Review M02: The Power of One

[Dogasu]

Japanese Movie Two: "Revelation Lugia"
American Movie Two: "The Power of One"

"Disturb not the Titans of Fire, Ice, or Lightning
Lest these Titans wreak destruction
Upon the world in which they clash
Though the water's Great Guardian may arise to quell the fighting
Alone its song shall fail
Lest the world turn to ash

O Chosen One
Into thine hands bring together all three
The treasures combined bring the Beast of The Sea"​

With that legend, Jirarudan sets off to the Orange Islands in an attempt to awaken the God of the Sea (psst...here's a hint...it's Lugia). See Satoshi get kissed by some strange island girl, Kasumi walk around in something other than her same old shorts and shirt, and see Kenji in his first non-cameo big screen adventure.

This is the review thread for "Pokémon The Movie 2000," airing tonight, November 14th, at 8:05pm ET on Cartoon Network. It is the second of three Pokémon movies being aired by the network this month, so those of you who never got to see it on theatres or on HBO are in luck. I realize that many of you have already seen this movie before, but since this is the basic cable premiere of these movies (and since I'm sure a number of us haven't seen it in a while) I decided to create this review thread.

If you can't see the movie tongiht, then don't worry--the movie will air again on Saturday, November 22nd (that's next Saturday), at 5:00pm ET and again on Sunday the 23rd at 10:00am ET. For these two airings, the film will be shown under the "Cartoon Network Cartoon Theater" name, so they should show the mini-movie "Pikachu's Rescue Adventure" as well.

Next week: Pokémon 3 the Movie

 

[Dagoth Ur]

Originally posted by Dogasu
"Disturb not the Titans of Fire, Ice, or Lightning
Lest these Titans wreak destruction
Upon the world in which they clash
Though the water's Great Guardian may arise to quell the fighting
Alone its song shall fail
Lest the world turn to ash

O Chosen One
Into thine hands bring together all three
The treasures combined bring the Beast of The Sea"[/center]

Wasn't the last line actually "the treasures combined tame the Beast of the Sea?" And Lugia is the water's "Great Guardian," while the "Beast of the Sea" is actually the ocean current flowing underneath.

 

[Murgatroyd]

Yes, it was "tame", not "bring".

Hi no kami, Kaminari no kami, Koori no kami ni fureru bekarazu.
Sareba tenchi ikari, sekai wa hametsu ni mukau.
Umi no kami hametsu wo sukuwan to arawaren.
Saredo sekai no hametsu wo fusegu koto narazu.
Suguretaru ayatsuribito araware, kamigami no ikari shizumen kagiri.

Do not touch the God of Fire, God of Thunder, God of Ice.
If you do, Heaven and Earth will be angered, and the world will face destruction.
The God of the Sea will appear to stop the destruction.
But it will be unable to prevent the destruction of the world.
A Trainer* of surpassing skill shall appear, and calm the gods' anger as best he can.

*This translation of ayatsuribito is based on something said by one of the villagers. A more literal translation would be "a person who controls".

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Of course, in English it's implied that Ash is the only one who could do it. In Japan, he's the only one that's *THERE*, so that's still quite special.

Anyway, just for idle curiosity, I have the *GERMAN* version of the Prophesy...and because I don't know how to do most of the special symbols and accent marks, I'll have to do, say, ae rather than an a with umlauts...

Fange nie den Gott des Feuers, den Gott des Donners, den Gott des Eises. Wenn Du es tust, wird ihr Aerger die Welt verdunkeln und die See wird Himmel und Erde zerstoeren. Die Welt wird untergehen...

Roughly translated, this is Do not collect the God of Fire, the God of Thunder, the God of Ice. When you have ('tust'--I can't find a translation for this), the anger of the World will darken, and the Sea will become one with heaven and Earth. The World will go under...

I'll be back later to weigh in on the movie itself, including much fangirlishness over Jirarudan

 

[Shiksa ♥]

Originally posted by Blackjack Gabbiani
and because I don't know how to do most of the special symbols and accent marks, I'll have to do, say, ae rather than an a with umlauts...

