Poké-Month: Pokémon 2000: The Power of One (Part 3)

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3

Once again, there’s a lot of ground to cover, so let’s dive right in!

Onwards, hero of prophecy!

What exactly would you call a dog sled in their world?

Ash still needs the treasure from Ice Island to return everything to normal, so he creates a makeshift dog sled out of pieces from Melody's wrecked boat. Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charizard pull it across the frozen ocean, with the great guardian Lugia protecting from above. Meanwhile, the helicopter containing the news crew, profs Oak and Ivy, and Ash’s mom, crashes on Shamouti near Team Rocket’s location. Everyone comes out unscathed, thankfully.

We also tend to forget just how often these
three make machines to try and capture
Pikachu.

Despite Ash’s idea and Lugia’s best efforts to protect him, the trainer is stopped in his tracks by a wall of ice, courtesy of the warring birds. Who shows up to help, however? No, not the millions of Pokémon who travelled all the way there to watch the events. It’s Team Rocket, who MacGyvered a hovercraft out of the dinghy and the helicopter’s propeller. How they did that in mere minutes, I don’t know. Jessie, James and Meowth explain that if the world is destroyed, then there’s no world left for Team Rocket to take over! They therefore had to turn over to the side of good, albeit temporarily. And, much like in the regular anime, it’s impressive how competent they can be when fighting for a good cause, compared to their regular status as laughable villains.

Can't catch Lugia? He gets to ride it instead!

They not only maneuver their contraption through the ocean, with Ash and Pikachu riding with them, but also across the island, into the cave, and all the way to the altar on Ice Island. With the third treasure in hand, the five of them try to return but are assaulted by the birds again. Lugia arrives during their escape, lets Ash on its back. Team Rocket barely has time to grab the Legendary Pokémon’s leg, but they soon realize that their added weight is slowing down the majestic flying beast so they let go, possibly falling to their doom. Oh, don’t worry, they’re fine; they wound up in the water, surrounded by the bystander Pokémon.

Ash asks Lugia why some many Pokémon got together to come all the way there. Lugia responds that they’re here because they felt their help might be needed. But they don’t know how to help, so… they just stand around and watch, feeling that if even one of them could aid, then it would have been worth the journey for all of them. Yeah, real useful, guys. If you were doing this correctly, all of you would have carried Ash to and from Ice Island. Oh, I know! They offer eMoTiOnAl SuPpOrT!

I do like Legendaries with wisdom that can
match the wisest humans'.

That exchange doesn’t take place in Japanese – instead, Ash asks whether Lugia is a Pokémon due to its godly abilities, and it responds in the affirmative. It then adds that everyone has a different view of the world – every single human and Pokémon has its own way to think about life. However, no one wants to see the world destroyed, hence why everyone is rallying behind Ash on this quest. And indeed, Ash has needed help at every step of the way. This makes a lot more sense than the “Power of One” thing the dub went with! But we must keep any philosophical discussion away from the ears of children, amirite?

The Song That Ends the Storms

Let's just say I'm not shedding any tears for Lawrence.

Looks like it might be smooth sailing from then on and the hero will make it back to the shrine on the Legendary Pokémon’s back, but there’s one thing everyone seems to have forgotten about. That fuckwit collector seizes an opportunity to throw his capture rings at Lugia. Sure, his fortress is broken, he’s stranded on an island, and his collection is probably in shambles, but damn, he’s gotta catch that Pokémon! Unfortunately, the Legendary is unable to resist its capture, but it becomes so pissed that it unleashes an Aeroblast that tears Lawrence’s fortress in two.

Okay, fair, Tracey is pulling the rope back. So he
does have one more important moment. He still
had his important scene taken away, though.

The weakened Lugia falls, unconscious, into the ocean. Ash and Pikachu float back to the surface, also weak, with Ash unconscious. However, they’re rescued by Misty and Tracey, with the Water-type Gym Leader swimming to him with a rope and Tracey pulling them back to shore. Y’know, if the film was consistent with science like it did for the explosion scene, every human in this film would have fallen several times over from hypothermia.

When he awakens on solid ground, Ash is still weak, but intends to complete this quest, struggling to walk all the way to the shrine, but eventually reaching it and placing the treasure of ice in the altar. The spheres harmonize, producing a green water that flows around the shrine and spreads, and Melody takes out her seashell ocarina to play Lugia’s song.

Cue music.

With the song, the healing waters spread out to the ocean, then across the planet. The warring birds, exhausted from their fighting, hear it and calm down. It’s so soothing after all that transpired, so relaxing… and in particular, so gorgeous, like the song ends the war. When I saw this film in theaters, I was 8; I’m willing to bet I cried at that scene. I can say anything I want about the internal logic of the story, but dang - the emotional moments work.

I don't think that "Beast of the Sea"
can fit in a Pokéball.

The tornadoes and storms dissipate, and a reinvigorated Lugia returns from the depths. The “Beast of the Sea”, the underwater current, even somehow appears at the surface, floating above the ocean like a watery rainbow, before calmly settling back down. The weather is back to normal, everywhere. The thousands of Pokémon who had come for eMoTiOnAl SuPpOrT return to where they all came from. And, in the skies, Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres have gone back to flying in harmony alongside Lugia before returning to their respective islands.

At least she was there to see it happen.

From there, the Pokémon professors and Delia arrive from the wreckage of their helicopter, and Ash's mom scolds her son for facing so much danger. She was genuinely afraid he’d die back there. She asks him to come back to visit her more often, and to “try to save the world closer to home”. Don’t worry Delia, you’ll have front row seats to Ash’s next big adventure. Also, props to the anime, Ash actually keeps that promise and, from that point on, returns to Pallet Town for a bit before heading off to a new region.

