
Pokémon fans, like any other fans you could mention, aren't always welcoming of change. That's certainly the case with those who have seen the Pokémon The Movie: I Choose You!, which features a Pikachu that can (gasp!) speak English.
The most famous Pocket Monster of all has traditionally only been able to utter its name, but in the new film it actually converses with the hero Ash.
You can watch that moment here, but be warned - not only does the original Tweet contain bad language, there are naughty-type swears in the footage as the audience reacts in shock.
Kate Bristol is the person behind Pikachu's new voice, and she told Guardian Australia about the recording process:
I know a lot of people might think it’s out of the ordinary for Pikachu to speak English. It’s definitely out of the ordinary. It was hilarious being in the theater with the rest of the cast and hearing the audience’s reaction as a huge collective ‘What?’ rose up.
Personally, I did my best to mimic [Japanese voice actor] Ikue Otani as she is the master. This part in Japanese is adorable. At the end of the day Pokémon is a good time and I sure as hell enjoyed being a Pikachu for 0.5 seconds.
Some fans have interpreted the scene as a dream sequence which occurs entirely in Ash's imagination. What's your take? Let us know with a comment.
[source theguardian.com]
Comments 110
Hey remember when a lot of people also wanted Danny DeVito to play a Pikachu that was also a detective that speaks the language of man?
Hey remember that movie that had a Pikachu that was also a detective?
Just watched the clip. Makes me really uncomfortable. Yeah, no thanks.
Lol interesting. I'd love to see a Pikachu-only movie with an English dub. That'd be fun
....watches out of curiosity
EDIT: Yeah it was weird, I prefer Detective's voice. lol
It's a slippery slope. First Pikachu talks, next we'll see Mario and Peach sign a contract with Brazzers.
No.
Just no.
I think he doesn't actually speak english, it's more likely Ash still hears "pika pikachu" but these are understandable to him thanks to the bond he's developed with Pikachu at that point. It represents the friendship, I think it's not unusual for trainers to understand their Pokemon "by heart", without words.
The actual words were there for the viewer and I prefer that over getting the standard pika pika and then Ash being shocked and asking "what? You really want to be with me?" That just isn't natural and ruins the mood and that was an important scene. Simple as that :^)
That legitimately made my skin crawl... my body acted like it was creepy. I don't hate it because, you know, meowth. At least meowth had a character developing episode on why he could speak.
@zet I like this take
the love of a boy and his pikachu
how dare you all judge it!
@Exy This movie is still in the works, as far as I know. So I guess talking Pikachus are going to become the norm.
It is completely unnecessary, and thus a bad idea, to make Pikachu speak English. Simple as that.
@BigDaddysPizza Meanwhile I tried to push for Patrick Warburton to play Pikachu instead. Fat lot of help that did me.
I saw this movie at the movie theater. I was already cringing for pretty much the entire thing, but when Pikachu started talking, that just added even more stains on an already large turdfest of a movie.
This isn’t the first time. Pikachu talked in the mystery dungeon special back in 3rd gen. And he had the voice of a guy in his 30s.
@JHDK Well that escalated quickly
@NapalmPsalm I saw that episode and I'm still not convinced Meowth should be able to talk at all.
Pokemon should not talk, period.
@Exy
Hey can I offer you an egg in this trying time?
That may actually be worse than the time Godzilla and Anguirus spoke in Godzilla vs Gigan. I didn't think that could ever be topped.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY79KGbvpOw
Talking Pokémon isn’t weird. There’s usually at least one talking Pokémon every movie. (Mewtwo, lugia, zorua, diancie, and if no legendaries want to speak, there’s still meowth.) but the weird thing is that it’s Ash’s Pikachu. So it’s like, the most important Pokémon to represent all the critters that just spout their own names. Super weird. I guess this is an alternate pikachu anyways tho, since this movie clearly doesn’t take place with the ash and crew I grew up with.
@MintFox Aside from that, Pikachu is the only pokemon who actually has a voice actor for most Pokémon games while most Pokemon noises are just some digital sounds.
