Pokémon: I Choose You Movie Gets Its First Trailer

Pokemon Getto Da Ze! They''re bringing back the original theme too huh.

Pokemon Star ?

As long as it's as good as Pokemon Generations, I would happily watch this

Note his original hat

So this is when those event Pikachu with hats are probably gonna get distributed, huh?

Is Pikachu in it? Gee, I sure hope Pikachu is in it. It would be sacrilege to feature a Pokémon product without having Pikachu become the starring Pokémon.

@Tsurii ah kids...

So... the new movie is going to be a 90 minute remake of a 20 minute pilot episode of a still-running television series?

Okay...

I can't imagine this movie being anywhere near as fun and memorable as the original first episode was though.

I´m pretty hyped. I want to watch this!

Given how much this will cater to the nostalgia crowd, this might be the first new Pokemon movie in a while to see a "mainstream" theatrical release in the West. At least, TPC would be smart to do so. And if they could get the 4Kids voices for this one? It'd be a done deal.

On a side note, it's always amazed me how Pokemon is handled as a franchise. The fact that they manage so many fascets of cross media and merchandising (comics, anime, movies, games, TCG, [inter]national tournaments, toys, mobile, etc.), and all while still maintaining popularity and relevancy over 20 years with no sign of slowing down, making new young fans and keeping old ones...

It's a huge inspiration to creative folks like myself that maybe we can create something with as much staying power as Pokemon one day.

The trailers declares, "A yet unseen world. Yet unseen companions. A new journey will begin".

So it sounds like it'll be something more than a straightforward retelling of Series 1.

@sillygostly Considering the pilot was near 1,000 episodes and 18+ years ago, there is a bit of justification for it.

I can see it being an extended origin story where they cover the parts we know, but fill in "the parts we didnt see". Plus maybe a bit of retconning/updating.

If it's an expansion upon the first episode, it's pointless to me but might interest the most hardcore niche in the anime's own fanbase.
If it's an adaptation of the entire Kanto arc, on the other hand, I'm totally on board.

@Maxz Could be the story of a new 10 yo that brings flashbacks to Ash.
Having convoluted stories just for the sake of not doing a remake seems sadly plausible.
And I can't imagine the movie not tie-in with the ongoing show. Just watch the Kamen Rider or Super Sentai movies. Even when the plot is super out there, there is ALWAYS something dumb linking the movie plot to the show plot.

Please don't remake the pilot episode we've all already seen.
Come up with something original. Please.

@XxYoshiGamerxX I think that's the most original thing they made in movie department in a while...

I mean how your typical pokemon movie looks like?
A talking legendary/cool pokemon and a bad guy trying to steal/use/kill it or do that to whatever else that is related to the said legendary, in a sci-fi, or fantasy, or medieval, or steampunk settings that has nothing to do with the games, nor with the existing world within the anime canon itself, also featuring side, usualy bland and predictable, characters that we will never see nor hear about ever again (bare the credits, if we are lucky), and which also has no revelance to the games and anime world what so ever.

Add to this exposition times, because they think the audience isn't too bright to realise the reasons behind the characters, some goofy scenes because kids, and pokemon tears deus ex once in a while.

Now, multiply this by 20 years and you get like 19 movies that each one is more ridiculous than the pevious one, most of the time...
Seriously, I would rather watch that scrapped T. rex ressurection idea with real animals living in the world, or that pokemon riot against human kind, with Pikachu fighting Ash... As odd as those two sounds, those are original ideas in this context...
And remaking a first ep may be also the freshest movie idea in a while. And a good cash in. If they do it right, of course.

Edit: Not saying that all of the poke movies are plain bad but... Tentacle Groudon engulfing monster that came to life because someone drew the pokemon on the ground and used some cosmic energy from a comet enchanced by Jirachi...? May that becomes mother to a pokemon in her mind...? flying Ash in a water-laser-beam tentacle, or Ash in space...? I have seen better reasonings in Godzilla movies :U

Gen 1 pandering is usually lame but this is interesting. I hope this doesn't mean we'll have to wait one more year for Marshadow though.

@KTT the zoroark one I actually liked.

....Thought this was the live movie, ugh...

I can't say I'm hyped for a remake of the first episode.

Been done with the movies since the third one. The rest have been awful. If it's new animation and overdubbed well (hypothetically), I might be interested.

I don't have time to watch pokemon... I'm too busy playing pokemon LOL

It's probably going to be the first 2/3 episodes where he gets pikachu, earns its trust, meets misty and Brock and battles team rocket. Should be pretty good. Will feel strange with different voice actors though. But like how I watch the mirage Pokemon film with original actors then when it came out to to buy they had replaced the voices with the new ones.

Will be buying this once it's out in English though, like I have done since day one

@KTT You forgot how they constantly make the legendaries of the week which are supposed to have powers beyond human comprehension be more instinctive than the most primite Pokémon and how they constantly nerf them way too much, having creatures implied by the games to be capable of destroying planets threaten a smaller city. It's also always the same city Ash, his friends, and whatever calms it down just super-conviently happens to be in, and the destruction equally super-conviently after Ash & co already have gotten some exposition about both the legend of the Pokémon and the legend of the deus ex machina.

It's the same location, the same people, the same kind of Pokémon, the same plot always happening in the same order, and you always know which legendary will star in the next movie.

