Review of Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! (2017) by Sarah C — 06 Nov 2017

I Choose You was a disappointment on so many levels. Ho-Oh waited 20 years for his movie, and he deserved better.

This movie relies heavily on nostalgia for any emotional appeal. If, like me, you watched Pokemon from the beginning, you'll remember Ash getting his first mon, and after the Spearow incident, you'll remember seeing Ho-Oh cross the sky. The movie basically follows this closely, and the whole plot of the movie is Ash and Pikachu trying to find Ho-Oh. While retelling parts of the Kanto storyline, it incorporates Pokemon from around the PokeWorld. Gen2's Legendaries are a big part of the movie, and Gen4's Lucario and Piplup are main characters. Even some Alolans make it into the movie.

Where the nostalgia comes in is where Ash gets his first and only other two Pokemon throughout the movie. ICY brings back the saddest moments of the Indigo league, namely Ash finding an abandoned Charmander, and releasing his Butterfree. Charmander's story is sad; he was seen as "weak" and his original trainer told him to wait for him in the rain. Charmander did as instructed and would have died if Ash hadn't come along and taken Charmander with him. Ash gains Charmander's trust and Charmander becomes an integral part of Ash's team. This all takes little time in the movie, and is overshadowed by Entei's appearance.

Butterfree's story in the original show was long. Ash caught Butterfree as a Caterpie and the two shared many adventures before Ash released him so he could be with his own kind. I remember crying during "Bye Bye Butterfree" because we were saying goodbye to a character we had shared a lot with. In the movie, Ash and Butterfree share a good solid three minutes of screentime before Butterfree flies off to make little baby Caterpies. It's really only sad if you remember the original Butterfree episode and are watching that in your mind instead of the actual movie.

The last throwback in ICY comes at the very end of the movie. Marshadow, the bad guy of the movie, is controlling all the wild Pokemon and making them attack Ash and Pikachu. Ash puts Pikachu in the pokeball at the last moment, saving Pikachu, but Ash is apparently obliterated by the attack. Pikachu grabs Ash's hat and cries. It is reminiscent of Mewtwo Strikes Back, when Ash is turned to stone, and all the Pokemon mourn over his apparent death. However, only Pikachu is seen to cry in ICY. And through the power of love and friendship, Ash is thrown through a sparkly portal and brought back. Unlike MSB, Pokemon don't bond together over the selfless act of a ten year old, break free from mind control and decide to be friends. Instead, Pikachu cries for a kid she met at most a few weeks ago. ICY seems incapable of making any emotional statement on its own, instead referring back to moments early on in Pokemon to elicit any sort of feeling.

The only opportunity the movie had to create its own truly touching moment was glossed over briefly. Cross, Charmander's original trainer and firm believer in "might makes right," is being attacked by his mindcontrolled Lycanrock. As Lycanrock bites his arm, he yells "You bit me when we first met! Remember?" This would have been the perfect opportunity to show Cross meeting a little Rockruff, nipping at his heels. It would have been cute, touching, and created some nice character depth for Cross. Instead, Lycanrock shakes off the mind-control and the show goes on.

Team Rocket is in the movie, of course. Although they never interact with the main characters, they seem to blast off a lot. They stalk Ash & Co. to find Ho-Oh, and the climax of their story is they fall of the cliff. Seriously.

The Legendary Dogs, Entei, Raikou, and Suicune, all make an appearance in the movie, but for a very limited amount of time. At least Entei gets to battle some trainers. Naturally, he beats every Pokemon thrown his way and indignantly stalks off, only to find the same cave Ash and his sick Charmander are staying in. They don't interact. Entei's just there. Suicune and Raikou appear to stare ominously at the trainers before running off. Their presence really made no sense and seemed like just another way to bring older fans in.

And then there's the ridiculous part of the movie that has to do with actual Pokemon battling. After the initial set up, where Ash gets Pikachu and they bond over nearly dying, I expected some sort of montage where Ash catches the rest of his team: Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Pidgey. Instead, the max number of Pokemon any trainer seems to carry is three. Cross, the main protagonist trainer, has an Incineroar and a Lycanrock. Verity, the Misty of the movie, has a Piplup and a Lapras. Sorrel has a Lucario. This is the team they use to fight not one, not two, but three legendary Pokemon. Type advantage appears to not exist in the movie. Fighting an Incineroar? Send out Charmeleon. Fighting Ho-Oh? Throw an electric mouse at it. At one point, Ash mutters he wished he got a Bulbsaur. Then he would've been able to beat Incineroar!

This was supposed to be Ho-Oh's movie. Literally the whole point of the movie was to find Ho-Oh and challenge him to a battle. A battle we're not even shown. Instead, the movie revolves more around Marshadow, the newest ghost/fighting type Legendary. Marshadow is evil. He literally sucks the color and magic out of Ho-Oh's feather. He is a black hole of doom with the expressionless face of a possessed doll. He stalks Ash throughout the movie, steals the magical feather, and tries to murder everyone. Granted, so did Mewtwo, but Mewtwo eventually realized he was wrong and decided to change. Marshadow decided he was beat and to try again another time. Poor Ho-Oh's only appearance was flying across the screen a few times and using flamethrower twice. Somewhere in the distance, Lugia is laughing his tail feathers off.

But the most disturbing thing about the whole movie is that Pikachu can talk. Not just say "pika pika." No. Before they're about to die, Ash asks Pikachu why she never gets in the ball. "Because I always want to be with you," Pikachu says. First, why? Why would they do this? Second: Pikachu refused to get into a pokeball before ever meeting Ash. So not only can Pikachu suddenly talk, her "last words" are lies. Meowth talking for puns and comic relief I can handle. Legendaries using telepathy is okay. Pikachu suddenly able to speak in full and coherent sentences was just not okay.

All in all, a very disappointing movie. Best part of the movie was the credits. I'll spoil it now so you don't waste $15 and 90 minutes just to see it: the credits roll, and different pokeballs are shown: the regular pokeball, great ball, ultra ball, master ball, nest ball, the list goes on and on, until at the very end, a little Voltorb rolls up, looking super smug.

-1 Star for Pokemon Death. Tho just give Luxray a little freeze heal. He'll be fine.