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Review M06: Jirachi Wish Maker ・ PK12: Gotta Dance!

Dogasu

Dogasu

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Japanese AG Movie 01: "The Wishing Star of Seven Nights" and "Mysterious Stage of Dancing Pokemon"
American AG Movie 01: "Jirachi Wish Maker" and "Gotta Dance!"

hi_im_jiraachi.gif
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Once every thousand years, a shooting star can be seen for a period of seven days. It is during one of these periods that a former Team Magma member named Butler attempts to awaken the legendary pokemon Groudon. Now it's up to Ash, May, Brock, Max, and Jirachi to stop the scientist from fulfilling his wish.

Discuss the new movie to hit America here. This movie marks the first time a Pokemon theatrical film is released direct-to-video, and it's probably safe to assume that they'll be released like this from now on.
 
Since I probably won't be able to get it for a little while, can someone answer something for me? In promotional material, I've seen two spellings for Butler's assistant--"Diane" and "Dianne". Which one is it?
 
It's spelled "character who should have been voiced by Blackjack Gabbiani" ^^;;

Seriously, I can't answer the question (I'm in Japan and all that), so you'll have to wait for someone who can get the American DVD to find out.
 
I want to get the DVD, but I still can't find it in the stores I've looked in so far in Canada, I might end up downloading it first to see how bad they dubbed it and then might considering looking for it in stores then. Hopefully WB gets the distribution rights to the 7th movie because Miramax has proven to be bad at it.
 
Well the release date is today, so you could only start finding it today, obviously. :-p
 
Don't expect them to have them already. At least at the Wal-Mart here, they only start putting out shipments of new Tuesday videos/DVDs around 11AM or so. The shipment only arrives in the morning most of the time...sometimes before that, but not all that often.
 
The movie was released today and I made sure to get it right away. So, without further ado, here's my review.

Let's start with Gotta-Dance. I gotta say, it's become my favorite of all the Pikachu Shorts. Treeko's performance alone made it top the charts. Seviper was awesome as well, making good use of its "blooping" sounds in addition to hisses.

It has to be the craziest, wildest, funniest Pikachu short of all, with all the Pokemon performing all kinds of dances, against their will mind you. Thus comes Treeko, who spends most of the short resisting Meowth's wand's urge to dance, only to give in, release his inhibitions, and dance Dance DANCE like it's 1999!!!

Add in a destructive Loudred, a Ludicolo who randomly appears out of no where, and lots of silly Lotad antics, and you have one great, fun dancing romp.

As for Meowth, I'd have to tell him it's just as well the attempted TR Base got destroyed. Giovanni would NOT have been pleased with the paper-thin walls and preschool toy colors of the place.

Now, as for the glorious main movie, allow me to get the cons out of the way before I start with my praises.

Cons:
- Butler's voice was very annoying, though it got better later on once he got serious.
- Since the movie was intended to be seen in Widescreen, but got cut up into Fullscreen in the dub (as always), the beauty and effectiveness of some scenes was lessened.
- One seeming dub error. Will-o-Wisp is used by Dusclops but not referred to by its English name.
- Absol's voice could have been better, not that it was bad.
- As much as I love Tropius, the sucking sounds it made (apparently its Japanese voice) were far from what I expected, and I hope it proves capable of making other, more dignified sounds. And no, I'm not insulting it, the sounds it makes actually sound like it is sucking on some fruit or slurping juice, which is fitting but still...

Anyway, onward!

The movie's art was beautiful, and the story, though slow at parts, was enjoyable. The feel of the movie was mostly peaceful and quiet and sweet, a very calming movie save for a few action sequences. Most of the character's acted their parts quite well, especially Max, which is good since he plays such a major role. Diane was also well-done, though her voice has been used before, not to mention gorgeous . And it seems May has an extraordinary singing voice, unless that was her Japanese voice doing the melody. The scenes showing the bond between her and Max were great as well. As for Ash, he managed to be a hero even though he played a relatively minor role compared to previous movies. He fitted in surprisingly well as a supporting character.

As for Team Rocket, their roles were small but they had their share of funny scenes scattered through the movie, and also got to do one of their trademark happy sign-offs toward the end.

But the best new voice has to be Jirachi's. His tone was incredibly cute, and the voice-acting was the best done for a telepathic Pokemon since Mewtwo (though Entei and Lugia were good, they didn't do emotion well) and probably even better, though that may be the cute factor talking, not me.

There is a Pokeshipping hint in the movie, or more precisely a scene showing that Ash hasn't forogotten Misty, but all evidence I've heard points to his words being in the dub only. In the original he was either talking about friends in general or Pokemon he has had to leave behind, I haven't confirmed which, and indeed I don't know for certain quite yet what was changed from the Japanese version. The scene still serves the same purpose, but Pokeshippers should know not to use it as any kind of evidence.