I nowadays just watch/read what Skulshurtugal and other reviewers say and have done since the fifth movie, by which the creativity already had wained. The movies we're already on a thight one-per-year-basis-schedule, but it was when Game Freak started pumping out way too many mythical Pokémon for distribution that it became impossible for the creators to make any movie that felt like something they actually not felt forced to do. The first three movies weren't masterpieces either, but showing the might of Mewtwo's powers causing enormous storms, Pokémon and humans from all over the world attempting to reach the Orange Islands to help Ash, or showing landscapes slowly turning into crystals (with some fantastic imagery at that) made the threat feel much more reliable than, y'know, the wrath of God threatening just a random city out-in-nowhere because God is humpty-dumpty enough to be tricked (you got something good to drink, story-writers?) and kill innocents. Mewtwo, Lawrence, Lugia, Entei, Molly, and her father, were also in my eyes very personalized characters.

I think it's good for the writers to just not follow the formula they've had for over a decade now. Preferably I'd prefer if they never follow it again. A much better formula IMO would be having one where they focus on the story ever other year and one focusing on the mythical every other. That way they can both make the Pokémon-movies they want to make, while also using some of those marketing-wise lesser-important years to focus on creating a better plot for the ones focusing on mythicals.

@NintendoVideoGa The one with zoroark was the only one I liked that came 'recently' since they mostly left Ash out for the most part and focused on some pretty sweet stuff.

I really feel like Ash is the main thing dragging these movies down, he's just not interesting, and now we get an entire movie focused on him... Not sure what to expect.

@sillygostly Where exactly does it say that's what this movie is?

@Kalmaro The Zoroark one was one of the better movies, but I don't place it very high on my personal list
I found Lucario and Lati@s movies very nice though, Volcanion movie has some nice animation and I liked the character of the pokemon with kinda Beauty and the Beast vibe.

This could be cool. I'd like if it was kinda like a soft reset for the series, obviously the anime would go on, but maybe like a new set of movies or something. What I'd like to see is this still being Ash's story, but existing within the Pokemon anime world we've seen in Origins and Generations where the Pokemon don't say their name but make animal like noises, and the tone is a bit more realistic I guess you could say.

Can't remember much from the early anime. Digimon on the other hand, I still can recall most early episodes.

So... we're getting a movie retelling of the original series, with what appears to be the XYZ art style? Sounds awesome, I just wish they'd get the original voice cast back for it, I can't stand the replacements they got for Gen 4 and onwards, especially for Team Rocket.

I haven't watched Pokemon in years. I stopped watching the anime due to how repetitive it is but the recent Pokemon Origins was a treat to watch.

PLEASE don't go back to the old art style... I can actually watch Pokémon as an animé now... avoid it like a 90's kid's show throwback.

@Maxz Oooooor maybe it's talking about the things Ash hasnt seen outside of Pallet? Before he starts his journey?

@Angelic_Lapras_King Yeah, maybe! I've no idea! It seems a curious mismatch of old-style aesthetic with declarations of newness. Expanding in the original story - or filling in the gaps - seems likely, but all bets are off for me. I wonder how it'll turn out...

@PotatoTheGreat However, I

agree

@Maxz Yeah, I'm very excited for this film. The possibilities are way more exciting then the usual "Evil bad guy tries stealing Talking Pokemon" or "Cover art Pokemon do battle" stories of past movies. And the fact is this HAS to perform well after the last 3 films performed badly (The last 2 earning the least money in the movie series at the Japanese box office) otherwise I don't think there'll be anymore movies (Outside of the Detective Pikachu film anyway....)

@Tsurii Same here. Digimon World: Next Order is tempting, and I DO want a third Digimon game. I only own Digimon Rumble Arena and Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth.

@Kalmaro I think it's gonna be great. Ash in the main series is bland and stupid, but is also optimistic and has some great moments to make it work for the anime but not for the movies. However, since this movie will seemingly focus more on Ash's arc in the show rather than the usual movie stuff, I'm actually pretty optimistic.

@KTT I do believe your argument about their powers are fair, albeit I still think it's pretty stupid from a development standpoint.

Excuse me for being unclear, but I meant predominantly mythical Pokemon instead of normal legendaries. Your theory about TV Tokyo who makes the anime having any major involvment when it comes to creating mythical ones can sadly be discarded. The Pokémon TM is split between Game Freak, Nintendo, and TPC, with TPC in turn being split between Game Freak, Nintendo, and Creatures Inc. and it's TPC who owns the rights to the anime - meaning TV Tokyo have to do their bidding aslong as they want to continue make episodes and movies.

Your point about Ho-oh is interesting and something I'd missed. It may not be a reboot, but it would be the perfect opportunity to canonoze it's importance in "Pokémon - I Choose You!"; after all, what their original reason for showing Ho-oh (and so spontaniously at that) have been lost to the point that I've read about TV Tokyo and Game Freak even disagreeing if that WAS Ho-oh, EVEN after that was reconfirmed before Ash left for Hoenn. If we're lucky, we'll even see Ash's father and hear why it took him so long to reach Viridian... 😉

@NintendoVideoGa Yeah, I don't think the animators have any decision when it comes to the pokemon choice. Games are the force here, and the source of money, while anime is the advertisement (that became a separate product). What I meant is, either the game & 'mons designers think ahead about the upcoming movies (and make the movie crew's work easier) or not (and the movie crew makes up their own random plot, upon TPC approval). I hope I explained the two options better now.

Btw, just to clear it up, the IP is owned by GF, Creatures and Nintendo. TPC (made by the three in 1998) just manages the brand and merchendises it, this includes the anime.
TV Tokyo is responsible for screening the episodes, and Toho is responsible for distributing the movies (fun fact: some pokemon use their kaijū cries ). AFAIK, studio that produces ep/movies is OLM. That of course doesn't change your reasoning of the ep/movie producers getting the same short end of the stick, being under TPC jurisdiction. There's a lot of money flowing and everyone wants to bite some ;]

The Ho-Oh dilemma you mentioned is interesting. Is it possible to find the article somewhere?

@KTT the lucario one was pretty sad, so was the latias one...
Really, I guess I liked the sad ones the most xD