@JHDK - Bowser's Casting Castle?
Incredibly sudden for that Pikachu. It's not surprising for Pokemon to talk. The Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series has Pokemon speaking effectively and consistently with one another but Ash's Pikachu which basically has always said "Pika pika!" is very much a "wait what" moment.
Pokemon who speak generally have special circumstances that justify their ability to speak with humans as well.
@GC-161 I can't say I disagree with you, but it is fiction. Anything is possible if the creators want it to be. shurgs
The crowd reaction was the best part.
@Paraka Ha! That actually made me lol.
Only thing that could've made this better is if they cast Morgan Freemon ONLY for that half a second line.
@NapalmPsalm But it breaks the immersion into a world that has a set of rules.
There are plenty of fiction IPs that do not break the rules they set up precisely because it reminds consumers that its all fake. That's something they always try to avoid.
I thought it was sweet. Wish my cat could talk
The Pokémon Company... what have you done?!?
@-Green- in PMD they’re still speaking in their Pokémon languages, it’s just translated for us. Sort of like how in many cartoons and movies, cats and dogs talk to each other and we understand them but to the humans in the movie, it’s just barks and meows. It’s hardly the same thing.
Those saying ridiculous things like it made their skin crawl or it made them uncomfortable or that Pokémon is losing its way are overreacting. It's a cartoon, relax. I took my kids (ages 11 and 9) to it last night. We thought the movie was fun kids entertainment, my daughter found the moment in question touching.
@MintFox legendaries often talk because they’re actually communicating psychicly (mewtwo) or they’re just godlike Pokémon. And meowth’s backstory established it took him a long time to train himself just to say a couple words, even longer for full speech, this is jarring because it just happens with Pikachu, Pikachu didn’t take time to learn to speak normally nor is it psychic or possesses godlike powers, it’s just an electric rat...
Eh, this isn't any weirder than ... Really, a LOT of things in Shin Megami Tensei. Or Yakuza 0, where a chicken becomes one of your company managers after you get a turkey in bowling. Or any other anime where creatures can be heard speaking human words after someone became spiritually close to them in some capacity. Ash is basically a Pokémon whisperer, what seems crazy to us and others is completely normal to him. I thought this was well established?
@SanderEvers how? This is canonically a different universe, a different Ash, and a different Pikachu.
Spoilers spoilers spoilers in the title. Pikachu has more of right to speak than Nintendo Life right now
@riChchestM @Shugo I've pointed out spoilers and got openly ridiculed by commenters and the article writer. I don't think anyone here in any important position cares about spoiling stuff.
Well I hope people get used to it. The Rock apparently has a shot at voicing Pickachu in the upcoming Detective Pikachu movie: https://screenrant.com/detective-pikachu-movie-actors-dwayne-johnson/
I don't know whether I'm excited for the hilarity of it or terrified.
@wiggleronacid The Rockachu? Doesn't sound any more odd than John NuzLocke.
@Banjos_Backpack ... Those two things aren't even relatable. You're crazy.
It sure made for a good time in the theater though... everyone was going NUTS
At least, Pikachu doesn't say "Pika, Pika" all the time.
Wonder if Michael Vick had hallucinations similar to Ash here.
@Jop That's what happened here
@ShadJV I mean they speak to the human character who is turned into a Pokemon. It could be either way.
Pikachu isn't talking.
@wiggleronacid Wasn't Danny DeVito going to voice Detective Pikachu?
BTW, anyone younger than 20 doesn't qualify as a Pokemon fan. So sure, kids who do not know any better will enjoy watching Pikachu talking their ears out.
@GC-161 But according to these rules some pokemon do talk and through various means. Even in the main line games there are instances of pokemon talking or implied they could talk.
Here they were going for a shock value and showing the bond between Ash in pikachu.
@NapalmPsalm So they were going for a cheap thrill, eh?
What's next? Animal Crossing villagers will have actual voice actors doing the voices in English in the next mainline game?
@GC-161 You should watch the Animal Crossing animated film that was released in 2006.
Somebody ate an Amoonguss.
