Pokémon: The Movie 2000

 

Pokémon: The Movie 2000
The promotional image used for the poster and DVD cover
Directed by	Michael Haigney Kunihiko Yuyama
Produced by	Yukako Matsusako Takemoto Mori Choji Yoshikawa
Written by	Takeshi Shudo
Starring	Veronica Taylor Rachael Lillis Ted Lewis Ikue Ōtani Addie Blaustein Stuart Zagnit Kayzie Rogers Dan Green
Distributed by	4Kids Entertainment, Toho
Release date(s)	Japanese (Domestic): July 17, 1999 North America: July 21, 2000
Running time	102 min
Language	Japanese, English
Preceded by	Pokémon: The First Movie
Followed by	Pokémon 3: The Movie
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Pokémon: The Movie 2000 (劇場版ポケットモンスター 幻のポケモン ルギア爆誕, Gekijōban Poketto Monsutā Maboroshi no Pokemon Rugia Bakutan^?, lit. "Pocket Monsters the Movie: The Phantom Pokémon, Lugia's Explosive Birth"; officially POCKET MONSTERS REVELATION - LUGIA in Japan) is the second Pokémon feature-length film, complementing the Orange Islands saga of the series and featuring several new Pokémon, including Lugia and Slowking.

It was released in movie theaters Japan on July 17, 1999. The English version, produced by 4Kids Entertainment and distributed by Kids WB! in association with Nintendo Co. Ltd., was later released in the United States on July 21, 2000.

The movie earned less at the box office than its predecessor, Pokémon: The First Movie, despite increased promotion and better critical reception, which made up for this minor loss.

Pokémon: The Movie 2000 has two parts: the feature presentation and a 20-minute short.

Synopsis

Pikachu’s Rescue Adventure

As with before, the faces of the main human characters are unseen. When Togepi falls down a dark hole, Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Marill, Venonat and Psyduck give chase and find themselves in a giant tree that once was Pikachu’s old home. With help from Pikachu’s friend, Elekid, the Pokémon find Togepi but she has been mistaken for an Exeggcute egg. The Pokémon head off into the depths of the tree to find the missing egg, meeting a trio of dancing Bellossom along the way. A deadly storm hits the area and Pikachu and his friends try to protect the Exeggcute egg from being blown away. The tree Pokémon lend a hand and Snorlax saves everyone with his great strength. The storm passes and a Chansey appears, revealing she had the missing egg all along. The eggs are reunited. Exeggcute suddenly evolves into Exeggutor with the assistance of a Leaf Stone. Pikachu and his friends say farewell to Elekid and the others and head back to their trainer. Meanwhile, Meowth tries to find his way to a campsite but ends up getting caught in Pikachu’s mishaps and gives up. There are two errors in the part when the Bellossom trio dance, the Poliwhirl says "Poliwrath" instead of "Poliwhirl" and the Magikarp says "Goldeen" instead of "Magikarp".

The Power of One

“

Disturb not the harmony of Fire, Ice, or Lightning, lest these Titans wreck destruction upon the world in which they clash. Though the water's Great Guardian shall arise to quell the fighting, alone its song will fail. Thus the Earth shall turn to Ash. O, Chosen One, into thine hands bring together all three. Their treasures combined tame the beast of the sea.

”

This is an introduction to to the legendary three birds, Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres, around which the plot revolves, introducing the theme of a delicate balance between the forces of nature (a common theme throughout the Pokémon series), embodied by the very Pokémon who represent them. The idea of the legend is that should the balance of power between these three birds be destroyed, chaos would ensue, prompting the "Great Guardian" Lugia to rise from the depths of the sea to attempt to end the senseless destruction, yet only with the help of a "Chosen One" destined to save the world.

It is the ambition of a certain collector of Pokémon items to add Lugia to his collection by disrupting the balance of nature and summoning Lugia, believing himself able to tame the beast once he has brought together all three legendary birds. Though the man's name is not revealed in the movie, “Lawrence III” is given in pre-release sources and the last name Gelardan is revealed in closed captioning.

