How America Ruined Pokémon: The First Movie

[@StefanSaba]

I don't LOVE this video, my attitude in this whole thing is that I have a big head about this movie and I'm not a fan of it. Thank you for watching if you did, just wanted to make it clear that I don't love this reflection of me 😅

[@Tyler-q3k]

Honestly I always thought Mewtwo could of been a better villain if he DIDN'T have some last minute change of heart, he Honestly could have been a terrifying villain.

[@samspeaks2016]

Where did you watch the Japanese sub of the movie? My understanding is there was never an official dub and there's only the fan ones online, know of any good ones?

[@llamasarus1]

Children love media that's slightly above their cognitive level. It gives them something to shoot for and be curious about and helps them grow up. To dumb it down just insults them.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

And Americanization of the product makes it worse!

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

Exactly. My favourite show as a kid was Doctor Who (although it was also Pokémon in my late childhood) and that's basically what the entire show is like. I had kind of an idea of what the messages of the show were, and when I went back to it upon becoming an adult I was able to enjoy it just as much as I had when I was a kid because I could fully grasp those same themes and other themes that completely went over my head when I was little. Same goes for a lot of the films I grew up with (many of them were Studio Ghibli movies), this might sound really pretentious and like I'm trying to sound smart, but I really think growing up with well written media as a kid gave me higher standards for writing when I became an adult. It really sucks that the English version of Mewtwo Strikes Back couldn't be that because Warner Bros. seemingly had no respect for their audience (I mean, I say seemingly, but it's probably likely that they just thought they were idiots). We have the remake's dub, but it still feels incomplete without The Birth of Mewtwo and whilst Mewtwo is more complex than he was in the original film's dub they still made him come off as being more evil in the dub

[@llamasarus1]

@@pikachucetthesecond4296 That was an excellent example.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

@@llamasarus1 but the voice actors and pop soundtrack redeems the dub.

[@andrewparke1764]

Absolutely correct. I loved the vocabulary used in Disney films like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Hunchback of Notre Dame. I didn't feel condescended to or patronised.

[@florence5500]

You can tell these adults making movies for children don't understand children at all

[@dwainsimmons3447]

That’s why some people hate 4kids for this.

[@makaylahall2664]

I really can't seem to understand why the usa seems to think kids can't understand morally grey characters

[@dwainsimmons3447]

It’s the companies that don’t understand what kids and teens actually want.

[@mazdakmina9493]

Oh, let's be clear, they didn't think that. This review sadly is a bit misleading. Simply put, the problem wasn't that Mewtwo is morally gray in the original. No, there's a major implication that he's indeed genocidal in the original. No, the problem is he's *so vague* (even when talking to himself) and even *contradictory* (he says he doesn't intend to attack, but he intends to strike back! He also says he doesn't intend to steal the trainers' Pokémon, but then invites them to leave the island before returning their Pokémon) in so many of his words and actions! It's maddening! And oddly enough, this vagueness was *purposeful* and much of the movie is *built* around this vagueness! So when the American dub tried to fix the vagueness, it became ridiculous in a whole different way (which, to be clear, *part* of this *is* indeed the dub's fault! For example, the Japanese version *does* mention that the final confrontation is to the death! The dub *removes* this mention and tries to *imply* it instead, hence the absolutely facepalm-inducing line, "Pokémon aren't meant to fight. Not like this." But yes, in other ways, the only reason the dub is bad is because the original created an impossible to fix problem - Mewtwo is hypocritical by stealing Pokémon from their trainers against their will, but the only way to make that "not hypocritical" is to not outright say that's what he's doing, which is it's own version of bad. In short, some of these problems were indeed unfixable)! So yes, please don't feel like you were robbed of a good movie by bad dubbing. The rewrite made mistakes, but the original is quite bad in a different way and while the dub indeed is worse, it's mainly worse because it tried to fix problems that were truly unfixable in full context.

[@sseolleda4]

Because the USA has been built on divide&conquer tactics and the ones in power dont want their subjects to become too smart. Everything is dumbed down so the general population never learn to question things around them. Look up Orwellian brainwashing and new speak. They want you to believe in black and white narratives such as "our side good enemy side bad" so they restrict nuanced ideas and topics from media

[@KuromiScarlet5030]

Japanese dub:Confused being english dub:Make him a bad guy

[@tiendang4440]

Fun fact but controversial: for those of you who unaware about this, when the movie was first licensed to WB as part of a distribution deal (one year after its original Japanese release) after its success on the anime series, the Japanese producers and writers said during its interview that the Warner executives gave a big hassle over the script (meaning that they hate it) because it does not distinguish enough between good vs evil, the film's lack of a distinct villian (Mewtwo) and there could be fears it might fail the box office due to its audiences wouldn't know who to identify or to cheer on. Because of this, Warner Bros decided to call the executives at 4kids to rewrite the script and cut the Mewtwo origins scene down (probably due to the dark nature elements that was originally added to the Japanese version) in order to make Mewtwo more villainy and to receive a "G" rating instead of PG. This decision, which both WB and 4kids has made, did not suit very well amongs Japanese executives, American fans and especially film critics because of its rough editing, adding too many pop music into one film (I mean sure, these were marketed for the kids), the plot being rewritten into something else and especially the message. That's how far this goes when it comes to the term of studio distributors and trying rewrite history into a different approach.

