'Pokémon' flick good for kids

The amazing phenomenon which started as a Game Boy game and then evolved into a television show and card game has fully realized its full merchandising potential by becoming a major motion picture. "Pokémon The First Movie" is finally here.

Researchers in a top-secret lab create a clone of the rare Mew Pokémon and name him Mewtwo. The genetically engineered Mewtwo, is an extremely powerful Pokémon, possessing the original Mew's legendary strengths as well as increased intelligence, telepathic and telekinetic powers. Mewtwo, disillusioned by his test tube origins and status merely as an experiment, destroys the lab and scientists.

Courtesy of Warner Brothers Mewtwo, the strongest Pokémon on the planet, prepares to do battle against Ash and Pikachu in "Pokémon The First Movie."

A rich and unscrupulous business executive forms an alliance with Mewtwo and teaches him to harness his psychic powers. Encased in strange armor, Mewtwo engages in Pokémon battles and learns to control and wield his powers. The human partner tries to enslave Mewtwo with the armor, prompting Mewtwo to destroy his would-be master. Angered and frustrated, Mewtwo swears vengeance on mankind and leaves the ruins of his past to find his destiny.

Ash Kethum and his friends, Misty and Brock, (characters from the television show) are lured to remote New Island, where they must do battle with Mewtwo, now a master trainer, to prevent his plans for world domination.

Mewtwo steals all of the Pokémons and clones them, making duplicate Pokémon to fight the originals.

Mew, the Pokémon that Mewtwo was cloned from, appears and saves the Pokémon trainers, engaging in a battle with his clone.

The battle escalates, involving all of the Pokémon in a duel to the death. Ash gets killed attempting to stop the fighting between Mew and Mewtwo. His death so saddens the Pokémon that they cry and their tears bring him back to life.

Mewtwo, moved by the sacrifice of a human, ceases his fighting and takes his clone Pokémon with him, erasing the memories of Ash and the rest of the Pokémon trainers.

Anyone that likes the television show should love the movie. The feature continues in the style of the television show, using many familiar Pokémon in the feature as well as similar animation. A new Pokémon, Donaphan, is introduced in the movie.

The "Pokémon" movie was accompanied by "Pikachu's Vacation," a 22-minute short devoid of meaningful dialogue (Pokémon vocabulary consists entirely of their own names). Aside from the introduction of two new Pokémon, Snubble and Marill, the short was neither cohesive nor interesting. It barely did more than parade a myriad of Pokémons across the screen.

A solid kid's movie, "Pokémon" presents compelling moral issues and results in a happy ending. It is a real treat for those that 'Gotta catch 'em all."

11-11-99