Movie 2

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Movie 2

Movie Stats:

Japanese Movie #2: "Maboroshi no Pokemon Lugia Bakutan"

("Revelation Lugia")

American Movie #2:

Japanese Air Date:

American Air Date:

Important Characters:

Important Places:

There is a legend that when the balance created by the God of Fire, the God of Thunder, and the God of Ice is disturbed, the God of Water will emerge to quell their anger. Jirarudan, a collector, seeks to capture the three gods (the pokemon Fire, Thunder, and Freezer) in order to reveal the God of Water (Lugia). After capturing Fire, the weather around the world begins to go crazy. Satoshi-tachi get roped into searching for the three treasures that will soothe the pokemon and stop the weather anomalies, and so a grand search begins. Jirarudan captures two of the three bird pokemon, but Satoshi-tachi are able to save them. Once freed, the three legendary birds begin fighting amongst themselves, so Lugia enters to quell their anger as Satoshi gets the third treasure. All three treasures are brought together, and the bird pokemon are finally calmed down. Satoshi-tachi leave Lugia, promising to keep the phantom pokemon a secret.

Thoughts
After the success of the first Pokemon movie, it was inevitable that 4Kids and Warner Brothers would bring the second movie over to America. It was fairly successful in the box office, but it didn't do quite as well as the first movie did.

This movie just didn't hold me the way the first one did. People complained that the plot of the first movie was kinda muddy and unclear, but I think that this movie was at the other end of the spectrum--I think it was too clear. Once Furuura tells Satoshi what he has to do to stop the three Legendary Birds, you know what's going to happen for the rest of the movie. You know that Satoshi is going to go from island from island, getting the treasures while avoiding the three birds, and that's exactly what he does. That's kind of why I never liked movies where the characters collect things--the Final Fantasy movie might have been decent if it didn't have the "let's go collect a bunch of treasures" plot (it also would have helped if it actually had something in common with the games). And I kinda wish they had done more with Jirarudan, but instead the movie focuses more on showing off the new pokemon (this time, Lugia) rather than giving audiences a good plot. Edit-wise, this movie fared slightly better than the first one. The script is still bad, but it's not quite *as* bad.

The worst part is that for the home video release, the cropping of the video is really really poorly done. You see, when a video company (in this case, Warner Brothers) transfers a movie from film to VHS or DVD, they can decide to either do it widescreen or not. A lot of people prefer widescreen because you get all of the picture that you got when you saw the movie in theatres. The alternative (which I think is called anamorphic--don't quote me on that) is to zoom on on a part of the picture (usually the center) in order to have it fill up the entire television screen. This results in the left and right edges of the picture getting chopped off, meaning that you lose some of the picture.

Warner Brothers Video decided not to go to widescreen because they have research that says that little kids don't like widescreen. So they chose the "let's have the video fill up the entire screen" route. But the non-widescreen picture really hurts this movie. There are so many times when characters heads will get chopped off in the middle or disappear altogether that it becomes a real distraction. Like when Charizard is pulling Ash's sled and his head is off-camera. Or when Jessie and James finish their motto, but only half of them are on the screen. There are a ton of other examples that would have easily been fixed had the movie been presented in widescreen. Oh well, that's all water under the bridge now.

The three Legendary Birds (Fire, Thunder, and Freezer) keep their Japanese voices.

Music Edit
The original music was replaced with new American music, but I'm sure you figured that out by now. It didn't bother me too much in the first movie, but it does for this movie because I think this movie had better music. Jirarudan's theme is really really cool, but it's eliminated from the dub. And Furuura's theme is changed, which means they also had to change Lugia's cry, and 4Kids changed the festival music to make it sound more Caribbean. The new music just doesn't have the same feel as the old music.

To their credit, though, 4Kids did allow moments where there was no music playing in the background, which is something they've never really done before. So there's some positive aspects of this movie.

Dialogue Edit
The legend recited at the beginning of the movie is altered a bit. Here's the dubbed legend, provided by AnimeLovingIdiot (I didn't get a chance to copy it down myself when I rented the video for the comparison):

"Disturb not the Titans of Fire, Ice, or Lightning

Lest these Titans wreak destruction

Upon the world in which they clash

Though the water's Great Guardian may arise to quell the fighting
Alone its song shall fail
Lest the world turn to ash

O Chosen One
Into thine hands bring together all three
The treasures combined bring the Beast of The Sea"

First of all, the three Legendary Birds are never called gods (God of Fire, God of Thunder, God of Ice) at any point in the dub. The dub doesn't want to make any religious references (we all know religious leaders would jump down their throats if they called three birds "gods"), but they really can't decide what to call them. Sometimes they're Titans (kinda like what Cartoon Network did with The Big O), but they're also called Guardians and Beasts throughout the course of the movie.

Also, the original legend never mentions the three treasures. It just talks about how the God of the Sea will fail and that a superior master will have to somehow soothe their anger. I guess 4Kids wanted to make absolutely sure that we understood what has to be done to resolve everything right from the get-go.