[@naquingreen1603]

@Tien Dang I agree Warner Bros has to be the most badly run movie studio in the USA, They only make bad and terrible decisions

[@naquingreen1603]

@Tien Dang Let's name the many many franchises Warner Bros has screwed up in the past 20 years, DC in general: Batman Returns Batman Forever Batman and Robin Superman 3-4 Supergirl Superman Returns Green Lantern 2011 Josstice League WW1984 Birds of prey Suicide Squad 2017 That canceled Wonder Woman movie Joss Whedon that would have painted Wonder Woman in a very bad light as a raging man-hating feminist and Steve Trevor as the main character Warner Bros also cancels good DC movies George Miller's Justice League Darren Aronofsky's Batman year One Green Arrow super Max Tim Burton's Superman lives Ben Affleck's the Batman Zack Snyder's Justice League part 2 and part 3 The original Suicide Squad movie From the 2000s They're TV division is even WORSE The CW is literally living in the mid-2000s that is why I majority of their shows are so bad and terrible, Almost ruining the Harry Potter films by hiring a director who didn't even read the books to direct the Goblet of Fire which was originally supposed to be a two-parter and cutting a lot of material in both Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire, being somewhat responsible for why the Half-Blood Prince and the Deathly Hallows part 1 were so bad and boring, Ruining the vampire Chronicles with that horrendous Queen of the Damned adaptation

[@GeteMachine]

That sounds more like the problem with American media or rather older people in charge of it, not liking any nuanced stories and see it similar to how they see war propaganda. That there has to be a black and white team orientation to a story to just market more overt plot-morality in a character against another. It stems from the dated way TV stories were in the 50s, like where they had it so the good guys *always* had to win at the end of the day for censorship or nationalism reasons. Comics were forced to that restriction as well. Boomer biases and thinking kids wouldn't understand a story that wasn't like what they grew up with. The pop music though was mostly to help its promotion to children though. It wasn't used in most of the movie.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

Fans love the English version of the first movie

[@rpgfanatic9719]

Sakaki was the villain but he just wasn't that prominent. But to leave the viewer unsure of who to vote for between the prominent characters, that's as heavy as a movie can get.

[@PrivateJin]

I actually watched this movie as a child in Japan and so I had no idea how different the localization was. Great informative video, please do more 🙏

[@StefanSaba]

Thanks for watching 👍 I'm planning on doing one of the Digimon movie eventually. Like that one's going to get a good shit ripping compared to this film

[@InvaderWeezle]

There's a ton of interesting behind-the-scenes facts surrounding the Mewtwo's Origin prologue. I'll list off some of my favorites that weren't mentioned in this video: 1. The scene wasn't actually in the Japanese theatrical version. Originally the movie opened at the same spot that it does in the English version. In preparation for the movie's International release, they released the "Kanzenban" version of the movie that had a whole bunch of redone animation (pretty much every CGI shot comes from this version). The general belief is that this version was made to help make the movie more visually impressive to American audiences. And then it was during this version that the new prologue was added to the film. The dub of the movie then uses the Kanzenban footage with the redone animation but with the new prologue cut out 2. The dub of the scene was available on the Japanese DVD of the movie for over a year before finally getting a U.S. release. The Japanese DVD released in June 2000 contained both the Japanese and English audio tracks of the movie, and since the Japanese version of the movie includes the prologue, the English audio includes the dub of that scene. As a result it is the only official release of the movie where you can watch the full uncut movie all in English without having to watch the prologue separately. It's weird that Japanese audiences had access to the English version of this scene way before English audiences finally did. 3. The footage found on the Mewtwo Returns DVD is seemingly an early version of the animation. It seems as though 4kids received an early version of the footage, and then the animators worked on it more for the Kanzenban, with 4kids either never receiving the updated animation for the prologue or just not using it when they finally released their dub of the scene. So even the prologue added for the Kanzenban seems to have its own internal Kanzenban version 4. The scene itself is an adaptation of a radio drama that was only ever released in Japan. The biggest difference is that the radio drama included parts about Jessie's mom working for Team Rocket and searching for Mew

[@dwainsimmons3447]

The second movie is almost on par with the dub of the first movie.

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

@@dwainsimmons3447 I mean, it's at least a little better. First of all the guy playing Lawrence III or whatever his name is actually sounds like he's putting effort into his voice (and also since he was unambiguously evil in Japanese too there wasn't much to ruin in the dub) and the soundtrack is a bit better. I mean Weird Al was in the soundtrack so that ALREADY makes it better but the pop songs feel ar least a little more tied to the film than the pop soundtrack of MSB did (the Donna Summer song was based on a song 4Kids had made for the film for example). I can't call it GOOD but it's at least better than the first movie It's still really bad though. Like why did they change the message from the value of teamwork to individualism (the exact OPPOSITE of the original theme), why did they cut out scenes again and WHY is there a STD joke? Like the kids watching it wouldn't get it obviously but also the ADULTS would be confused too because they wouldn't know much about Pokémon and probably wouldn't have gotten the Krabby reference so why put it there? Also I say the soundtrack is better but the opening theme grates on my ears in a way that the movie remix of Gotta Catch 'em All didn't (although I don't like Pokémon World anyway so....)

[@dwainsimmons3447]

@@pikachucetthesecond4296 the pop soundtrack of the second movie was also amazing as well.

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

@@dwainsimmons3447 It's better than the first one but it's not much more than that

[@solahaze8948]

Just saying, and I LOVE the uncut story of mewtwo's birth, but it probably would've been rough for kids. Cause I saw that scene and I broke down crying and had an existential crisis. And I'm a grown adult.

[@StefanSaba]

FAIR. I keep forgetting to try understand the line between childhood and too much lol

[@solahaze8948]

@@StefanSaba Just that last echoing line of "life is beautiful" and Mewtwo crying out to amber, begging her not to go, it really broke me. I feel like there wasn't enough devastation from Fuji after his daughter died AGAIN, though. Thoigh, of course, it's possible it might've been okay for kids because they wouldn't understand it, and wouldn't havbe been so devastated by it

[@im1ke]

Same

[@rrrr-im9oz]

Are you a manchild

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

I mean Warner Bros. also let Brad Bird make The Iron Giant and release it the same year MSB did in America so honestly it's not really that bad

[@dennisjansson6239]

Man i wish EVERY day that they could re-release The Pokémon tv-series & movies with the original japanese version WITHOUT changes, censorships & not having any scenes removed. Thanks for this video, great job.

[@kirbyfazendoummoonwalk9214]

This would be a Good idea but this meant that instead of the classic opening for season 1 we would have the shitty season 1 opening

[@LegoManiac_101]

I agree

[@LegoManiac_101]

@@kirbyfazendoummoonwalk9214 how is this opening shitty? kzbin.info/www/bejne/ml7PdpSei5qEldE

[@kirbyfazendoummoonwalk9214]

@@LegoManiac_101 the music beign bad is a reason

[@LegoManiac_101]

@@kirbyfazendoummoonwalk9214 how is the music in the Japanese version of Pokémon bad?

