Yuyama, Kunihiko

Pokemon the First Movie - Mewtwo vs. Mew

The world domination of Pokémon begets their first theatrical movie. This adventure is a little more complex and dark than the popular TV series, but kids who live for the show will gobble up this film and ask for seconds. Those baffled by the show's popularity, however, will see nothing better here. Mewtwo, a new type of Pokémon designed by scientists to be the ultimate fighter, decides he wants to rule the world and challenges all the great Pokémasters to battle. Of course, our intrepid heroes Ash, Misty, and Brock are there to tangle with Mewtwo and spoil his devilish schemes. The film is a tad more emotional than the show (that is, there is some emotion), with Ash sacrificing himself to defend his beloved Pikachu (but don't you worry, Ash will be just fine).

Would you really expect the makers of this worldwide phenomenon to radically change its winning formula? The feature is only 55 minutes long, but there's also a 20-minute short, "Pikachu's Vacation." For the Pokémon novice, this escapade will truly baffle: the narrated tale has virtually no dialogue except Pokémon speaking their names (Bulbasaur, for instance, will only express emotion by using variations of his name: "Bulba, Bulba-SAUR!"). It's a real curio. --Doug Thomas

The adventure explodes into action with the debut of Mewtwo, a bio-engineered Pokemon created from the DNA of Mew, the rarest of all Pokemon. Determined to prove its superiority, Mewtwo lures Ash, Pikachu and others into a Pokemon match like none before. Mewtwo vs. Mew. Super-clones vs. Pokemon. It's the ultimate showdown ... with the very future of the world at stake! Also, includes the mini-movie Pikachu's Vacation and never-before-seen bonus footage!

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Commentary by M. Haigney & N. Grossfeld
Featurette:"Pikachu's Vacation" - 19:00 with chapters
Music Video:"Don't Say You Love Me" by M2M (3:42)
Other:Preview of "Pokemon: The Second Movie" (1:00) "Mewtwo's Origin" (2:17)

Pokemon - The Movie 2000

Thanks to a greedy Pokémon collector, Earth's weather patterns are askew and its population doomed unless Pokémon trainer Ash can return three glass balls to their proper place in this second Pokémon feature. Unlike the television show, the movie features little violence and no Pokémon battles in the classic sense. Instead, the focus is an environmental one: what happens when humans interfere with the harmony of Earth's elements--in this case fire, ice, and lightning. Even Team Rocket have a (temporary, to be sure) change of heart, joining Ash and Misty in their effort to free the three imprisoned birdlike Pokémon who regulate those elements. The good intentions of this 76-minute film, however, don't make it any less dull for grownups (even though this feature is better than the first). Even more mind-numbing than the feature is the lead-in short, "Pikachu's Rescue Adventure," in which Pikachu and Pokémon friends follow Team Rocket's feline down a hole into a Munchkinland-type place. Without the humans for dialogue, viewers must endure a full 20 minutes of nothing but the squawks and squeaks of pocket monsters. As the movie's title song says, "We all live in a Pokémon world." (Ages 3 and older.) --Kimberly Heinrichs

Pokemon Season 1 Box Set - Indigo League

Pokémon scored an immediate hit when it debuted on American TV in 1995: Adapted from a Gameboy game created by Satoshi Sajiri, the diminutive "pocket monsters" spawned a multibillion dollar franchise on both sides of the Pacific. The initial mania died down after a few years, but the games and the animated series and features have remained popular. Although it's unabashedly product-based and overly cute at times, Pokémon remains an agreeable children's entertainment that stresses friendship, perseverance, and good sportsmanship. The first broadcast season introduces the main characters and follows them through first part of the game in its original Red and Blue versions. Aspiring Pokémon trainer Ash Ketchum must establish a bond with Pikachu, the ultra-cute, but initially recalcitrant "electric mouse." He leaves his home in Pallet Town and quickly befriends fellow-trainers Misty and Brock. As the trio wanders through forests and towns, Ash begins collecting Pokémon and fighting other trainers. (The fights are very tame: Pokémon faint when they're exhausted, but are never injured or killed.) The three friends also outwit inept comic villains of Team Rocket, Jesse, James, and Meowth. Ash gradually matures through his experiences: In episode 20, he learns self-sacrifice when he allows Butterfree, the first Pokémon he caught and trained, to find a mate and depart for their nesting grounds. The original motto, Pokémon Getto Daze! (Let's Get Pokémon!) became "Gotta Catch 'Em All!" and many fans are still trying to do just that, although the initial number of 151 Pokémon, has more than tripled over the years. (Unrated, suitable for all ages: cartoon violence) --Charles Solomon

Enjoy the Pokémon story from the beginning! Meet our hero, Ash, in his hometown of Pallet Town where boys and girls are encouraged to begin their Pokémon journeys! Join the Indigo League in this special box set of 26 episodes from Season 1 of Pokémon!