@GC-161 Movies are for thrills, especially pokemon movies.
Your AC point? Sure, maybe in a movie they will have voice actors. Like, you know, the one that actually came out.
And nice job at ignore my point about pokemon talking in the main games.
@NapalmPsalm "And nice job at ignore my point about pokemon talking in the main games."
Nice job at ignoring my point about AC villagers talking in the mainline GAMES not movie.
Check m8
@Exy That actually wasn't so bad.
@-Green- Exactly, the human was turned into a Pokémon. And the human is surprised he can understand them. All of them. Even in the one where his partner from before his transformation was Sceptile, who it was confirmed he couldn’t talk to before but now can. If you look at the episodes of the anime where there were only Pokémon and their speech was subtitled, all Pokémon seem to understand each other. It really only makes sense that the Pokémon in PMD were not speaking human language, it was just translated for the player.
@GC-161 Haha, but I didn't ignore your point. I literally said "Your AC point? Sure..."
I digress though. Your animal crossing point is meant to deflect from the fact that you said there are a set of rules in pokemon that they broke; however, my point still stands that pokemon do talk in both the games and the shows/films. That means they didn't break a rule.
@NapalmPsalm I want to see receipts that Pokemon have long conversations in the games.
Your move.
The ONLY thing that blows my mind here is that for 11+ years Pikachu has ALWAYS TALKED in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, and he was very, very chatty, very emotional, and extremely endearing. Maybe it wasn't an audible talking, but the emotions expressed and the text from his speech bubbles are all the same to me as seeing it in this movie. Weird how no one even realized this. Maybe people completely forgot or something. 🤷🏻♀️ Regardless, I wish they did talk and say normal things. It's ridiculous that they only say their own names generally. Who came up with that as a logical thing?! Lol! Animals and other creatures don't do that, of course. So if Pokémon can utter their own names (which makes a lot less sense than actually speaking real words and sentences), then what is all the fuss about in this movie!
@GC-161 "anyone younger than 20 doesn't qualify as a Pokemon fan"
That's probably the most idiotic thing I've read in this thread. And this thread is full of a lot of idiocy.
@GC-161 haha, really? Just keep on adding criteria. I'm not going to leave you a link, because if you are too lazy to type "pokemon talking" into google then there is no point in discussing this with you.
Besides, did you forget about the new pokemon games already? There is one that literally talks to you all game, but I already know your rebuttal to that.
All in all, I rest my case.
I'll leave the same comment here I did on Facebook a while ago:
My issue isn't that Pikachu speaks.
My issue is that the movie was unnecessarily garbage.
They claimed it would be a 20th anniversary celebration of the past, then started by removing Misty, Brock, and Gary from existence and giving us three no-name one-note literal-whos walking around with Gen 4 and Gen 5 Pokémon. They had Ash outright say that he wished he'd had a different starting Pokemon besides Pikachu (or his Charmander who just lost), a STUNNING statement coming out of him, and one made even more incomprehensible since in the original series he had ALL THREE STARTERS PLUS PIKACHU, making this an artificially generated retcon for the sake of out-of-character "drama" jerkdom. And we had Team Rocket show up three times, only to NEVER INTERACT WITH OR MEET ASH EVEN ONCE.
The sins of this movie far outnumber this one misguided scene with Pikachu.
@NapalmPsalm I see, you got no proof.
Move along then.
@ShadJV Oh yeah, forgot about Sceptile. Fair enough.
@GC-161 @CosmoXY please show more respect for one another and abide by the community rules.
@GC-161
Check this out Animal Crossing movie in Japanese dub.
Not too shocked about the pikachu speaking but overall the movie was a bit ‘meh’. I’d give it a 6.5/10
@TonyCrispy I find that as a surprisingly good score from what I expected of it. You grow up watching the original series? I haven't watched it for previous reasons mentioned by some people.
@Anti-Matter Yes, now show me a video of a AC mainline game where the village folk talk in plain English with voice acting.
I'll wait.
@CosmoXY May you have a good day as well.