[@razkable]

they also changed mew's entire conversation...to make him sound more heroic...originally he just says if you guys want to step to this then get ready to get stomped you unatural clone freaks...basically

[@Drax69420]

Bro, the idea of the movie's child like mew smacking talking the pokemon clones is funny as fuck.

[@dracodracarys2339]

1:30 Rhyhorn: **bear noises**

[@TheSeraphimArtist]

Believe me, finding out about how this was edited to hell via the localization upset me so much given the unique context of the OG version from Japan. And I guarantee you, had it stayed in the film, I'm convinced that people's perception would have been VASTLY different. Just goes to show how much of a divide between the audience and the localization had thinking children couldn't understand these types of concepts. Which is sad considering how much 4Kids was a part of childhood for those of the 90s, unaware of the truth.

[@TheSeraphimArtist]

@@10tailedbijuu I would agree sir that in regards to the Internet being in its infant phase would have prevented anyone from knowing. The fact that many had to find this out long after the fact in the follow up film released a full decade afterwards only makes it worse. I do not however agree with your assertion that I would not be able to have understood concepts such as what was included in the deleted scene as there was plenty of material from this time period, ie the late 90s that I was exposed to dealing with the subject matter of death in very nuanced and mature ways. You're statement also seems to imply that children couldn't comprehend certain concepts including death when in some instances they may have experienced it in some capacity, ex: the passing of a family member or a friend. A scene like this in my opinion could offer comfort, even though it was sad, yet offers a positive outlook. Particularly with Amber's last words if I remember correctly "You are alive, and life is beautiful. " And even as a child I was still confused about the scene when Mewtwo awakens stating, "This....This is not the same. Was everything that happened before just a dream?" I could not for the longest time figure out what he was referring to as even then it left me wondering if there was a scene that was skipped over. And this was long before I knew about localization, particularly in the case with 4kids.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

But still, most people hate 4kids for this

[@mdrstudios7067]

So 4kids made Mewtwo a Steven Universe villain, mainly a Diamond.

[@ramenbomberdeluxe4958]

The Diamonds had INSANE potential to be the perfect grimdark villains for a kids show, these genocidal monsters that have snuffed out countless civilizations and other planets all to fuel their egos and unreasonable superiority complexes, when they have no need of even ONE colony, let alone all of them, and LET ALONE the genocide behind it all. They were fucking wasted...

[@mdrstudios7067]

@@ramenbomberdeluxe4958 A majority of Steven Universe characters are wasted.

[@xdlr22]

@@ramenbomberdeluxe4958 omg I feel exactly the same. I was so excited thinking White Diamond would be that horrible villain narcissist that Steven just couldn’t overcome with reason and love. But no. It felt so deprived of its potential. Kids like truly evil villains too and I find it more realistic and comforting to those of us who have and had to deal with those kinds of people to acknowledge they exist and you might have to get help to survive them. Sometimes love and hugs just isn’t enough. I’ve never heard anybody else other than you really acknowledge it though. It’s always “oh it’s a kids show” but we’ve had plenty of gritty kids shows.

[@TwilightWolf032]

I'm so glad there's someone talking about the dub changes! I remember watching Nostalgia Critic's videos on both Pokemon and Digimon movies (or that cluster of OVAs Fox decided to mash up into a "movie"), and all his criticism sterns from the dubbed version. The critics seemed very unfair to me, because the dubs go completely off the rails from the original scripts, but he never addressed the changes in his videos and that really pisses me off. I don't think I have ever seen anyone else on KZbin talking about the changes so in-depth like you have here. Boy, am I glad you did!

[@StefanSaba]

I've been debating making a video on the Digimon movie because that one is far far worse

[@TwilightWolf032]

@@StefanSaba Oh god... the PNGs... the Digirap... ALL STARS!!!!

[@dwainsimmons3447]

@@StefanSaba You’re going tell us why Digimon the movie is really 3 separate films together into one mess with an Angela Anaconda sketch?

[@ahumanbeingfromtheearth1502]

Damn, nostalgia critic did something that was bad? How out of character

[@HerooftheWild]

​@@StefanSaba it really was, I love Digimon, but that movie was awful. The original Digimon OVAs are far better

[@NikoJr.]

That Mulan comment aged like milk

[@BL1TZKRIEGBOY]

Damm that many changes, but still I love mewtwos dub voice

[@dwainsimmons3447]

It will still make big bucks or even more money if it’s left uncensored.

[@samuel-wankenobi]

It would have made the same 90s kids had no clue it was censored

[@dwainsimmons3447]

@ even in the 90s, anime fans knew that they don’t want a censored version.

[@samuel-wankenobi]

@@dwainsimmons3447 they would if they knew yes but they didn't know

[@dwainsimmons3447]

Making something more Hollywood doesn’t make it better, it just stylistically made itself look like other films that are just like it.

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

That's a REALLY damn good way of putting it

[@bluekewne]

11:52 That Mulan remake defense aged well

[@StefanSaba]

Seems to be a recurring thing on this channel, including me being hopeful for that new home alone reboot that was apparently terrible lol

[@iamnaimtheartist]

Dam I didn’t need to hear pikachu cry like that

[@Ghos838]

This video deserves way more views

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

"Japan isnt known for having high-quality 3-D animation" uh Beastars?

[@StefanSaba]

Wait is that what I said? I honestly can't remember

[@redstreak9430]

Also the Lupin the 3rd CG movie had almost Pixar level care in it. Kamikaze Douja is also a master of anime CG, specifically with the JoJo openings.

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

@@StefanSaba 3-D Animation* Edited it.