Assuming you have Windows, you can go to Start>Find (or Search) and then search for "charmap.exe" on C:. It should come up. In the charater map, there's codes (alt+####) to make most of the special characters or you have the option to copy and paste them. I have a copy of the character map on my desktop since it's really helpful, and I also have a bunch of the codes memorized from using them so much. ;-) Hope that helps.

Oh, and I'll also return with my movie review tonight or tomorrow. I'm going to the store to buy a blank tape so I can record it this time. ;-)

 

[Geodude]

Originally posted by Hitchi
Assuming you have Windows, you can go to Start>Find (or Search) and then search for "charmap.exe" on C:. It should come up.

Or, more simply:

Start -- Programs -- Accessories -- System Tools -- Character Map

Anyway, back to the topic...

This is my favorite of the 4 movies we've seen so far. (I have yet to see #5.) It had a lot of funny moments and memorable quotes. We got to see the trio team up with Team Rocket, with TR even temporarily "turning good". We saw Lugia for the first time. And of course, there were a lot of memorable Pokeshippy moments, culminating near the end when Misty dove into the freezing water to save Ash. :-D

Without near as much of a confusing message as the first movie, and with more humor added and IMO a better story, again, this is my favorite of the movies so far.

BTW, I'm pretty sure I can quote the legend word-for-word from the dub...Dogasu was close, but not totally accurate:

"Disturb not the harmony of Fire, Ice, or Lightning
Lest these Titans wreak destruction upon the world in which they clash,
Though the water's Great Guardian shall arise to quell the fighting,
Alone its song will fail, thus the earth shall turn to ash.

O Chosen One,
Into thine hands bring together all three,
Their treasures combined tame the Beast of The Sea."

 

[YumeHeart]

I just watched it on Cartoon Network... ah, how I love this movie...

I doubt anyone remembers this, but I remember Bulbagarden on the day the movie came out. How everyone was coming back from seeing it, and posting. And we were fighting over the Pokeshippy hints. ^_^ Ah, memories. I for one happen to like those lines. And there were a few classic TR ones as well.

At the end of the movie, the part where Melody is playing the song, that whole area, when it turns to crystal or whatever, really looks like something out of the third movie. I kinda wonder if the writers got the idea of the next movie from seeing that scene. (random thing I notice when seeing the movie for the 30th time... )

Hmmm... Blackjack Gabbiani isn't going to be too happy to hear that the host of that Cartoon Network Friday thing was dissing Jirarudan! How dare he! Jirarudan was one of the coolest villians in the history of Pokemon. <_<

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Originally posted by YumeHeart

Hmmm... Blackjack Gabbiani isn't going to be too happy to hear that the host of that Cartoon Network Friday thing was dissing Jirarudan! How dare he! Jirarudan was one of the coolest villians in the history of Pokemon. <_<

Sadly, I heard that part. I don't have cable, but my friend was watching it as I talked to her on the phone and I heard it. (morbid curiosity--anyone have a transcript?)

But man! That was just rude! Not to mention that he's not a villian (he's a 'bad guy', but he had no evil intent), and for the last time! (not likely) HIS NAME IS NOT LAWRENCE!!!

Where do people get that his name is somehow Lawrence? It says right there in the movie that it isn't! Am I seriously the only one who knows how to operate closed captioning? *rant rant*

(a friend of mine and I have a theory that the writers got drunk off wine from Vincent Girudan [sp?] vinyards and decided to slap the name in the movie. But of course, we have no way to PROVE this)

You know, this movie had some rather interesting mistakes in it. And not dub errors--I think the only one of those is the 'in the middle of the Orange Islands' one.

-Jirarudan comments (at least in the Japanese version, I can't remember if he said it in English or not) that no one has ever seen Lugia. So then how did he manage to get a figurine that looks exactly like it? For that matter, how did everyone know what Lugia was?

-So the Birds will run rampant if their balance is distorted...OK, so what if there's an earthquake and one of their islands is damaged? Or one of the Birds gets sick? Something tells me that neither Lugia nor a "superior master" could calm them if that happened, since the disruption would be beyond their ability to fix.

-Not really a mistake, but...the Hikoukyu has marble floors. Setzer Gabbiani would be bowing in worship.