Lawrence uses a technologically advanced airship to launch an ice attack on Fire Island, the home of Moltres. The legendary bird fights back but is swiftly captured.

Meanwhile, as Ash and company travel throughout the Orange Islands on board a boat captained by Marin (Michiko), a storm suddenly brews up, sending them off course. Afterwards, they end up beached on Shamouti Island. Coincidentally, they arrive during an annual festival which honors the aforementioned legendary birds. Ash agrees to play the role of the festival’s ceremonial “Chosen One”, and is faced with the task of retrieving three elemental orbs from the three nearby islands (and residences of Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres), and return them to a shrine, representing the uniting of the powers of Fire, Ice and Lightning.

In Pallet Town, the storm that Ash and company encountered proves not to be an isolated incident, as the town too experiences extreme and erratic weather patterns (brief yet heavy rain, snow during the middle of summer and even the Aurora). Ash's mother, and Professor Oak notice that the pokémon are behaving strangely as well (as they are more in sync with the forces of nature). Sensing impending danger they, along with Professor Ivy, set forth for the Orange Islands, to which the pokémon are headed as well, as it seems to be the source of these disturbances.

Back in the Orange Islands, Ash and Marin head for the first orb on Fire Island, despite the advice of the festival maiden Melody (Furuura) and the horrendous weather outside. Blaming herself for what could happen to Ash, given the terrible situation, Melody (along with Misty and Tracey) takes off after him. After Ash obtains the first orb, the two groups meet, along with Team Rocket, who had snuck aboard Melody's boat. Zapdos then appears, having claimed Fire Island. It, and all the other characters are then also captured by the airship as it descends.

As this occurs, Professor Oak, en route to the Orange Islands, concludes that because the basic elemental forces of fire, ice and lightning have been disrupted, there have been great disturbances in the ocean's underwater currents (home of Lugia), and that if order is not restored soon these disturbances could end up flooding the entire earth.

On his airship, Lawrence III explains his plan, much to the disgust of the rest of the characters. Using her prior knowledge of the legend, and having observed Lawrence III's plan, Melody comes to the same conclusion Professor Oak has. The group are able to, using their pokémon, free themselves and release Moltres, who then frees Zapdos. Despite this, Zapdos and Moltres then fight each other, destroying the airship. It crashes into Lightning Island. Ash collects the second orb as all three legendary birds battle each other. The fight, which threatens property and lives, is halted by Lugia, who rises from his slumber to help try to restore peace. Lugia then takes Ash and company to the island on which the three orbs must be placed (a task which now literally holds the fate of the world in the balance).

In an attempt to stop the fighting Lugia goes head to head with the three feuding birds, but they quickly overwhelm him. His life is restored by the song played by Melody.

Once there, the Slowking that guards the shrine tells the main characters that Ash is truly the Chosen One that legends had foretold (“The world shall turn to Ash” is a reference to Ash the person, although it was previously misinterpreted by most. Ash, upon hearing this, jokes he wished his mother had named him Bob.) However, Ash must still obtain the third orb from Ice Island, with the three birds standing between them and their goal. Encouraged by Charizard, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur, Ash and Pikachu, with the help of Team Rocket and Lugia, manage to obtain the third orb. When Team Rocket are holding on to Lugia’s leg and realize they are slowing it down, James says, “We should try Weight Watchers!” referring to the real-life exercise program, to which Meowth replies “I hear it’s never too late if you stick to the program!”. ^[1] They then let go of Lugia in an intended act of self-sacrifice. Lugia is suddenly captured by the collector, and, in an attempt to break free from its restraints, Ash is tossed into the water between the two islands and almost drowns, but not before an angry Lugia fires an Aeroblast at the collector's ship, reducing it to rubble. After he is rescued by Misty and Tracey, Ash manages to bring the third orb to the shrine, and Melody plays Lugia’s Song, restoring harmony to the forces of nature.