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

​@@redstreak9430 All of those I'd consider to be the exception rather than the rule though (I think Lupin the First only ended up looking as good as it did because Lupin's artstyle is just a good fit for that kind of animation. Also I THINK tgey might've outsourced the animation to an Italian company, but don't quote me on that)

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

These are my exact thoughts on the dub. I also never noticed how in Evolution they focus on Mewtwo to show how he’s putting the pieces together. Also thankfully the dub of Evolution sticks closer to the original Japanese version and it’s themes instead of using the 4 Kids script, so I’m happy it exists

[@StefanSaba]

Right? I was surprised. It's not completely pointless thankfully as it fills in some of the gaps the first movie didnt do so well

[@dwainsimmons3447]

@@StefanSaba but still, the original English version of the first movie is more memorable than the Japanese version.

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

@@dwainsimmons3447 Really? Definitely not. The themes of the original film are more impactful and more memorable. The dub is only more "memorable" because of people's nostalgia for it

[@dwainsimmons3447]

@@pikachucetthesecond4296 it may be because some fans hate 90s and mid 2000s dubs more than today’s dubs.

[@Father_of_Death]

But the CGI remake has shit voice acting save for Sarah Natochenny and Dan Green.

[@razkable]

doug walker's anger about the movie not telling you what a pokemon is annoyed me...why should movies based on a show based on a video game manga or card game have to appeal to non fans?..this is not a new property like say some random movie that has to create the fanbase from scratch as its not based off other material like say toy story or a bug's life..why should the movies feel the need to tell you stuff you should already know....they are not made for non fans

[@dwainsimmons3447]

He’s not wrong but only because of the dub.

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

I mean I think adaptations of the source material only appealing to fans is a bad thing. With Pokémon it's a little different and some of the movies like MSB, at least in Japanese, have themes that can be enjoyed by people who aren't into Pokémon (particularly the parents who would've been dragged to the cinema by their kids), but I really didn't enjoy the Illumination Mario movie and that's because of how it relied on its references rather than being a good movie on its own merits. Doug Walker was wrong about MSB but only because he only watched the English version and also because he's generally wrong about everything

[@Someguyhere111]

I mean, the dub messes up the movie yeah, but the message still makes perfect sense. There's a difference between fighting as sport and fighting to, y'know, kill. It's the difference between Goku and Tien fighting in the World's Martial Arts tournament to test their own strengths, with precautions to make sure the fight doesn't go too far, and Goku fighting Frieza on Namek to stop him from comitting more genocides than he already has. It's the same reason why the characters have no qaulms "breaking the rules" when fighting Team Rocket, such as using multiple Pokémon at once or even attacking Jesse and James outright - because Team Rocket aren't in it for sport, they're trying to steal other peoples' Pokémon and that's no beauno. But in a friendly duel, there's an honour system and trainers are expected not to push their Pokémon too far or try to actually kill the opposing Pokémon.

[@straightjacket308]

The only thing with the dub version is it comes off is really hypocritical. First they preach about not being violent, but then the memories and time get completely reset, and so nothing changed. It's literally preaching about not being violent but then deciding it didn't matter in the first place

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

Except even that view of it doesn't make much sense. The fighting is far tamer compared to the fighting you'll normally see in the show, and the message is explicitly "all fighting is wrong" without differentiating it from normal Pokémon fights. Not only that, but it's a slap in the face to the original film's themes, which were actually very interesting for a Pokémon movie

[@napasenseigaming]

That’s definitely true but I still feel like the dub didn’t do it justice and I love the dub and it’s voice cast overall but god did really couldn’t leave the scripts alone

[@dwainsimmons3447]

@@straightjacket308 Unfortunately after the memories have been wiped out, it’s too late. Most people who watched this were pissed off at 4kids for putting a hypocritical moral!

[@Benjawin6671]

Thank you. I mean come on the dub isn't even bad. I've seen both versions and I honestly think the dub does a better job at making Mewtwo a very intimidating villain. And who could forget his awesome speech at the end? But yeah I really hate a lot of the changes such as Mew saying "A pOkEmOn'S rEaL sTrEnGtH cOmEs FrOm ThE hEaRt!!!" But I wouldn't say they outright RUIN the film. It's just a shame that they had to drastically change the script because they had so little faith in their audience.

[@4zumarill]

Such a great video! I definitely agree with these points, despite me really lovin' the original English crew for the characters. For me, what really did it was the soundtrack being almost completely changed from the Japanese original, primarily the ending theme. The credits' music in the JP film is incredible, and it really elevated the themes of Mewtwo throughout the film and of what the main protagonists are going to do next.

[@devonm042690]

Something to make the Evolution remake's recreation of the Tears of Life scene hit that much harder. You may already know this, but when Ash's Pikachu says 'pika-pi' like that, he's saying 'Satoshi'. So what you hear is him repeatedly screaming his dead friend's name in absolute despair.

[@wizardoferror9942]

Has 4Kids ever heard of Walt Disney? His films were for kids and they were just as heavy as the original version of the first Pokémon film. Heck, they tackled existentialism sometimes.

[@napasenseigaming]

4kids was just on drugs dw

[@wizardoferror9942]

@@napasenseigaming Yea

[@dwainsimmons3447]

@@napasenseigaming and they all hated them for it.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

@@wizardoferror9942 even DIC, Nelvana, and Saban handled matured themes.

[@wizardoferror9942]

@@dwainsimmons3447 True, despite how corny and cheap their shows looked

[@SafetyFirstToolFans.94]

Wild... I still have my VHS copy of this- but I've never seen these scenes and it completely messed with my remembering. I just reached where Mewtwo wakes up... now it's familiar. Juat wow. Censorship is poop.

[@123goldenlily]

Would anyone know where I could watch the original subbed version of the movie?

[@StefanSaba]

Kissanime basically. Or any other clones that sites that are still up

[@lime455]

James and Jessie calling Scyther, Alakazam stuck with me.

[@StefanSaba]

And in one of their TV specials, they called an Ekans an Arbok

[@onslaught4976]

​@@StefanSaba Even that one episode where officer jenny called a Growlithe an Arcanine to use flamethrower

[@shadestrider1033]

@@StefanSabaTreating Children like adults.

[@razkable]

the thing is pokemon digimon are more mature in japan despite being aimed at 8 year olds ..they get dark heavy and pervy but not as much as anime meant more for older kids around age 10 like say dragonball

[@naquingreen1603]

@Asmosis Jones True, however Digimon has had one BIG problem In the past 20 years and that's the epilogues/ending of Digimon Adventure 02 being terrible,

[@svin7987]

The confusing is unlike Digimon the German version of Pokemon is based on the American version.

