Music Video Gallery Featuring Donna Summer; Alysha's Dreams; Dream Street's They Don't Understand and Pokemon World by Youngstown Featuring Nobody's Angel.Theatrical Trailer.A Sneak Preview Of Pokemon 3
One Person Can Make All The Difference
The Power of One: Get set for an unforgettable adventure featuring all-new Pokemon! An Ancient legend comes true when Pokemon Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres are disturbed after centuries of harmony. As the very forces of nature come unbalanced, life on earth depends on the unlikely teaming of mythical Pokemon Lugia and a mysterious "chosen one" foretold in the legend. Can Ash Ketchum summon the courage to save the day? See how one person can make all the difference.
After the success of the first Pokémon movie, it was a no brainer for Warner Brothers to put out the second one.
Audio:
For my primary viewing session I listened to the English 5.1 soundtrack. No Japanese soundtrack is provided. While the majority of the sound is on the front sound stage, background effects are heard in the surrounds, plus characters speaking off screen can show up on the surrounds. There?s also a small amount of directionality. While writing the review, I switched over to the French 5.1 soundtrack. It was a lot softer than the English one.
Video:
Sadly, since this is a kid?s release, Warner Brothers only released a Pan and Scanned version of the movie. Colors on this release are very bright and the transfer looks great. I couldn?t locate any signs of mpeg artifacts, color saturation, or line shimmering.
Packaging:
We have a typical Warner Brother?s snapper case with an image of Lugia, Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno standing out. They are the star Pokémon for this movie. The back cover has a short description of the movie and mentions the mini-movie Pikachu?s Rescue Adventure being on the DVD. On the inside of the snapper case, there is a listing of all the chapters. A Pikachu Pokémon card and a Lugia pog is also included.
Menu:
The main menu features a static image with a few Pokémon on it, and several menu choices including Play Movie, Select Scenes, Special Features, and Languages. Various menus on the DVD display various Pokémon with their number, height, and weight. Only the main menu features music, and after thirty seconds it kicks into the feature.
Extras:
The amounts on extras relating to the actual movie on this DVD are extremely lacking. Trailers for Pokémon: The Movie 2000 and the third Pokémon DVD are here, plus Soundtrack Live. Soundtrack Live consists of three live performances at a Pokémon event of various Pokémon songs
I checked out the DVD-ROM features also, which are mainly just links to several Warner Brother websites, including the WB Kids and official Pokémon sites. The only material in the DVD-ROM section on the DVD seems to be explanations for the various Pokémon games available on the GameBoy.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
First off, we have the mini-feature Pikachu?s Rescue Adventure. Ash, Misty, and Tracy decide to take a nap, and Togepi wanders off. After Togepi falls down a hole, Pikachu and the rest of the gang follow after. They find themselves in a mysterious land with a large number of Pokémon all living together. Basically, they go through small little adventures until they find Togepi, and of course, they all work together.
The main feature starts off with the evil bad guy, who I?ll refer to as the Collector. He wants to capture the three legendary Pokémon in order to drive out the king, Lugia. That is, according to an ancient prophecy he is reading. Of course, prophecies always cause trouble. Moltres becomes his first catch.
Ash, Misty, and Tracy are sailing around the Orange Island to their next adventure when all of a sudden, the weather turns extremely sour and their boat gets washed up onto Shamouti Island, just in time for their annual Legend Ceremony. Ash is made the ?Chosen One? of their festival, and he must visit three islands to obtain three glass balls and return them. Melody, a young girl who snubs her nose at tradition, chose Ash and leads the festival this year.
All over the world, weather patterns are changing, and it?s the result of the Fire Pokémon Moltres being captured. As Ash goes to get the first glass ball, he witnesses Zapdos being captured by the Collector. The entire gang, including Team Rocket and Melody also get captured. In evil villain nature, the Collector explains his entire plan and lets them out of their cage.
Ash uses his Pokémon to rescues Moltres and Zapdos who begin to fight with each other. Articuno also gets involved, and the three legendary Pokémon battling together summons the ancient Pokémon Lugia to the scene. All the fighting though increases the imbalance of the planet?s weather patterns.
After careful examination of the prophecy, it?s determined that it?s up to Ash to save the world from destruction by gathering the three glass balls and bringing them to a shrine where Melody will play a song to restore balance. It?s all up to the Power of One!
The focus of this movie is Ash, which I found surprising. Usually the focus is on all the cute Pokémon. Pokémon are an integral part of this world, and they provide balance to it. Unfortunately, there are people with their own selfish desires. But one person can make a difference, as it?s up to Ash to fulfill the ancient prophecy.
I found this to be a fun movie. The action sequences provide a great work out for my sound system, though the action on screen could use some work. Team Rocket provides their usual wisecracks, and Misty and Ash?s relationship gets explored a little bit. I missed Brock though, as Tracy doesn?t hold a candle to him.
Toshiba 3109 player, Toshiba 36? Cinema Series via component, Pioneer VSX-810S receiver via optical, Cerwin Vega front speakers, Pinnacle center and rears
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