With the entire ordeal over, Ash and his friends leave Shamouti Island. At the end of the movie, Team Rocket are upset that they did something good that no one saw, but Slowking breaks the fourth wall by saying a lot of people were watching, and points to the screen, and seemingly out to the viewer(s).

Cast

Character	Japanese seiyū	English voice actor	Spanish voice actor	Polish voice actor	Italian voice actor
Satoshi (Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town)	Rica Matsumoto	Veronica Taylor	Gabriel Ramos	Hanna Kinder-Kiss	Davide Garbolino
Pikachu	Ikue Ōtani	Ikue Ōtani	Ikue Ōtani	Ikue Ōtani	Ikue Ōtani
Kasumi (Misty)	Mayumi Iizuka	Rachael Lillis	Xóchitl Ugarte	Iwona Rulewicz	Alessandra Karpoff
Kenji (Tracey)	Tomokazu Seki	Ted Lewis	Alfredo Leal	Jacek Kopczyński	Patrizio Prata
Togepi	Satomi Koorogi	Satomi Koorogi	Satomi Koorogi	Satomi Koorogi	Satomi Koorogi
Mariru (Marill)	Mika Kanai	Kayzie Rogers	Mónica Villaseñor	Kayzie Rogers	Kayzie Rogers
Musashi (Jessie of Team Rocket)	Megumi Hayashibara	Rachael Lillis	Diana Pérez	Dorota Lanton	Emanuela Pacotto
Kojirō (James of Team Rocket)	Shinichirō Miki	Eric Stuart	José Antonio Mácias	Jarosław Budnik	Simone D'Andrea
Nyarth (Meowth)	Inuko Inuyama	Maddie Blaustein(as Addie Blaustein)	Gerardo Vázquez	Mirosław Wieprzewski	Giuseppe Calvetti
Jirarudan (Lawrence the Third)	Takeshi Kaga	Neil Stewart	Enrique Mederos	Paweł Szczesny	Marco Balzarotti
Furūra (Melody)	Akiko Hiramatsu	Amy Birnbaum	Gaby Ugarte	Joanna Jabłczyńska	Federica Valenti
Yōdiru	Aya Hisakawa		Monica Estrada		Elisabetta Spinelli
Ship Captain	Kotono Mitsuishi		Toni Rodríguez	Małgorzata Kożuchowska	Marcella Silvestri
Elder	Chikao Ōtsuka	Phillip Bartlett	Rolando de Castro	Włodzimierz Bednarski	Mario Zucca
Ōkido-Hakase (Professor Oak)	Unshou Ishizuka	Stuart Zagnit (as Stan Hart)		Grzegorz Pawlak	Riccardo Rovatti
Narrator	Unshou Ishizuka	Rodger Parsons (as Ken Gates)	Gerardo Vázquez	Mikołaj Kilimek	Federico Danti
Hanako (Delia)	Masami Toyoshima	Veronica Taylor		Krystyna Kozanecka	Cinzia Massironi
Announcer	Junichi Kagaya		José Lavat		Claudio Moneta
Uchikido-Hakase (Professor Ivy)	Keiko Han	Kayzie Rogers	Rocío Garcel	Cyntia Kaszyńska	Laura Merli
Takeshi (Brock)	Yūji Ueda	Eric Stuart	Gabriel Gama	Marek Włodarczyk	Nicola Bartolini Carrassi
Reporter	Hirohiko Kakekawa	Jack Taylor	Edmundo Santos Jr.		Claudio Moneta
Yadoking (Slowking)	Masatoshi Hamada	Nathan Price	Gerardo Vázquez	Andrzej Arciszewski	Mario Scarabelli
Lugia	Kōichi Yamadera	Eric Rath	Arturo Mercado	Adam Bauman	Vittorio Bestoso
Fire (Moltres)	Rikako Aikawa	Rikako Aikawa	Rikako Aikawa	Rikako Aikawa	Rikako Aikawa
Freezer (Articuno)	Yumi Tōma	Yumi Tōma	Yumi Tōma	Yumi Tōma	Yumi Tōma
Thunder (Zapdos)	Katsuyuki Konishi	Katsuyuki Konishi	Katsuyuki Konishi	Katsuyuki Konishi	Katsuyuki Konishi
Barrierd (Mr. Mime)	Yūji Ueda	Kayzie Rogers	Sergio Bonilla	Kayzie Rogers	Kayzie Rogers
Kamex (Blastoise)	Tokuyoshi Kawashima	Michael McGaharn	Blas García		Michael McGaharn
Morphon (Venomoth)	Chinami Nishimura	Eric Stuart	Gabriela Willert		Eric Stuart
Coil (Magnemite)	Tetsuya Sakai	Maddie Blaustein			Maddie Blaustein
Onidrill (Fearow)	Hisayoshi Izaki	Hisayoshi Izaka			Hisayoshi Izaka
Computer	Emi Shinohara	Megan Hollingshead	Laura Ayala		Daniela Trapelli