Video Edit
Throught the movie, CGI dust is added to the underwater scenes (you know, the ones that show a barely-lit Lugia swimming around?). This is the only video edit in the movie, so it looks like the people in Japan didn't have as much money to throw away.

Dialogue Edit
We get this mistranslation by Maren:

Maren: "That's Shamuti--we're right in the middle of the Orange Islands."

Maren's wrong--Arshia Island is on the outskirts of the Orange Islands, not in the middle. I mean, the anime producers drew up a map of the Orange Islands and everything, yet 4Kids STILL mistranslated this??

Oddly enough, the dubbed name of Arshia Island, Shamuti Island, sounds a lot more Asian than it does originally. I found that kinda strange...

Dialogue Edit
I said before that this movie has a loose translation, right? Here's an example, given during the festival:

Ash: "Do I get to wear a cool costume?"
Melody: "Sorry, but it's just come as you are."

Originally, Satoshi asked where the treasures are located, and Furuura responds by saying that they're on temples located on each of the three islands (that's why she points to each of the three pieces of fruit). She then (in the Japanese version) says that there's a boat ready to take him there, while in the dub Ash practically DEMANDS that a boat be prepared for him. Very different from the Japanese version.

Side Note
I was really surprised to see Michiko's Potato chip bag retain its katakana. You know that 4Kids had the money to erase it, but they actually left it in. Oh well, you take what you can get...

Dialogue Edit
We get this from Lawrence III:

Lawrence III: "I began my collection with a Mew card and...now I have all this."

There really isn't anything wrong with this line if you don't have a little background information. You see, in Japan, the audience received a little booklet with their movie ticket. The little booklet had all kinds of information about Jirarudan, such as the fact that his mother is dead and that the name of his flying fortress is the "Hikoukyu." It also states the fact that he started his collection with a Myuu card. So going into the movie, Japanese audiences knew how Jirarudan started.

Americans didn't have this inside knowledge, so 4Kids had to include an explanation in the actual movie. Originally, Jirarudan's whole speech is about how collections are best when displayed, and they can't be displayed if they're captured using Monster Balls. He then lets them go (which is a really cheap plot device), saying that it's only proper etiquette to not touch his collection. I like this little spiel as it adds something to Jirarudan, but I can also see why 4Kids changed it. Then again, I wish they had given theatregoers a translation of the booklet rather than an Ancient Mew card, but giving a million cards away is a lot cheaper than giving a million little books away.

Dialogue Edit
Ookido-Hakase's explanation of the weather anomalies was dumbed down a whooooole lot for the dub. Originally, Ookido explains how the balance of the three Gods creates life. When the God of Fire melts the ice created by the God of Ice, an underwater current is created (this is when Ookido-Hakase draws a river with his pen). After the God of Thunder's electricity is added to the water, protein, the basis of life, is created. That's why you see a lightning bolt followed by an animation of bubbles forming themselves into a double-helix-type thing. I forget what the dub says, but I do remember that it was dumbed down a lot.

By the way, could anyone understand what the reporter called Professor Ivy? It sounded like Felina Ivy (Felina being her first name), but I'm not too sure. Anyone out there with a DVD (that has the close-captioned subtitles) able to confirm that?

Cut--11 sec.
Right before the cage holding Fire explodes, there's an 11-second scene of Kenji thinking out loud. He's saying that with the Water Gun and Electricity attack, the electricity separates water into hydrogen and oxygen, and that if fire comes into there, there will be an explosion. Then he yells at everyone to get down.

I guess 4Kids couldn't think up of anything to have him say (because we all know they couldn't just simply translate the dialogue, now could they!?!), so they just cut it. They probably didn't want to add a really technical explanation in a kids' movie, especially since Kenji is essentially explaining how to make a BOMB. I really feel sorry for Kenji--he's barely in the movie as it is, he has to run around in the blizzard for half the movie wearing only a T-shirt and shorts, and then 4Kids takes away about the only intelligent thing Kenji ever says. Sigh...

Dialogue Edit
Wow, there are a lot of these, aren't there?

Basically, the Rocket-Dan's motto in the Japanese version is the regular old version they use for the TV series. In the dub, it's different.

Dialogue Edit
When Jirarudan's picking up the Ancient Myuu card at the end of the movie in the original version, there is no talking whatsoever. In the dub, they have him reiterate that the card is what started it all for him, and that he'll start over.

Music Edit
The ending theme, toi et moi, is replaced by American music. The Donna Summer song The Power of One isn't too bad, but then 4Kids goes into the middle of Weird Al Yankovic's Polkamon and the songs just get worse. toi et moi (no, I don't have any idea why the song's title is in French) is one of the best (if not the best) song in all of Pocket Monsters, and I'm really sorry to see it go.

Final Thoughts
Well, as you can see by the length of this comparison, there wasn't as much altered in this movie as there was there was in the last movie. 4Kids gets progressively better with each movie, as the third movie dub is their best one yet. Here's hoping that by the time "Pokemon 4 Ever" is released, 4Kids will have their act together.

Return to episode comparisons

Mini-Movie "Pikachu's Rescue Adventure"

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