Pokemon Heroes: The Movie

The fifth Pokémon movie takes Ash, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu to the city of Altomare, a thinly disguised Venice guarded by the shape-shifting Pokémon Latios and Latias. Two new agents of Giovanni's, Annie and Oakley, are out to capture these rare Pokémon--reducing Team Rocket to the role of spectators. Latios and Latias are linked to an elaborate, computer-generated mechanism that defends the city, controls the tides and brings fossil Pokémon back to life. Ash and Pikachu foil the evil plan with some help from Misty, Brock, and Bianca, a girl who lives in Altomare with her kindly grandfather. The contrived story suggests that as far as features are concerned, the Pokémon franchise has pretty much run dry. (The film earned less than $1 million in its U.S. theatrical release.) Extras include a Camp Pikachu short and a Pokémon Heroes trivia game. (Rated G, all ages: minor cartoon violence) --Charles Solomon

The fifth installment of the phenomenally successful POKEMON series takes place in a mysterious city on water. Set against a baffling maze of canals and alleyways, Ash, Pikachu, the rest of the gang take on a slick new pair of thieves in this glamorous, high-stakes adventure story. The film introduces two new Pokemon characters -- Latias and Latios, who possess strong psychic abilities and the power to disguise themselves as humans!

Pokemon 3 - The Movie

The most elaborate of the features to date, Pokémon 3: The Movie, Spell of the Unown introduces new Pokémon that debuted in the fall of 2000 in the Gold- and Silver-edition Gameboy games. En route to the Johto Tournament, Ash, Brock, and Misty visit the mountain village of Greenfield, where they encounter an 8-year-old girl named Molly. Her father, Professor Spencer Hale, disappeared when he set off to study the Unown, a group of 26 Pokémon that resemble letters. The Unown build a baroque crystalline shell around Molly's palatial home, send the leonine Entei to watch over her, and grant whatever she wishes--except the return of her father. What Molly really wants is a family: she refers to Entei as her father and has him kidnap Ash's mom to be her mother. Ash charges to the rescue with the help of Pikachu, Charizard, and Cyndaquil. In the climactic battle, Ash is joined by Brock and Misty, as well as the usually villainous Team Rocket. ("We figure if we don't help you, we're outta showbiz," Meowth explains.) Molly's father eventually reappears, but the viewer never sees the reunion with his daughter. Ash, Molly, and the other two-dimensional characters simply don't fit into three-dimensional, computer-generated crystal settings, and large sections of Pokémon 3 look like two movies unsuccessfully spliced together. A short is also included, "Pikachu and Pichu," in which the popular electric Pokémon wanders through a big city, getting into mischief with the mouselike Pichu brothers. --Charles Solomon

Pokemon 4Ever: Movie

The fourth Pokémon feature follows the pattern set by the previous three--and falls into the same traps. The TV series depicts the modest adventures of Pokémon trainer Ash Ketcham and his friends Brock and Misty as they roam an imaginary world, fighting matches and making friends. The features add elaborate CG effects that don't mesh with the flat, drawn characters, and over-scaled threats that feel beyond Ash's abilities to resolve. Forty years ago, Sam, a young trainer, meets the 251st Pokémon Celebi (it looks like Tinkerbell with a goldfish for a head). To escape a mean hunter, Celebi brings Sam to the present day, where they meet Ash & Company. They also meet the evil Iron Mask Marauder who's supposed to be a member of Team Rocket, but who's much nastier than the comically inept Jessie, James, and Meowth. The Marauder corrupts Celebi with a "dark ball" and forces it to create a monster out of trees, branches, etc., that is blatantly copied from the Night Walker in Princess Mononoke. Ash and his friends eventually save the day, the Pokémon, and the forest--but it all feels like we've been there/done that. --Charles Solomon

All of your favorite Pokémon characters are back and are joined for the first time by the legendary Pokémon Celebi and Suicune in this latest exciting Pokemon adventure! In order to escape a greedy Pokémon hunter, Celebi must use the last of its energy to travel through time to the present day. Celebi brings along Sammy, a boy who had been trying to protect it. Along with Ash, Pikachu, and the rest of the gang, Sammy and Celebi encounter an enemy far more advanced than the hunter left behind in the past. This new enemy possesses a Pokeball called a "Dark Ball," which transforms the Pokémon it captures into evil and far stronger creatures. When Celebi is captured, the fate of the entire forest is threatened. Let POKÉMON 4EVER transport you to a world of adventure as Ash, Suicune, and the rest take action to save the day!