-Jiri may be a highly intelligent man, but he can't be all that *bright*. Seriously now, he wasn't after Lugia's power, so what was he planning on *doing* with it should he have managed to capture it? All that screaming would have got on his nerves, and even if he managed to ignore that (I'm a bird owner, so I know how much a *small* bird screams), imagine what a bird that size would eat! His fish budget would be more than his upkeep on the ship!
...unless he would have just shown it off as a sign that he *could* capture it, and then let it go...which I can see happening.

-How can Slowking talk? He's not psychic like Mewtwo or Lapras (well, he *is*, but that's not how he *talks*) Did he go through rigorous training like Meowth did? And so why do people still insist on identifying Meowth as the 'only talking Pokémon'? And what about the Ghastly at Maiden's Peak?

-You're meaning to tell me that NO ONE on that island saw an airship the size of a mid-sized city approaching?

And this isn't in the movie itself, but why do people identify Jiri as a "Pokémon Collector" when there's no evidence that he's ever had any others? It's obvious he doesn't know how to keep them...

 

[Trainer Lisa]

Originally posted by Geodude
This is my favorite of the 4 movies we've seen so far.

This is also my favorite Pokemon movie! :-D

First of all, I loved it when Melody kissed Ash, and then Misty got really jealous. That was funny!

And I liked all the Pokeshippy parts, too. They were great!

Of course, I really loved a lot of the lines in the movie, too. Such as the one where Ash says to Team Rocket, "I'll have to catch this on video". ^_^

And one of my favorite lines ever, was when Slowking said "I could use pants". That's so funny!

But, I think one of my favorite parts in the movie was when Ash first found out that he was The Chosen One. That was a great part!

And, I also really liked the part when Lugia told Ash that he had to go to Ice Island to get the last treasure and he said, "I have to go....there?". And I loved the part when all his Pokemon came out of their Pokeballs by themselves, cause everything got real emotional after that.

Another great part was the ending, when Ash was unconscience, and after he woke up he had to struggle to stand up and walk over to the shrine, so he could put the last treasure in place. I loved that part. And, I also loved the part when Melody played Lugia's song at the end. It's so beautiful!! I really love that song!!

So, like I said earlier, this is my favorite Pokemon movie. And overall, I still love it the same now as I did when I first saw it in the theatre, which means I love it very much!!!!

 

[Flare-Espeon]

It's been my favorite movie even before I saw it *drool* Lugia *drool*

Blackjack, you always aks that kind of question no one else ever thought of. Reminds me of a girl in my Latin class..

Originally posted by Blackjack Gabbiani
-So the Birds will run rampant if their balance is distorted...OK, so what if there's an earthquake and one of their islands is damaged? Or one of the Birds gets sick? Something tells me that neither Lugia nor a "superior master" could calm them if that happened, since the disruption would be beyond their ability to fix.

Well, Lugia *has* psychic powers, maybe if one of the Islands breaks up, it will be able to hold it toghter or something. Maybe a new Island will arise. Doesn't Fire Island have a vulcano? If the Island breaks up, an eruption of the vulcano could make a new Island. Maybe there are vulcano's benaeth all the Islands.
A sick bird would still be in preseance at the Islands, so if it's true that as long as the birds are with their Islands the harmonie is maintained, that will be OK, other wise a sick bird would only mean a minor disruption, and when things get too worse, a superior master can alway travel to the Island with a Potion :lol: And I think the bird will either not die at all, or only die when there is a replacer available

Originally posted by Blackjack Gabbiani
-How can Slowking talk? He's not psychic like Mewtwo or Lapras (well, he *is*, but that's not how he *talks*) Did he go through rigorous training like Meowth did? And so why do people still insist on identifying Meowth as the 'only talking Pokémon'? And what about the Ghastly at Maiden's Peak?

Well, it did have some psychic powers as being a psychic Pokemon, but I think it gained the Power to talk because it's a shrine protector, granting it with special powers in that way

Originally posted by Blackjack Gabbiani
-You're meaning to tell me that NO ONE on that island saw an airship the size of a mid-sized city approaching?