Honestly, I thought I was clearly joking when I implied that Pokemon was not for kids. But then again, maybe I came across as being serious. LOL
Oh well...
@NapalmPsalm I mean it was alright, I’ve watched the old series back then till black and white cuz they lost their taste imo. If only they made the movie a lil longer with more action packed battles, then I would’ve considered this to be my all time favorite Pokémon movie. Tbh tho, I only watched it cuz I wanted to see it on the big screen xD
@GC-161 Pretty sure @Anti-Matter was just suggesting you watch it since he(she?) has mentioned it here before saying it was good.
@TonyCrispy Haha, fair enough. I can't get myself to watch just because the lack of misty/brock friendship.
@NapalmPsalm He/she wants me too see it because its a good movie?
That's not what I heard.
@GC-161 "Check this out Animal Crossing movie in Japanese dub."
Meh, I can see taking that either way.
"Pokemon Fans Are Losing Their Minds Over Pikachu Talking"
Not really. It's a non-canon alternative continuity, so nothing that happens in a dream sequence therein needs to be oversensationalized.
Never expected pikachu to speak. Will watch the clip later
Yeap that is weird cause Meowth and Mewtwo are suppose to be the only two that could talk.
Why was this a shock specifically for the dubbed version of the movie? I'm pretty sure this movie came out in Japanese a while ago and nobody seemed to care.
@Benjamin i think it’s meant to be implied at that point that Marshadow might have already been influencing him. Ash has often been mopey and struggled with loss in the original Kanto anime. His pride was also on the line all the more and it was kind of a huge shake up for him since he was clashing with Cross of all people and losing a battle of ideals shook his beliefs (and then his belief in his own team)
That said, the Pikachu talking part isnt a big deal to me either. First off, there was a strong influence of ‘supernatural’ legendary forces at that moment. Secondly, i cant remember entirely, but I think Ash had already taken quite a beating and was already struggling to maintain consciousness; that coupled with his closer than ever bond (being in sync with his Pokemon), and him probably reading Pikachu’s mouth might have even filled some kind of gap (he has at least worked out relatively quickly what Pikachu has said in some episodes of the anime).
EDIT - Keep in mind that the anime also had an episode with Santa Claus, and in the same episode also had a telepathic Lapras (just because), and other episodes featuring a talking Gastly with insane pyschic abilities (Maidens Peak), and a ghostly psychic Ninetails that also had powers to create vivid illusions (and probably countless other examples) so a miracle moment like this to me feel like less of a big deal.
Detective pikachu can talk.
Ash’s pikachu can’t.
And shouldn’t have.
@zet That's what I got out of that scene as well. I'm not mad at it at all. However... I hope they don't do it again... lol
Just think, this must be how N hears Pokemon speak.
Personally I believe it is a failure in writing, like they couldn't figure out a way for Pikachu to properly mime the message and feeling, so they had to resort to speech as a crutch.
Maybe we were overreacting, but everyone at work was pretty upset when we found out about Pikachu talking. I guess we think this sets a bad precedence.
I hate the idea of Pokemon talking. I don't need to know their opinions about being my perpetually imprisoned battle slaves.
People fail to grasp this is an alternate timeline.
They fail real hard.
In this universe, Ash's empathy could be enhanced.
Or maybe it was a dying hallucination, who knows?
@GC-161 I'm not sure if the Devito thing was legit or just a meme haha
@wiggleronacid I just remember that it was a popular thing on social media.
Not sure if DeVito ever responded to it.
Yet no one brings up how the film will make you never see a Luxray in the same way again. ;P
@GC-161 His Twitter response was "What the F is a Pikachu?". XD
Okay, for the last 2 decades, is the bond between master and trainer constantly brought up to the point where they can’t quite explain how it works, it just does? So Ash and Pikachu have been friends since the very very beginning, they’re sharing a life and death moments together all the time, and people getting mad over Pikachu speaking English? WOW! Maybe in their most excellent moment together, and let’s face it they do it in almost every movie, pretty formulaic, they decide to make a creative change in that Pikachu is speaking from the heart to Ash, totally sharing with the audience an intimate moment of their friendship, my first thought was oh my god that is so freaking cute, not oh my god why did they make Pikachu speak English???? He’s also not the first Pokémon to speak English, verbally or telepathically. It’s called a creative decision, which writers, directors, game developers have been doing for years.