Step 1: Leave the island that he's currently
stranded on.

By the wreckage of his fortress, Lawrence picks up his rare Mew card. That thing was given for free to kids going to theaters in North America; nowadays, a mint copy is worth around 30$. He swears to start over. Hey, as long as he doesn't provoke any more apocalypses, we cool. As for Team Rocket, they swam back to shore and are assured by Slowking that their heroic exploits haven’t gone unnoticed – by us, the viewers. A sweet fourth wall break that unfortunately ends with an unnecessary nod to the Simpsons. Roll credits, closing with the film’s theme song, The Power of One, performed by Donna Summer… followed by Polkamon by “Weird Al” Yankovic. The mood whiplash is real!

They could see us the whole time?
Awkward... er... hi, you four.

Final thoughts on the story

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the story in this film, but I definitely look back on it with a more critical eye than I had prior. Not that it has aged poorly, but I can definitely see the cracks in the structure. Since I last saw it, I also saw YouTube videos that analyzed the film and compared the Japanese and English versions (although I did my own research on the subject, these videos served as a good starting point), and I can’t help but wonder how much better the film could have been if the original story hadn’t been tampered with so much.

Yeah, it would be a lot on the shoulders of any
"exceptional Trainer", but then he wouldn't be
the sole human who can make things right.

We went from a story about co-dependence and everyone getting together when things are dire, to a basic Chosen One story that emphasizes individualism and having one person do all the work. We went from a story where anyone can choose to be the force for change, the force that helps make the world a better place, to a story where one individual, apparently selected by folklore to be “The Special”, has the entire fate of the planet put on their shoulders. “An exceptional trainer, could be anyone” VS “Ash, just Ash, literally named in a centuries-old prophecy, and nobody else”.

The more I think about it, the more these changes by 4Kids Entertainment offend me. They tried to spin a different story with the stuff shown on the screen but, as I pointed out repeatedly, the events of the movie say something else entirely. With all that in mind, it legitimately feels like the dub attempted to not retell the original story, but to dumb it down for its intended audience, which I see as both insulting and pointless. Kids can understand stories about complex life concepts. Kids are smarter than that company seems to think. I’m glad they lost the licensing rights in 2005.

Dude, if you want to have Pokémon on display
for all to see... make a goddamn zoo.

As for the other part of the story: The commentary on collecting and “catching ‘em all”. I think this is a topic ripe for deconstruction, as Pokémon is one of the franchises to have started the “’Mon” genre alongside Digimon. Pokémon could have done a fantastic job picking apart one of its own core concepts – only to rebuild it stronger along the way.

In theory? I would love to see this. In practice? Ehhhhhh… it’s half-baked. The deconstruction is there, but stops just shy of making a good point. The English version, anyway; the Japanese version does a little better, but also could have pushed its points in a more interesting fashion.

The antagonist at the center of it all is a collector whose name is not even pronounced a single time in the English script, and whose backstory is so minimal that we can’t even come to conclusions about his greater intentions. He is equal parts generic and fascinating, due to how little we know of him. He wants to keep the Legendary Pokémon on display for all to see, and will stop at nothing to gather them, consequences (like ending the goddamn world) be damned.

There was an amazing opportunity to deconstruct
and reconstruct one of the franchise's main
tenets. Said opportunity wasn't taken advantage of.

And unfortunately, the heroes don’t get a chance to offer a rebuttal. What we get at best is a lukewarm defense from Misty, who has but one line of dialogue to pierce through Lawrence III’s bullcrap. This fails, in both versions, to produce arguments that invalidate his barbaric way of collecting Pokémon – for display, treating them like objects – while reinforcing how her friends do the same – by caring for these animals and treating them like friends. I still enjoy the thought that the first few Pokémon movies deconstruct elements of the franchise, but this one could have done so much better in that regard.

Final thoughts on everything else

The animation is pretty good, featuring some stunning setpieces as well as several fight scenes that are a treat to watch. Some combinations of traditional animation and CGI clash a bit, but it usually works – Lawrence’s ship is a particularly impressive example. The music is also pretty good, for the most part – the orchestral tracks are excellent and “Lugia’s Song” is still one of my favorite soundtrack pieces ever. On the other hand, some of the pop tracks don’t feel necessary.

Even if he is a bit unremarkable and bland,
I do feel sad for Tracey, who lost his
big shining moment.

I’m still not sure why the dub cut out Tracey’s only real shining moment in the film, where he brings up actual science to figure out that an explosion is about to happen. In comparison, Professor Oak brings little to no science, instead rattling off folklore and legends. I know it’s a nitpick, but I’m still stuck on that boat and everything it could do. I still can’t believe it could climb a staircase on its own.

Probably the more unexpected aspect of the film is the Pokéshipping. Melody gets multiple chances to tease Misty about her relationship with Ash, something that a lot of fans have discussed at length, with several of them pairing the two in part due to signs in this very film. I believe the intention was to have Misty realize that, albeit not romantically, she still cared for Ash, no matter how much she’d want to deny it. The film led to other interpretations. Eh, I can’t say I was ever a Pokéshipper, but if this film led to people having fun talking about the characters, hey, more power to them.

And like I said – the emotional moments hit very well.

It has a lot of good moments in general.

It’s not a bad movie, though as I said at the very beginning of the review, it will appeal far more to Pokémon fans. I like its scope and some of its themes, even if it is lacking in places. It has swaths of issues, some in the film in general, others present only because of the English dub, which several other language dubs (including the Canadian French one) based themselves off of. But in spite of those, it’s an okay ride. I guess I would rank it beneath the first Pokémon film.

Next Friday, for the second Pokémon review this month, I’ll be covering a behemoth that I really should have discussed sooner: Gen 6.