Either they were to busy with their festival to notice, or the ship does have some invisibility sields that were switched off later on. Rises the question why the people on the island didn't see it when the birds were captured. Too busy withe their festival, I think

Originally posted by Blackjack Gabbiani
And this isn't in the movie itself, but why do people identify Jiri as a "Pokémon Collector" when there's no evidence that he's ever had any others? It's obvious he doesn't know how to keep them...

Well, I alway figuered he had a home some where where he held his other treasures, with servants who no how to know to keep them taking care of them

 

[The Mysterious Blue Hiker]

Originally posted by Blackjack Gabbiani
But man! That was just rude! Not to mention that he's not a villian (he's a 'bad guy', but he had no evil intent), and for the last time! (not likely) HIS NAME IS NOT LAWRENCE!!!

Where do people get that his name is somehow Lawrence? It says right there in the movie that it isn't! Am I seriously the only one who knows how to operate closed captioning? *rant rant*

Sorry for nitpicking, but... the closed captioning is wrong. Jirarudan's name in the English version is actually Lawrence III. I have no idea why the original name sprung up in relation to the dub, but I guess that it's one of those things that can happen when you have a bunch of different groups of people working on the one movie. And when the name's never actually said in the dialogue.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

But since the name Lawrence doesn't exist in the movie itself, wouldn't it make more sense to say that his dub name is Gelarden--a name that *does* appear in the movie in reference to him?

 

[Shiksa ♥]

Yeah, I was going to ask why the heck they were calling him Lawrence?!!? I've heard Jirarudan, Jiri, Geralden...but Lawrence...you can tell they have a script. I don't have a transcript or anything, but I think I can kinda remember what they said:

Tommy: I don't get what's up with this Lawrence guy. He think he just go and capture the bird Pokémon! (blah, blah...)
Zeta (or whatever): There's a good reason for that...
Tommy: yeah, what?
Zeta: He's the VILLAIN!

(later on)
Tommy: I still can't believe that Lawrence guy....

Um...something like that... ^^;

This is also my favourite movie (I haven't seen 4 ever or Heroes). The music is great, and I really like the legendary birds. Lugia's song is my favourite from the movie, I have the notes if anyone wants them. I like how Melody dances while playing the ocarina. That's pretty cool. My favourite part is the one at the end when she plays her ocarina and the green water overflows. It's so beautiful.

I also like TR's "sacrafice." That was really funny but moving, and their other lines were humourous, too.

My brother is being frickin annoying and say somebody (Rachel Lillis, Lisa Ortiz...can't remember) is Melody's voice. Can someone please tell me who is so he shuts up? He also thinks the girl with the green hair who was driving the boat is the same voice as Kaoru from Kenshin. I sorta agree with him on this, but can anyone confirm it? Thanks.

I think there was a dubbing error. The girl who drove the boat said Shamurei (sp?) island was in the middle of the OI, but the news reporter said it was in the north-western part of the OI.

Blackjack, Jirarudan's other treasures were around the Hikoukyu, they mostly looked like ancient relics and such. Remember, Pikachu or Meowth or someone flew across the room and almost hit an artifact but the forefield stopped then.

Um...I think that's all, for now. ^^:

 

[Unown_]

I like this movie. It is somewhere in my top 3 fav movies. I haven't seen the Japanese version so I can't compare the dub with the original.
The dub title "The Power of One" doesn't make very much sence to me, "Revelation Lugia" sounds a lot better.
The movie plot itself is kinda like moving from point A to B unfortunate, but it's ok. As for the music I don't have much complains. During the entire movie I noticed that there are only a few seconds where there wasn't any music playing. And Melody is a cool character. It's fun to see her make fun of the fact the Misty likes Ash.

 

[Geodude]

Originally posted by PokemonTrainerLisa
And one of my favorite lines ever, was when Slowking said "I could use pants". That's so funny!

Yep, that's an all-time classic quote. :-D I agree too that I liked TR's "sacrifice" in the movie. It was the best incident of their doing something good in the whole anime. I also agree about Melody, she's my favorite one-shot character ever. She really deserves a reappearance in the anime somewhere. Maybe Ash inspired her to start her own Pokemon journey, and they'll meet somewhere in Hoenn? (Hmmm, fanfic idea...)

