-out film in the tapestry of Pokémon, but it certainly fulfills its role as the 20th anniversary celebration. If you decide to invest time into the movie, make sure to stick around for the credits. In my opinion, the visuals and music found there is the best of the movie, making one wonder why an entire film had to be crafted just to have it's essence buoyed primarily by nostalgia. What this movie does successfully (that nostalgia) isn't necessarily hard for a 20-year-old childhood-favorite franchise to muster up. Perhaps they realized this and took the easy way out.

Nevertheless, expect to walk away with your heart full of childhood warmth and your mind forgetting the rest.

This is my new favorite Pokémon movie. Way more better than these other modern Pokémon movies.

Over 20 years after its debut, it seems that Pokémon is not a fad and will be here to stay for the long haul. Of course, considering the mania surrounding the first games in the series back in the mid-1990's, by now enough time has passed for nostalgia to be a contributing factor to the franchise's continued success. The children who grew up with Pokémon are now adults in their late-20's and early-30's (i.e., "millennials"). In an attempt to cash in on this nostalgia, Pokémon's latest movie, I Choose You! recounts some of the memorable first moments of the anime, but with a slightly different storyline.

Initially, I was worried that this plot would be a pared-down selection of key moments from the anime, much like what has been done with other anime movies like One Piece's The Desert Princess and the Pirates (2007) and Episode of Chopper Plus(2008). Fortunately, this film managed to capitalize on some hindsight that ended up linking the first few episodes of the anime to significant plot points introduced in the second generation of games. Granted, this semi-ret-conning diverges from the anime plot (to a point where Team Rocket is completely uninvolved), but at least it provides a more cogent conclusion by the end of the film.

Some have bashed this movie for the controversial decision to give Pikachu an actual voice, but the nostalgia in me (partly from the anime, as much as from the first Pokémon movie) got chills during the climax of this film. That being said, I had trouble getting used to the new voice actors for this movie, which pulled me out of the nostalgia every now and again. In the end, the plot of this film probably follows a lot closer to the actual Pokémon games than the anime ever did, which is probably a plus considering some of the complaints many fans have about the anime.

A nostalgia trip for the millennials who grew up with Pokémon, I give I Choose You! 3.5 stars out of 5.