[@the_collector_of_different_toy]

That Live action Mulan comment at age to like milk from the Stone Age

[@IvanHas2muchTime]

Never thought the epic mickey soundtrack would fit so nicely here, thanks for proving me wrong

[@KairiKeyz]

So, I wasn't the only one who almost cried watching the CG remake. Pokémon usually doesn't make me that emotional like that. As for the actual film's original english dub, yeah I can see that it was heavily butchered, the "remake" basically I heard it fixed a few things but still.

[@inkga10clan29]

I grew up with Pokemon The First Movie and is still a masterpiece but it probably would've been better with the beggining scene, they probably cut it thank to "THE DEATH OF OPTIMUS PRIME" so America decided to censor Dukes death in The GI Joe Movie and Voltron Defender Of The Universe.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

You know what the sad part of it was? That it actually worked. It made big bucks in the box office back in 1999. People fell for the rewritten script and plot.

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

The plot changes didn't have anything to do with it. Tge reason it did so well was because Pokémon was really popular in America at the time. Like...SCARILY popular. It's the kind of thing I look at sometimes and go "Good GOD how did we get here?"

[@dwainsimmons3447]

@@pikachucetthesecond4296 Some people say that the voice actors and the pop soundtrack were the saving graces of the dub and I agree with them.

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

@@dwainsimmons3447 I mean...I DON'T. The voice acting was very bad and the pop soundtrack was just plain weird (also probably diverted money from making the score not sound awful)

[@芸能讃歌]

Either possibility is possible. It's possible that 4kids was a factor in the high box office revenue of the first movie.On the other hand, the fact that the sequel's box office takings were less than half that of the original suggests that the success of this film may simply be due to the Pokemon boom.

[@yasminavarre6064]

I am glad that in our country it was dub but just as japanese version was i feel sad for america

[@JacobTurner.]

I appreciate the jak and daxter background music a lot, good choice 👍

[@saintxix1309]

These English dubs are so disrespectful to the intelligence of the kids that grow up watching them. Can't have these youngsters learning nuance and thinking critically too early now. 😏

[@dwainsimmons3447]

Don’t you mean were

[@tomnorton4277]

Yeah, America hates nuance and critical thinking. No wonder it's run by imbeciles.

[@Step2dbeet]

Sigh. That scene both the original and Netflix where pikachu crying always make me cry and down 😭😭😭😭

[@dwainsimmons3447]

Did you know that the original plan for the movie was 4kids getting Leonardo DiCaprio and a bunch of other celebrities to do the voices for the characters of the movie?

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

The Chris Pratt as Mario of its time

[@dundy7845]

I didn’t watch this movie until about a year ago so I don’t have the nostalgia for it like a lot of people do. I had no idea that the dub made those changes and now I want to see the OG Japanese Version. Even though the dub is technically bad and doesn’t make any sense, I still have a soft spot for it just like I do for the 4kids dub of yugioh.

[@Ro20_]

I personally loved the first gen Pokemon, but also second gen started to grow in me since i was still into Pokemon at the time. So first and second gen Pokemon are my favorite out of all that exist.

[@Prince_Eva_Huepow]

Was Mew2's famous quote dubbed or changed into what it is? How'd that work out?

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

In Japanese he had a similar sentiment, but the exact quote was an addition of the English dub (although since the rest of the dub isn't really about existentialism it doesn't work all too well, although it is also in the dub of Evolution, where it DOES fit)

[@Prince_Eva_Huepow]

@@pikachucetthesecond4296 What was the sentiment in Japanese? The message here is still a proper life lesson, though.

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

@@Prince_Eva_Huepow Oh yes definitely, it's one of the only lines specific to the 4Kids dub I like in fact (Meowth's line about racism is also a good message, but it's a bit too cheesy for my liking) The sentiment in the original is one that's repeated a lot throughout the film-"We do not need to prove that we're worthy of existing and it matters not how we came into the world, all that matters is that we're alive." The Birth of Mewtwo and Tears of Life scenes also carry the theme that the thing that makes something truly alive is the ability to feel empathy, which I'm not sure was intentional but it does fit with the film's already existing themes of...well, existence.

[@Prince_Eva_Huepow]

@@pikachucetthesecond4296 Thanks for the explanation. The dub seems like a summary of the original's repeated line and did an excellent job of improving it as well. They both say that how you came to be doesn't matter while the dub also says what you do is what's important.

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

@@Prince_Eva_Huepow As much as I REALLY don't like the English dub, Mewtwo's iconic line is oddly profound...in fact it's very similar to an ACTUAL existential quote-"Life has no meaning, a priori. It is up to you to give it a meaning, and value is nothing but the meaning that you choose.", which is a quote from Jean-Paul Sartre, whose philosophy is very similar to the themes of Mewtwo Strikes Back (Existence Precedes Essence). Mewtwo's a lot better than Sartre though because the latter wanted the age of consent to be abolished which...yeah I don't need to say more about that do I. It's a good thing that line was kept in the remake, especially since it feels more like the entire film is building up to it now.

[@Alex-yy5wo]

Being somewhat poor, I grew up in the mid/late 2000’s with old generation one anime vhs and a hand me down pink gba with frlg. it was the best. In 2010, HGSS blew me away as an 11 year old.

[@Krueger_ai]

What if Mewtwo were to pull a “Subjects of Ymir” thing in the Pokémon universe?

[@Sanman95]

I only recently watched the Japanese dub of the original First Movie and while i agree that it's much more emotional and mature, it would've definitely screwed me up as a kid. People don't get that Japanese culture often teaches children adult themes from a young age but here in America its just not like that. I love the story of Good vs Evil and Mewtwo realizing that you are who you make yourself to be. Much more applicable to the American child watching this movie then a dead girl!!! I love the USA version for mere nostalgia but I totally see why they changed the plot here. It really just comes down to different countries having different cultures

[@jf4132]

Actually something to mention about the CGI remake. Contrary to what many may think, the English dub of the film is actually kept close to the original Japanese dialogue. The subtitles you used to watch the film in Japanese? That’s word for word the dialogue that’s in the English dub of this remake. All of the existential stuff is stuff Dan Green himself is saying. Yes, even the message is kept exactly the same as the Japanese version with none of the “fighting is bad” spiel the original anime dub had

[@dwainsimmons3447]

People hate the 90s dub because it fundamentally misunderstood of what Shudo’s true intentions for the series.

