Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back—Evolution (2019) Review

 

Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution (2019)

So, in my younger years, I was crazy about Pokémon and this original movie in particular was my foray into the show, the card game, and all the movies that followed. And so when I found out the remastered version was hitting Netflix, that excited me.

Now, Mewtwo Strikes Back is almost a shot-for-shot remake of the original, with the animation style of the modern 3D games and a few little changes. At some times, the movie looks fantastic, with the environments and the Pokémon having such an awesome added dimension to them. The character models (specifically Ash’s) suffer though and take away from the animated and lifelike looks we’ve come used to in over 20 years of content. With the updated look, it loses a lot of what made the original so great, as it was a product of its time.

From a story perspective though, this movie is actually really genius, as it relates to the modern-day really well with A.I. and cross-species breeding. Mewtwo is an advanced, high intelligence, and super powerful version of the rare Pokémon, Mew. After he escapes captivity, he seeks power and to be challenged. The same way artificial intelligence and cross-breeding created a moral ambiguity over whether creating these things is ethical.

The movie is intense, fun, and the emotional scenes (yes that one) still pack a powerful punch to my tear duct all these years later in 3D.

Yes, I still love the original much much more, but I can respect this version for what it is and what it was trying to do, and that’s reintroduce younger generations to Pokémon, the same way the original introduced mine into it.

5/10