Review of Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! (2017) by Kyle M — 18 Dec 2017

A review reflects from your thought on a film, but, if applies, there's favoritism based on familiarity towards the frequent studios, genre, franchise, and/or program the film's based on, and you'd try to at least balance the lens between yourself and a regular. In my theatrical bucket list, I can check off "Pokémon", even though I'd stopped watching the anime around a year-and-a-half ago. So why did I saw the new movie "I Choose You!" on the big screen? Well, it was under appreciation since I've seen the beginning and was mostly with it since. But with the still-current lack of interest and reluctance on the possible audience, my lens towards the film are balanced between familiarity and regular. At the end, "Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You!" is worth a view, especially since it's a reboot, even though it's more for the enjoyment of the converted.

In this reboot, it goes back to the beginning of the anime, altering the first journey/season into a different continuity. The obvious protagonist, Ash Ketchum, starts off on his journey to become a Pokémon master, with his first Pokémon being a stubborn Pikachu, which also started a beautiful friendship when Ash wants to be friends with him. When their bond strengthens after an act of loyalty and prevented sacrifice, a legendary Pokémon, Ho-Ho, flew over them. The two vows to meet that Pokémon someday, and so start their true journey of meeting, befriending and battling more. This may sound like how the very first episode went, but the course afterwards is almost mostly different exclusively for this film.

"Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You!" is the twentieth film for the franchise in celebration of the anime's 20th anniversary, which is a similar case to how Dragon Ball celebrated in the respective anime's tenth anniversary with "The Path to Power", especially how both films retold the stories in slightly alternate continuity. With that being said, the rebooted structure focuses on crucial moments of Ash's journey that didn't remain constant (like his "aging" in the show) while taking the direction to a different focus that became the climax's location of the film. Even though it was directed by the same director Kunihiko Yuyama of the whole film series, this one is sensed differently and probably the most enjoyable yet by its heart with the additional qualities being in heightened art and attached emotions, though not the very best when few others offers some little more. Also in one intriguing expository look, there's a "what-if" universe with the Pokémon not existing.

Usually, a Pokémon film has a tone as an aspect than a quality, but some, particularly this one, evolved that tone to be complimented into a quality as a heart. It's generally meaning that it's heartwarmingly sweet and solidified as a pure feel-good film when it's not restricted to just be enjoyed by fans and children - with the latter being the presumed majority of the anime's audience. The turns this film took to build its heart up is through the bonds of friendship seen onscreen to be emotionally attached in sympathy and empathy. The former feeling is emphasized in one backstory that's part of the film's darker narrative, including occasional moments that generates emotions when the established gentle atmosphere gets harshened.

Another production aspect is the animation that either brightens to the maximum over the televised standard or remained constant to the anime, but the animation for this film placed it within the franchise's endpoints in-between its standardized approach for the fans' tastes towards the series and an average anime film outside the franchise. To elaborate where it stands, the animation, being at a minimum of beauty above the usual standards previously experienced in the other films, has a look that says it was possibly influenced by Makoto Shinkai's hit 2016 anime film "Your Name", including the sense of logic. The replication of that success might've took place during the usually year-long production of a Pokémon film that immediately follows the finished predecessor. Anyway, whether it was influenced or not, though most likely, the animation in "I Choose You!" is undoubtedly the best in the franchise as a delight upon viewing.

Besides the storyline that differs from the original, there's a noticeable exclusion of Ash's two original traveling companions, and that's fine because it works. The characterization for this film is still generic like most of the previous films with constant interactions, but it's thankfully fresh and briefly nuanced.

In one more merit that was noted upon seeing "I Choose You!" is the performance from the current voice actress for Ash, Sarah Natochenny. Her predecessor Veronica Taylor didn't return to voice Ash like she did for the first eight seasons, which would have purify the nostalgic element that this film brought, but Natochenny performed really well - as an improvement - to duplicate the original dubbed voice for Ash. Her performance has her character to display an innocent aura of childhood that wasn't felt in the original beginning.

I may have stopped watching the anime, as well stopping at fifteen films with the sixteenth being skipped, "Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You!" is a glorifying, nostalgic treat for fans that grew up with Pokémon. For those who are outside, this film is still a worthwhile treat as it's a well-animated, heartwarming feel-good film. There are some moments that would be predictably considered silly, which I would agree on, including flawed occurrences, but its entertainment value has a result of being at least enjoyable. Otherwise, you're underestimating this film without looking at the heart. (A-).

"Pikachu".