If you want to live in a world of constant sameness. Don’t eat anything but Applebee’s for the rest of your life, and watch reruns of Star Trek the Next Generation, and let the rest of us, who are also fans, enjoy these little heartfelt touching moments, and not have to put up with nerd rage...
I’m personally split really.
Part of me thought “What Dafuq?” when I saw it, but the other though “Aw, she sounds so cute”.
Wait, Pikachu is Male in this?
You sure, I got some anime girl vibes from that too.
@Angelic_Lapras_King Hey, DeVito...
I can't wait to watch the movie for myself and see it in context. The internet has a habit of making a big deal out things like this without acknowledging the context or possible nuances.
@-Green- yeah I mean you COULD make the argument that PMD takes place in an entirely different timeline where Pokémon can speak (it never is entirely clear where this all is taking place), but I feel Axioms Razor applies, it just makes it more complicated. It was a good point either way and I had to look back on the plot a bit to remember if they said anything else relevant to the Pokémon speaking.
@AlexSora89 alternate reality or not, it doesn't mean people can't be upset. Of course this didn't ruin my day, though. After the initial "WTF???" and screams of "NOOO" and "WHYYYY???" at the office, we all calmed down and went back to work.
But if Gamefreak makes this a permanent thing, that's another matter.
Pikachu talking is the reason characters like him and Link shouldn't have voices. Remember that 1989 version of Link?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D5tkAUNFa4
I thought ti was interesting and it made sense in the moment of the movie.
I am not a fan of this film, but mostly because of the changes made to Brock and Misty compared to the original anime. Unless they just made Pikachu suddenly talk all the time, I don't care about one or two lines in a movie I already don't like.
@flightsaber "Only thing that could've made this better is if they cast Morgan Freemon ONLY for that half a second line."
And put his name in big letters on the poster.
My take is many man-children cried themselves to sleep on social media that night after returning from the theatre.
Cringes
@w00dm4n yeah! Why nobody pointing out how sad of a moment this was.
...aaaand breathe 🙂
@SomeWriter13
They won't make it permanent, because as I said, it's another continuity. And Pikachu talked just in that scene.
@Nookingtons Mind your language.
@AlexSora89 I sure hope so!
Pikachu talking in just that one scene could have been done another way without resorting to him talking, though.
Maybe Pikachu could have mimed by looking at a Pokeball and touching Ash instead, then Ash has an epiphany, recalls similar moments where Pikachu touches Ash over the Pokeball, cuddling in a sleeping bag together, resting on his shoulder, etc. And Ash himself could have said those lines, and Pikachu could have confirmed the statement by nuzzling him or something. That maybe could have been equally cute and touching...without breaking character.
It is hardly long enough of a dialogue to cause an uproar. I honestly think it adds to the movie in a heartfelt/comical way.
@SomeWriter13
I still fail to see how that is "breaking" the character.
As if Bernardo, Don Diego's butler in Zorro, had "mute" as his defining trait. Nope, he was a loyal and reliable butler, that was what he was about.
What's next, Peter Dinklage's great at playing dwarves or something? No, he's a great actor and that's it.
@AlexSora89 it's not "breaking the character" of Pikachu, that's different from Pikachu "breaking character" or "acting out of character" (even if the message is in character)
If someone doesn't talk for 10 or so odd years (much less in one movie) as they usually act by miming...and then suddenly speaks, that is the very definition of breaking character. It isn't something that Pikachu has been defined to do, nor was it Pikachu's usual method of doing things.
@SomeWriter13
Exhibit A: Mario miming when narrating events in Super Mario RPG.
Exhibit B: Mario speaking full sentences in Mario Vs. Donkey Kong.
Same guy.
Pikachu Talking Vs Sonic Kissing
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