Soundtrack

Donna Summer sings the ending song of the movie, also titled “The Power of One”. “Weird Al” Yankovic also provided an original song, “Polkamon”, which played during the ending credits. The last song played during the credits was “Flying Without Wings” by Westlife.

Featured Pokémon

There are many Pokémon in the movie, though most only have cameo appearances. These are the most notable:

• Articuno - the legendary ice Pokémon, Ash must go to Ice Island (which appears to be the most dangerous island) and retrieve the Ice Orb. Articuno was the only legendary bird in this movie not captured or controlled by Lawrence III.
• Zapdos - the legendary electric Pokémon, Ash must go to Thunder island to retrieve the Thunder Orb. In the movie, Pikachu talks to Zapdos through Thundershock attacks.
• Moltres - the legendary fire Pokémon, Ash must go to Fire Island to retrieve the Fire Orb. Moltres’s first appearance was in the Pokémon animated TV series.
• Lugia - the legendary Pokémon that awakens because the three legendary bird Pokémon go into a rage and attempt to destroy one another. Like most Pokémon, Lugia cannot speak, but it can, unlike Mewtwo, speak telepathically with the humans. In the movie, Lugia helps Ash retrieve the three element stones.
• Slowking - the split evolution of Slowpoke. The Slowking in the movie is one of the few Pokémon that can speak English, and it constantly warns others not to disrupt the harmony of fire, ice and lightning.
• Elekid - the pre-evolved form of Electabuzz that helps Pikachu and his pals find Togepi. He is only in the Pikachu’s Rescue Adventure animated short.
• Ledyba - A swarm of Ledyba are seen carrying Pikachu and the other Pokémon at the beginning of the animated short.

Release

When Pokémon: The Movie 2000 was released, select movie theaters would dispense exclusive cards. The first week, the card was a replica of the Ancient Mew card that featured in the movie. The consecutive weeks were random between the legendary birds. (In Japan, one of the promotional cards was a special edition of Slowking/Yadoking as drawn by the voice actor who portrayed him, famed comedian - and infamously bad artist - Masatoshi Hamada.)

During the Japanese release, the first run of Ancient Mew had ‘Nintendo’ spelled as ‘Nintedo’. This was corrected for future runs (and the US release) of the card.

Ratings

• USA:G
• Canada:G
• Japan:U
• UK:PG
• Australia:G

References

External links

• Pokémon: The Movie 2000 at the Internet Movie Database
• Dogasu's Backpack's English/Japanese comparison of Pokémon: The Movie 2000

Pokémon films
Original series	The First Movie · The Movie 2000 · 3: The Movie · 4Ever · Heroes
Advanced Generation	Jirachi Wish Maker · Destiny Deoxys · Lucario and the Mystery of Mew · Ranger and the Temple of the Sea
Diamond and Pearl	Dialga VS Palkia VS Darkrai · 2008 film (untitled)

References

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