[@jf4132]

@@dwainsimmons3447 I know. This comment was more so referring to the English dub of the remake which was kept surprisingly faithful

[@dwainsimmons3447]

@@jf4132 yes, but it unfortunately didn’t include a pop soundtrack.

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

​@@dwainsimmons3447 Unfortunately? I'd say fortunately myself, the pop soundtrack didn't fit the movie at all

[@dwainsimmons3447]

@@pikachucetthesecond4296 it was common during the 90s and 2000s to add A-list musical artists into movies and tv shows.

[@robpatterson8515]

Where can we watch the original version with subtitles??????

[@psychedelicpiper999]

It’s on the Internet Archive

[@shadestrider1033]

Having Aerith’s theme play at the point where you were talking about the Existentialist themes of the original movie was a brilliant choice.

[@Lepurcinus]

And that's just the first movie. Apart from all the anime in general, the other movies still received quite considerable changes from the original version, which is quite sad in my opinion. At least I'm thankful that the more recent movies haven't made such abrupt changes. Also, it was always a bit annoying that most of the dubs in other languages were based on the American script, very few were able to enjoy the true intentions of the writers.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

That’s was Kids WB and 4kids trying to make the original first movie dub from an heartfelt family film into a stupid generic kids film.

[@WerezerRoo]

To be honest I rather watch it in its Japanese anime / manga form

[@linnetgee8857]

Pokemon the first movie is my favorite in the Pokémon movie series also I love the soundtrack especially "Brother My Brother" but I didn't seen the japanses version.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

The if people didn’t complain about anime being too edgy.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

@caitlyncarvalho7637 I think mewtwo is like Mr freeze.

[@rjsarcade1686]

Really great video! Agreed with everything that you said. Earned a sub! May I ask tho, how did you get access to the movie in Japanese with English subtitles? I keep trying to find it but can’t

[@StefanSaba]

KissAnime bruh

[@psychedelicpiper999]

What OP said. It’s also on the Internet Archive

disagree. loved pokemon the first movie. still the only movie i've ever cried at to this day because of the whole ash turning into stone thing. but the fighting thing you was a solid point.

[@StefanSaba]

And that's totally cool. It still makes me cry oh, no matter how much I deny it lol

[@jai-is-jai8278]

ive only cried about this movie and one other about dogs

[@Benjawin6671]

same. Dub or sub this movie is a classic.

[@MsCandyKush_YT]

I actually love the American version. I did watch the og version and it is a little dark. Even as an adult I cried so I can see why WB wanting a lighter tune. But I prefer the full version with Pikachu vacation

[@razkable]

to be fair the short with mewtwo and the girl was not part of the original movie shown in 1998 to the kid audience at the animation showcase festival...it was added after the fact...they even dubbed it...i would rather have seen it then pikachu's vacation myself..since it actually matters and makes you understand mewtwo better..who cares about seeing charizard get his head stuck in a pipe togepie cry and bullies challenge the crew to some stupid ego contests only to befriend them at the end..who decided in the usa that needs to be shown over the 11-12 minute mewtwo background information short..the only reason people cared about that is seeing marill a gen 2 pokemon for the first time...and snubull

[@JoeChillton]

As a kid I felt a bit confused moved the motive and lesson of the OG, now I see why

[@VitorHunter12]

The worst thing about this, it's that all other countries used this version as base for their dubs and i really hate it. For the 3D movie they kinda fixed stuff but for some dumb reason they kept dumb stuff like "Strength coming from the heart" nonsense from Mew. And once again, countries used the freaking USA version instead of the original for their dubs. Pure shame.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

Do You really hate it when 4kids tricks the world into dubbing their script!

[@VitorHunter12]

@@dwainsimmons3447 Yes.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

@@VitorHunter12 but at least it’s way way better than their dub of One Piece.

[@VitorHunter12]

@@dwainsimmons3447 I was lucky to not watch the 4Kids dub of One Piece in the past. I don't live in the USA but my country also used that terrible version for our version in here. But that was later corrected several years later with the Netflix dub using the original material as base. If people had an amazing childhood with the 4Kids stuff, then 4Kids did its job properly to an extent and i'm not gonna be harsh on the people who enjoyed it. Unless they start being assholes by bashing the original versions of any source material using only their feelings as weapons, just because it's not how they remember it. I still kinda enjoy some of the changes for the classic anime (Like the music added for certain parts) that 4Kids did, but i can never forgive what they did with the movie. And again, if people had a good time with the movie when they were kids, that's totally fine. But i will die on the hill of how terrible the script and music changes of the USA version of Mewtwo Strikes Back is in my eyes/ears.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

@@VitorHunter12 blame Al Kahn because he said back in 2006 in a anime conference, he said that kids don’t read and manga is a problem which pissed off a lot of the public and in 2007 he did it again with Japan is over which made people hate his guts even more!

[@x3r9g6]

Great video. You sound like Falcon from Gameranx

[@razkable]

i mean we are in the era of remakes and it was announced as what the 20 year anniversary of the first film and worked on all year then released a year after the 20 year anniversary...its fine..i like the original pikachu scene better ....you can her him say satoshi

[@samuel-wankenobi]

@@10tailedbijuu he means the cgi remake

[@apex3821]

Word has it doctor Fuji knew the save glitch to clone pokemon..

[@KaleFGB]

All negatives of the English dub are negated due to MewTwo voice. Set and match

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

I didn't like his English voice at all. He uses the same tone of voice for every. SINGLE. LINE. His Japanese voice actors (and Dan Green in Evolution) are a lot more expressive.