Here are some Team Rocket quotes from the movie that I thought were good/funny:

Jessie: Well if things are gonna get ugly, we may as well try Weezing!

Jessie: If that kid thinks we're here for trouble...
James: ...we're certainly going to burst his bubble!
Jessie: Instead of causing tribulation...
James: ...we've undergone a transformation!
Jessie: Though it's way outside our usual range...
James: ...we're going to do something nice for a change!
Jessie: Jessie!
James: James!
Jessie: Up till now Team Rocket's been quite unscrupulous!
James: Being good guys for once would be super-dupulous!
Meowth: Daaat's riiiight!

Jessie: So that means the bad guys...
James: ...are finally...
Meowth: ...good guys!
Jessie: So then we're not bad!
James: That's good!
Meowth: What if da boss finds out?
James: That's bad!
Jessie: So we'll start our own team!
James: That's good!
Meowth: But we got no money!
James: That's bad!
Jessie: Then we'll just steal some!
James: That's good...or is that bad?

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Originally posted by Hitchi
Blackjack, Jirarudan's other treasures were around the Hikoukyu, they mostly looked like ancient relics and such. Remember, Pikachu or Meowth or someone flew across the room and almost hit an artifact but the forefield stopped then.

Well yeah, I know he has other treasures--they're all over the place--but I was saying that there's no proof he's ever had another Pokémon...

...but now, really, who else can claim that their first was Moltres?

 

[InfiniteBlue]

I like this movie. In fact, it's probably my favorite Pokemon movie as of yet (either that or movie 3 or 4... tough call among those three). Anyway, the most moving part for me was Team Rocket's sacrifice. When I saw that happen for the first time in theaters, I completely forgot about their "immortality" and kept thinking to myself as they fell, "WHAT!? OMG They're gonna die OMGOMGOMGOMGNOOOOOO!!11oneoneonetwofivenine!" ....you get the picture. ^^; But I was damn happy when they survived the fall!

Misty's "confession" also made me happy (back when I was actually a borderline hardcore Pokeshipper ). But for some reason, I like Kasumi's original line. It's not the shippyness, per se, I just like her choice of words: "Besides, he supposed to be my burden...right?"

But the whole sidequest of treasure hunting with all of those obstacles in the way is pretty exciting! ^^; I dunno, this movie seems like something I'd dream up, so I tend to prefer this movie over the others. At the very most, this deserves a 4/5.

 

[Orange Soda]

My second favorite of the movies I've seen (have yet to see Heroes). However, I do have a fond memory directly inked to this particular movie:

One weekend a few years ago, I was having a little "Pokemon movie Marathon" (I had at least the first three at the time. May or may not have had Mewtwo Returns, but that's irrelivant). My mom was cleaning something or other in the back of the room when it got to the part with Ash saying "Yeah, I'm the Chozen One!" Cut. "Right now I feel more like the Frozen One!" My mom made a snort-laugh.

Why is that a fond memory? I dunno. I guess it's just nice because my parents are usually indifferent towards Pokemon.

 

[Geodude]

You guys just reminded me...when I posted the TR quotes earlier, how could I have possibly forgotten this one?:

Jessie: We're slowing Lugia down, the three of us are too heavy!
James: Let's try Weight Watchers!
Jessie: It's too late for that!
Meowth: I hoid it's never too late if you REALLY STICK TO DA PROGRAM!

:-D

And...

Jessie: Do you think we did the right thing?
James: I know we did the right thing, Jessie. And you know what?...It feels great.

 

[InfiniteBlue]

Originally posted by Geodude:
Jessie: We're slowing Lugia down, the three of us are too heavy!
James: Let's try Weight Watchers!
Jessie: It's too late for that!
Meowth: I hoid it's never too late if you REALLY STICK TO DA PROGRAM!

That's pretty funny to me, because during the time it was in theaters, my mom had joined Weight Watchers. XP

Jessie: Do you think we did the right thing?
James: I know we did the right thing, Jessie. And you know what?...It feels great.

That always gets me... ^-^;;

And to continue (bear with me)...

ALL 3: *sigh*...
JESSIE: Oh, let's not say goodbye.
JAMES: Let's just say...
MEOWTH: ...we're gonna die!
*KER-SPLOOSH!*