Butler's precise reasons for obsessing over ressurecting Groudon could have been explained better, especially his remark "I'm doing this for you Diane." However, I doubt it was explained any better in the Japanese version. Be that as it may, he was an interesting character. And now he and Diane are going to live in their own fantasy valley love shack. Good for them. ^_^

Salamence and Flygon had great voices and Flygon in particular displayed the best flying we've seen since Charizard wowed us in the third movie. Gotta love those dragons.

The false Groudon was a horribly beautiful work of art, and quite a different "evil" compared to past characters. It has been compared to the plant beast Celebi made in the fourth movie, but that isn't really justified since Celebi's creation was just destructive armor. The false Groudon was a lifeless, soulless, golem, an abomination that existed solely to absorb energy. Though no one died (at least for the time being) when absorbed by it, the scenes of people and Pokemon getting sucked into the maws of the tentacles and when the melting false Groudon engulfed the group into its belly, have to rank as among the more disturbing scenes in Pokemon.

At the end we here a English version of "Make a Wish" a song composed for the movie, intermixed with the Japanese version of the same song. It is among the most well-done Pokemon songs and great to listen to.

The DVD extras are worth mentioning as well. In addition to lots of beautiful artwork (though some I hoped would appear did not) they included an interview with one of the Japanese movie makers, and a full length Japanese Music Video of "Make a Wish."

As a last, here's one of my favorite humorous quotes from the movie that I can recall off the top of my head, beware it's wording isn't exact.

Meowth: "Pikachu and the twerps are trapped in a dark place with no way of escape and headed toward certain doom. Sounds like my life."

Oh that Meowth! ^_^
 
Pokemon Fan said:
The movie was released today and I made sure to get it right away. So, without further ado, here's my review.

Let's start with Gotta-Dance. I gotta say, it's become my favorite of all the Pikachu Shorts. Treeko's performance alone made it top the charts. Seviper was awesome as well, making good use of its "blooping" sounds in addition to hisses.

It has to be the craziest, wildest, funniest Pikachu short of all, with all the Pokemon performing all kinds of dances, against their will mind you. Thus comes Treeko, who spends most of the short resisting Meowth's wand's urge to dance, only to give in, release his inhibitions, and dance Dance DANCE like it's 1999!!!

Add in a destructive Loudred, a Ludicolo who randomly appears out of no where, and lots of silly Lotad antics, and you have one great, fun dancing romp.

As for Meowth, I'd have to tell him it's just as well the attempted TR Base got destroyed. Giovanni would NOT have been pleased with the paper-thin walls and preschool toy colors of the place.
Click to expand...

Umm... what about the intro song to the short? It's it an English version of Polka O Dolka or not?
 
Blackjack Gabbiani said:
And if so, does it contain as many overtones as the original?
Click to expand...
I don't know about the original or if the words are the same. It was an English theme though, with Meowth singing and a bunch of people singing in the background.
 
Pokemon Fan said:
I don't know about the original or if the words are the same. It was an English theme though, with Meowth singing and a bunch of people singing in the background.
Click to expand...

Let me ask this then, is the music for the intro song repeated throughout the short in various forms?

If that's the case, then the intro song is a dub version of Polka O Dolka.
 
Haven't seen Jirachi: Wish Maker yet but I did just see the "Gotta Dance!" short. It was hilarious! Best Pikachu short yet. Pikachu's impressions were great, and Treecko constantly trying to resist the wand's power, then finally letting loose was hysterical.

Yes, the intro song is repeated throughout the short in various forms...and the music is exactly the same as Polka O Dolka.
 
It's not very many words. *lol* Since most of the song is in japanese in the ending too.
 
...not many words in Polka O'Dolka? There's TONS of words in that, mostly about how Meowth wants to make the Boss happy. (am I the only one who, in the original video for it, found the image of him shining the statue to be horribly suggestive?)
 
I have now seen Jirachi: Wish Maker. It was awesome! Jirachi had the cutest voice, and I loved May and Max's interactions through the whole thing. I like how the movie left us with stuff to wonder about too, namely what was May wishing for?

*Max and Jirachi are playing tug-of-war with a stick*
Jirachi: I'm stronger than you, Max! Stronger than Max!

That was so cute.
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Jirachi's dub voice was annoying, the original sounds much nicer. But I do love the way they mixed 'chiisaki mono' and 'Make a Wish" together, I haven't heard Polka O'Dolka, but i heard from a friend that it isn't bad either. This regardless of the original still being better could be their best dub yet.
 
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