[@tomnorton4277]

@@pikachucetthesecond4296 To be fair, I think the whole point was that Mewtwo was bored out of his mind. He possessed the powers of a god but had nothing interesting to do with them. After wiping the floor with every single Pokemon that confronted him without even trying, he must have been finding life pretty damn dull. It was only when Mew shows up that something mildly exciting finally happened. But yeah, Dan Green was better. He had the same kind of arrogance but didn't sound bored the whole time.

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

​@@tomnorton4277 I don't think they were GOING for Mewtwo sounding bored...I'm pretty sure they wanted him to sound intimidating but made him bored by accident

[@dwainsimmons3447]

@@KaleFGB it’s got a Broadway feel to it

[@kiraramax2066]

this is one of the few pokemon movies where I don't recognise the 4kids localized version, but remembered as when movie were dubbed in Cantonese, and their are very little changes from the original japanese version pokemon in cantonese dub, the only changes are the character's voices, and the songs for the first movie. every Cantonese dub pokemon movie after the original pokemon series movies, are still with their original japanese songs in the cantonese dub. and I grew up with the pikachu short that came along with this movie first as a VCD disc, and then many years later I got the main movie. Which is called Pikachu no Natsuyasumi.

[@joshswenson2576]

The opening theme in the English dub of Pokemon the first movie > opening theme in Evolution

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

I actually prefer the Evolution version, there's a lot more going on in it. Only issue is there's not a full version

[@12me91]

The Mewtwoz origin not being in the movie at least matches the theatrical Japanese version lol

[@jakeybarra4015]

My dad and my sister rented Pokemon The First Movie vhs at blockbuster when I was a kid.

[@saveme4340]

If 4Kids didn't change anything and made a faithful dub way back when that replicated the original sub, would critics not have torn it apart, or at least as much as they did?

[@StefanSaba]

I don't think my words have aged well from this video but I think we can both agree that it wasn't made for them lol

[@gamestation2690]

​@@StefanSaba At least the English dub of Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution is a very faithful translation, for the most part.

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

I sometimes like to think that if WB hadn't dumbed the film down and removed everything that made it so good, critics would've been kinder to it, but for a lot of people they would've torn it apart regardless of quality simply because it was popular. Like the Stinker Awards(?) nominated it for a lot of unflattering awards and whilst the writing of the dub was indeed horrible I get the feeling they would've done that even if the dub was actually really good.

[@Father_of_Death]

In defense of the movie's dub: 4Kids initially was going to produce the English dub and shopped it around for a distributor. Seeing as Kids' WB had picked up the animé series Norman J Grossfeld believed that Warner Bros. Pictures was a good contender for the film's distribution rights. Warner Bros. however didn't like the more darker aspects and was worried about the film being too dark for children. 4Kids didn't want to lose the distribution deal so they abided by what Warner Bros. wanted. They removed the prologue of Mewtwo's birth and they rewrote the message of the movie due to believing that there were plot holes. They felt Mewtwo should have been a direct villain because they felt it would be easier to understand for American audiences. In hindsight that didn't save the movie's reputation and it's now a nostalgia trip for the 90s kids. Keep in mind that any of the changes I mentioned were approved by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. As controversial as the decisions were they actually praised the track "Tears of Life" and said it was much better than what they had composed.

[@mrkaji8913]

8:31 now they need it in a different way, and the different kind of fighting

[@Father_of_Death]

4Kids Flashback has been integral to revealing the inner workings of the company. Maybe, at aome point they'll do a second interview with Norman J Grossfeld and he'll talk about the dub of the first movie.

[@Animexcel]

I remember watching the dub of the first movie first in theaters, then watching the sub not too long after and realized how superior the Japanese version was. When it came to the second movie, I saw the Japanese version first and when I saw the dub in theaters, I came out disappointed.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

And that’s why toonami is gone as an afternoon block

[@psychedelicpiper999]

How did you find the sub online back in the day? I could only ever find short clips of the Japanese version of Pokemon online. Never full episodes or movies. And I thought I was a good Internet sleuth back in the day. lol Guess not. Obviously it’s really easy now. But back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s? That’s a bit baffling for me.

[@lindholmaren]

03:05 it was in the specials on the vhs I remember renting as a kid (or maybe the dvd I bought?), I'm like 99% sure. Either that or early age pirating and fansubs blessed me. Edit: oh, 05:15 that's why I remember it. I was sure I'd watched it both in english and japanese and thought I was getting a bit senile for a moment.

[@thepurplebirdwunderwaffen]

6:46 Best moment in video

[@KenGutierrez01]

I was never known about this. It sucks that it was changed even though I enjoyed the horrible 4Kids dub.

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

I mean to be fair it makes sense if you enjoyed it as a kid. It's just a pity that nobody else can really enjoy it

[@GEDAMONT559]

I believe that the botching of this film and its negative reception is where the Pokémon craze of the late 90s and early 2000s started to die

[@dwainsimmons3447]

How?!

[@GEDAMONT559]

@@dwainsimmons3447 This was just one of the factors Another was removing fan favorite character Brock from the show early on in the Orange Islands arc. They feared that Brock would be seen as a Racial Stereotype, controversy that they saw with Jinx's original design from Gen 1 (and this was in the year 2000). So, they replaced Brock with Tracey. Fans were not pleased with this change. Another was the massive amount of filler in the Johto series. Granted there is plenty of filler in other Anime, but there was so much of it in Pokemon Johto that only a few episodes of the entire arc actually matter. Had they had a filler arc like the Orange Islands arc, then maybe this wouldn't have been a factor. Another was competition from other massively successful Anime franchises at the time, in particular, Dragon Ball Z, Digimon, and Yugioh eating into Pokémon's strangle hold. Another possibly being Japan's Economic Recession of the 90s and early 2000s Another factor being the Pokemon show formula getting stale after awhile of the same standoff being Ash Pikachu and friends vs Team Rocket. That type of formula got old in a hurry

[@highwayman3561]

@@GEDAMONT559 And I think, more than a few kids just "grew up" and moved on to other things. People consume all the material there is, or it becomes much less accessible to them (like when an anime hugely popular in the 90s like Sailor Moon just faded out and was no longer shown on regular American TV,) even Pokemon started bouncing around to different channels and times where it was no longer as easy to find - obviously long before the internet made it easy to track these things down. And yes, when something that had been viewed though rose-colored glasses meets its first perceived failure, people go "that wasn't as cool as I thought it was", and move on.