Pokemon - Destiny Deoxys

Ash, Pikachu, and a new friend are visiting the high tech city of LaRousse when a meteorite crashes bearing a new Pokemon, Deoxys.
Genre: Children's Video
Rating: NR
Release Date: 15-FEB-2005
Media Type: DVD

Pokemon - Mewtwo Returns

In this direct-to-video sequel to Pokémon: The First Movie, Ash, Misty, and Brock continue exploring the Johto region, then have to rescue Pikachu after Jessie and James of Team Rocket kidnap him. The search leads them to the hidden plateau where the redoubtable Mewtwo has established a haven for the cloned Pokémon from the previous film. The evil Giovanni is plotting to recapture Mewtwo and renew his efforts to create an army of bio-engineered Pokémon. Aided by the reluctant Meowth, Ash and his friends defeat Giovanni and his henchman in a battle that is less over the top than the original feature but more intense than the program's usual adventures and lessons in sportsmanship. The result is a mildly amusing, not particularly involving film. Mewtwo's angry brooding and some of the action may be too scary for very small children. Unrated; suitable for ages 6 and up. --Charles Solomon

Pokemon - Jirachi Wish Maker

The sixth Pokémon feature may well rank as the most satisfying entry in the series because the filmmakers avoid the overblown threats of the earlier films. Ash and Brock are joined not by Misty, but by May and her little brother Max, on a trip to a festival. Butler the magician and his assistant Diane introduce them to Jirachi, a wish-granting Pokémon that emerges every thousand years, when the Millennium Comet appears in the sky. Max and Jirachi quickly bond. Butler tries to exploit the energy Jirachi receives from the comet to regenerate an extinct Pokémon. He accidentally creates a monster that Ash, Max, and Jirachi have to defeat, but it's not the kind of world-threatening menace that throw the previous Pokémon features out of balance. Adults may find the film tedious, but Pokémon-playing children will enjoy it. (Not rated, suitable for ages 6 and older: minor cartoon violence) --Charles Solomon

Catch one of the most amazing Pokémon ever -- Jirachi, a magical creature capable of making wishes come true -- in this all-new Pokémon movie never before seen in theaters! Only once every thousand years when the Millennium Comet is visible in the night sky does Jirachi awaken from his slumber. And when he awakens this time at a traveling circus, he's got a whole new set of friends by his side: Ash, Pikachu, Max, and the whole gang. But soon, they must rescue Jirachi from the clutches of an evil magician and former scientist named Butler who wants to harness Jirachi's incredible energy to bring to life one of the most legendary and powerful Pokémon of all! Packed with nonstop thrills, high-energy action, and lots of surprises, POKÉMON: JIRACHI WISH MAKER is a wish come true for fans!

Pokemon - The Adventures in the Orange Islands Vol 1

These 12 episodes from the second broadcast season (nos. 228-239 in the overall continuity) help to bridge the events of the first season, which took aspiring trainer Ash Ketcham from his Pallet Town home to the Pokémon League championships, and the later "Johto Journeys" story line. Professor Oak sends Ash, Misty, and Brock to the Orange Islands to collect a mysterious Pokéball found by fellow researcher Professor Ivy. When they reach her lab, Brock decides to stay with the Professor and her three female assistants. Ash and Misty are soon joined by Tracey, a "Pokémon Watcher" in training who sketches. After the perpetually amorous Brock, he makes a rather bland companion. Although the archipelago boasts a string of gyms, Ash wins only one badge, the Coral Eye.

There's little sense of a narrative thread to these stories as the characters wander aimlessly from island to island. They escape the snares of the inept Team Rocket (Jessy, James, and Meowth), who stalk them in a submarine disguised as a giant Magicarp. In the weird "Stage Fright," a traveling troupe uses Pokémon as puppets, but Kay is having trouble with her Raichu: she can't get it to follow when she recites "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." (They don't consider the possibility that Raichu, like generations of English students, may be bored by the poem.) The Pokémon craze peaked long ago, but the series remains a harmless, if repetitious diversion for smaller children. (Suitable for all ages: minor cartoon violence) --Charles Solomon

Ash and his friends depart for the Orange Islands! While the may leave some old friends behind and meet new friends, Ash and Pikachu continue their wild adventures on Ash's quest to become a Pokemon Master! Contains four volumes, 12 episodes on one disc for $24.98. That's four hours of Pokemon -- a great value!!