Buying Against Taste in Topeka
This is a less-than-informative article, but, then, it's also a less-than-enthusiatic review. Well, I did say earlier that there were a lot of disparaging articles written, and it would be unfair not to include a full range of material here. Now, if only I could find that Knight Ridder one...
Patrick Neighly is a writer of some sort. This article first appeared in Video Store 22 in 2000.
POKEMON: THE FIRST MOVIE
Prebook 2/22/00; Street 3/21/00
Warner, Animated, $26.98, 'PG,' 93 min., $84.8 million box office.
Obscured by the hoopla over reports of school children brawling for rare cards and illicit classroom trading is the actual premise of the first "Pokemon" feature spin off. Young boys and girls capture and train cuddly Pokemon creatures, only to pit them against each other. Imagine a cockfight between Care Bears and the true nature of "Pokemon" is revealed.
Ash, the young hero of the animated television series, is surrounded by the usual menagerie of creatures as he searches for the legendary rarest "Pokemon" of them all.
Ash, Pikachu and Mew find Mew-two and a battle ensues. Kids, of course, will love it all, but The First Movie is nothing but an expanded episode of the weekly Japanese cartoon. The animation is better than most domestic cartoons, but without a story supporting it, the film quickly comes across as a series of flashes, pops and flickers.
The film is preceded by a short in which yellow Pikachu waddles aimlessly for 15 minutes in what must be the animated equivalent of an Edward Albee play. However, the short and feature together will no doubt be the rental and purchase of the spring for the young set.
SELLING POINTS: Parents and children across the land are familiar with "Pokemon," with paraphernalia from the franchise being the items to have on the playground. Given the success of the "Pokemon" videos from Pioneer Entertainment, the trading cards and all the toys, the Pokemon: The First Movie video should generate a high level of interest.
STUDIO SUPPORT: Five videos will have "Golden Tickets" inside awarding lucky winners a first-edition starter set of game cards, a trip for two to Japan, a meeting with the creator of the "Pokemon" card game and a $1,000 shopping spree at the Pokemon Center in Japan.
Promotions include rebates for Nintendo and Zenith products and promotional tie-ins with Heinz Ketchup, Ore-Ida Fried Potatoes and Clorox.
A national advertising campaign will include television spots, print ads, a radio promotion and instore and in-school advertising.
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