[@GEDAMONT559]

@@highwayman3561 Well, you can also say that, considering that 3 Pokémon episodes were all released on separate VHS tapes and it was very pricy to have all of the episodes of the original Indigo League series on VHS. DVD was around back then, but DVD was still in its infancy at the time

[@psychedelicpiper999]

The kids didn’t care and still loved Pokemon. I remember hearing the Japanese theme songs and seeing censored clips online, but ultimately, I continued to be a fan of the Pokemon franchise for quite a while. It’s only later in my teens, and having easier access online to full episodes of the Japanese version with English subtitles, that I stopped caring to revisit the English version at all. The critics definitely put a dent in this movie, but the kids didn’t care. I saw both the first 2 movies in theatres, and got them on VHS. I got the third movie on VHS as well, and “Mewtwo Returns” on DVD. I continued to watch Johto on TV, but I’ll admit that it had gotten pretty formulaic and repetitive by that point. The anime stopped taking risks. The games still continued to be popular.

[@mattjrk5679]

The New 3D movie Fixes a lot of plot holes in the movie. And gives the Pokémon better expression.

[@Maximus4587]

Oh, and the English dub of _Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution_ is *far* more faithful to the original Japanese version...

[@mattjrk5679]

@@Maximus4587 yeah I forgot the Japanese version has that girl & her and Mewtwo are in the spirit realm

[@mrkaji8913]

3:08 it was dunned but it was separate as a short

[@treymykel]

I don't know if I fully agree with that because I got the message for pokémon the first movie even knowing that it was censored I got what the message overall they were saying and at towards the end they did have you to learn a lesson Not everything has to be accurate to the original Japanese version because a lot of people really " pokémon first movie as a deep fit movie so I don't know if I would say the movie was perfect English dubbed but I will say is very memorable and not even just nostalgia talking You can go back and literally the first three pokémon movies are very deep and complex and you felt the complexities of Mewtwo It didn't feel like he was just being a straight up villain It felt like he was being hurt he was tortured and he wanted to find his own meaning in the world and showing that clone pokémon are better even if that is the wrong way of going about it I kind of felt the complexity even watching the uncut version and watching the dub version I still feel like the dub connected more from me then the Japanese one and don't get wrong I'm not one of those sub overdub nonsense kind of people but to me I felt the story that they were connecting to It didn't feel like it was just nonsensical I always thought pokémon the first movie was very deep honestly I was surprised that this movie was even allowed to even be brought over in America with how sensor four kids was so I was more surprised that this movie was even allowed to even do half of it anything it did in the original dub movie anyway

[@straightjacket308]

The thumbnail is more fitting in several ways 🤣 Since Japan was part of the Nazi alliance 🤣 I love the story for the original Japanese, but the only reason I ever watch the dub, it's because the voice of Mewtwo is just so fucking good!!!

[@soul71000]

The movie needs a redub.

[@CyrilViXP]

Pacifistic bullshit and the worst soundtrack list in history. Americans humiliated the decent anime

[@Lucky_9705]

Limelight and Tom Sawyer by Rush would’ve been perfect picks for the ost. Both songs would’ve built strong anticipation into Mewtwo’s evolution and deal into his existentialist crisis.

[@stereomonovici5796]

"God there's no f***ing drummer better than Neil Peart!"

[@Lucky_9705]

@@stereomonovici5796 absolutely agreed

[@GeteMachine]

No.

[@mattjrk5679]

The Japanese actually liked a lot of the changes in the America film. 😂I can go on about this movie.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

Yes and they loved the soundtrack.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

But a majority of them both

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

The only account of this comes from the 4Kids dubbing crew. And by the 4Kids dubbing crew I mean TWO members of the 4Kids dubbing crew. Unless there's actually confirmation from the Japanese crew members that they did like those changes (and other sources disagree with that idea) then we can't say for sure that's what they said.

[@jonkeiser6092]

Sorry I’m 4 years late but I can feel Pikachu’s pain for his best friend.

[@abdulrehmanqureshi6127]

I'm pretty sure that the scene of kid mewtwo is in the Hindi dub. I remember watching it on the television

[@samuel-wankenobi]

The Hindi dub weirdly used the Japanese footage for the movie dispute that the Hindi dub of the show used the English dub footage

[@andersonnascimento6629]

Nice use of the Kamen Rider W soundtrack

[@StefanSaba]

Lol I aim to please, as long as there's no copyright involved

[@juandiegotorres9632]

The changes made to Mulan were made to appease the Chinese government , at least with regards to Mushu

[@deviousj5868]

They should redub it with the original script in mind.

[@samuel-wankenobi]

The CGI remake has more accurate dub

[@XxTimeusxX]

Twodolf mewtler was described as the thumbnail

[@sarahcivilization9905]

2:01 Brock is getting a little to real

[@darkstarmoonshadow]

You mentioned the Burger King gold cards well I have a gold-plated Charizard card minus Pokeball because the stand broke but the card is in the best condition it'll ever be selling it for.. maybe 500

[@mrkaji8913]

Makes me wish avatar got it’s animated films back in the day after each season or after the series

[@erich84502a]

Monster Rancher was changed when it was translated to English

[@mrkaji8913]

Avatar should of gotten movies like Pokémon movies at its time

[@razkable]

i love how standards say killing a girl at the start is too sad for kids to see due to western sensibilities for g rated films yet they keep ash dying in lol....yeah...thats cute...this is why i prefer japan...imagine a 4kids grave of the fireflies circa 1999...it would be garbage...

[@pikachucetthesecond4296]

To be fair I don't think it's possible to retool Grave of the Fireflies in a similar way (mainly because it wasn't a kids' film)

[@birdsandstuff3727]

Everyone loved it when it came out Still a banger till this day The complaints are minor

[@Raylightsen]

Being honest, i love the dictator mewtwo, and SCREW PIKACHU, we need raichu.