Stars: Veronica Taylor, Rachael Lillis, Eric Stuart

Director: Kunihiko Yuyama

Summary: Life on earth becomes unbalanced and its survival depends upon the mythical Pokemon Lugia and a mysterious 'chosen one'.

In this action-packed adventure story based on the popular TV series, a villainous Pokemon "collector" is attempting to ensnare the mysterious guardian Pokemon Lugia. In order to summon this mystical creature, he must first capture three powerful elemental Pokemon representing fire, lightning, and ice: Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno--an act that threatens to upset the balance of nature itself. As horrible natural disasters begin to occur all over the world, young Ash discovers that according to an ancient prophecy, he is the chosen one who must save the earth from total destruction--a daunting challenge for any Pokemon trainer. Fortunately, Ash is surrounded by friends he can always count on for support: his faithful electric Pokemon Pikachu, traveling companions Misty and Tracy, and his new friend Melody. Even some old enemies, the nefarious Team Rocket, end up lending a helping hand for a change. This film has a more polished feel than its predecessor, POKEMON: THE FIRST MOVIE, and some impressive computer-animated background graphics.
The main feature is preceded by a new animated short, "Pikachu's Rescue Adventure," in which audiences get to see a variety of wild Pokemon in their natural settings while learning a valuable lesson about cooperation.

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Pokémon 2000, the second film to spin off the powerhouse child-friendly franchise of the turn-of-the-millennium, consists of the colourful if babyish human-presence free, short Pikachu's Rescue Adventureand the more elaborate feature The Power of One. The main attraction is up to snuff animation-wise, with imaginative settings (an island lair, a huge dirigible) that crossbreed cyberpunk futurism and Jules Verne style retro-fantasy. It even has the germ of an interesting, almost subversive idea, in that the story's wealthy villain is a green-haired fanatic who is as obsessive about collecting Pokémon as the film's target audience--he's after three fabled birds, Moltres, Zapdos and Articuno, but is really interested in the cute Loch Ness Monster-type being Lugia--but his philosophy is so skewed that he is more interested in owning and numbering the fabulous creatures than training or befriending them. A clever pun in a prophecy decrees that in a predestined crisis, "the world will turn to ash"--this turns out not to be a gloomy foretelling of holocaust but the revelation that human hero Ash is a messianic "Chosen One" who can restore the balance of nature when the collector's antics have unleashed worldwide climatic change.

Adults might find the whole thing an endurance test for its shrill voicings, with Americanised kids and Japanese baby-talking Pokémon, not to mention the meld of incredibly simplistic storyline with amazingly intricate backstory. A trace of self-awareness comes in a brief snippet from a Weird Al Yankovic's song ("Polka mon") under the crowded end credits. --Kim Newman

Video description
DVD special features:

The nice-looking DVD (letterboxed to 1.85:1) comes with a "special edition" Pikachu card; trailers for this film and Pokémon 3; video clips of Pokémon--themed songs performed by Dream Street, Alysha Antonio and Youngstown; a snippet-like "making of the soundtrack" featurette, DVD-ROM features that won't play on a Mac (mostly Web-site links and ads for new poképroducts--"for the first time you will be able to discover if your Pokémon are male or female"!); soundtracks in English, French, Dutch, German and Italian with subtitles in English, French, German, Italian, Dutch and Arabic.

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Preview Of Pokemon 3, Theatrical Trailer, Music Gallery
Subtitles:	Arabic, Dutch, French, German, Italian
Year:	2000
Release Date:	May 14, 2001
Runtime:	97 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	D 018620
Keywords:	Animated, Movie, General, Revolution, Animation, Childrens, X, Pokemon, Lugia
Genre:	Childrens