Pokémon: The First Movie

The Pokémon of Ash Ketchum, Misty, and Brock are sent to spend a day at a theme park built for Pokémon. Pikachu, Togepi, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle cross paths with a group of bullies consisting of a Raichu, Cubone, Marill, and a Snubbull. The two groups compete against each other in sports, but it leads to Ash's Charizard getting its head stuck in a pipe. Pikachu, his friends, and the bullies work together and successfully free Charizard and rebuild the park, spending the rest of the day playing before parting ways when their trainers return.

Scientist Dr. Fuji is hired by Giovanni, leader of Team Rocket, to utilize his expertise in cloning in order to create a living weapon based on an eyelash from mythical Pokémon Mew. Fuji is revealed to be allying with Giovanni as a means to fund his side project: the resurrection of his deceased daughter Amber. In a laboratory, the weapon eventually gains sentience and is named Mewtwo. Mewtwo befriends the salvaged consciousness of Amber, named Ambertwo, as well as the clones of other Pokémon in the laboratory. However, Mewtwo is left deeply traumatized after Ambertwo and the rest of the clones decompose and die. In order to stabilize him, Fuji tranquilizes Mewtwo, causing him to forget the time he spent with his friends.

After Mewtwo fully matures and awakens from a long slumber in a laboratory on New Island, he learns of his origin as Mew's clone from Dr. Fuji. Infuriated that Fuji and his colleagues see him as nothing more than an experiment, he unleashes his incredibly strong psychic abilities and telekinetically destroys the laboratory, killing Fuji and the rest of the scientists. Giovanni, witnessing the carnage afar, approaches and convinces Mewtwo to work with him to further develop and perfect his mental abilities. However, after Mewtwo learns of his purpose to be a weapon for Giovanni's benefit, he escapes back to New Island where he plots revenge against humanity and Pokémon alike.

After Mewtwo rebuilds the laboratory and establishes base there, he invites several trainers with hologram messages to battle the world's greatest Pokémon trainer at New Island. Ash, Misty, and Brock receive a message and accept the invitation, but when they arrive at the port city, Old Shore Wharf, Mewtwo creates a storm, causing the boats on the wharf to be closed off for safety. As a result, Ash's group are picked up by Team Rocket disguised as Vikings on a boat. After the storm sinks their vessel in the middle of the ocean, Ash and his friends use their Pokémon instead to reach New Island.

Escorted into the island's palace by the woman who appeared on the hologram, Ash and the other trainers who were able to reach the island encounter Mewtwo. The woman is revealed to be a brainwashed Nurse Joy after she is released from Mewtwo's mind control. Mewtwo challenges the trainers using cloned Pokémon coincidentally modeled after the deceased friends from his childhood. Meanwhile, Team Rocket also reach New Island and explore its inner sanctum with a Mew innocuously following them. After Mewtwo's clones effortlessly defeat the challengers' Pokémon, he confiscates them and expands his clone army. Ash chases after his captured Pikachu down the cloning lab, where Team Rocket's Meowth is also cloned. Ash destroys the cloning machine, frees the captured Pokémon, and leads them to confront Mewtwo and his clones. Mew then reveals itself and Mewtwo challenges it in order to prove his superiority.

All of the Pokémon originals battle their clones save for a defiant Pikachu and Meowth, who makes peace with his own clone after realizing the senselessness of their fighting. Horrified at the pain and anguish felt on both sides of the battle, Ash puts himself in between a psychic blast caused by Mewtwo and Mew's fighting, leading to Ash to become petrified. Pikachu tries to revive Ash with its electricity but fails. However, the tears of the Pokémon are able to heal and revive Ash. Moved by Ash's sacrifice, Mewtwo realizes that he should not have to be judged by his origins but rather his choices in life. Departing with Mew and the clones, Mewtwo turns back time to just before the trainers leave Old Shore Wharf, and erases everyone's memories of the event.

Back in Old Shore Wharf, the now-restored Nurse Joy has returned to reopen the Pokémon Center to shelter the trainers. The storm outside clears up, Ash spotting Mew flying through the clouds and tells his friends of how he saw another legendary Pokémon the day he left Pallet Town. Meanwhile, Team Rocket find themselves stranded on New Island but enjoy their time there.

After the credits, a brief scene shows Mew flying towards the mountains.

On December 11, 1999 13-month-old Kira Murphy of North Carolina suffocated to death when half of the toy became stuck over her mouth and nose. 12 days later, a second child in Kansas survived a similar incident. These incidents led to a website titled "Pokémon Kills". On December 28, 1999, Burger King issued a recall of the toys. Adults were urged to discard or return both pieces of the toy. Customers returning the toy were given a small order of French fries in return. Nearly a month after the recall, another child suffocated from the toy. The dead children's families settled their lawsuits on undisclosed terms.[20]

For TV syndication, the movie was digitally remastered for high definition and aired in TV Tokyo, as well as in other stations, beginning May 3, 2013.[23][24] The remastered version also aired in Cartoon Network in the United States on January 4, 2014.[25]

The movie was released on March 21, 2000 in Region 1 format (United States and Canada) on both VHS and DVD by Warner Home Video.[26][27][28] The original DVD release with the snap case contained numerous features deleted from later reprints, such as the origin prologue and most importantly, the Pikachu's Vacation short film. Other options, such as Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, were also removed, leaving only the 2.0 stereo mix available, among other features.

The original VHS release sold 4.2 million units and earned $58.8 million in the United States by the end of 2000.[29] By 2007, the film had sold 10 million units on home video in the United States.[30]

The film was included in the Blu-ray compilation titled Pikachu Movie Premium 1998-2010 in Japan on November 28, 2012.[31]

On February 9, 2016, Viz Media released a limited edition Blu-ray Steelbook containing the first three Pokémon films (Pokémon: The First Movie, Pokémon: The Movie 2000 and Pokémon 3: The Movie), along with single releases on DVD. In accommodation with the 20th anniversary of the Pokémon franchise, a digitally remastered version of the film was released on iTunes, Amazon and Google Play on February 27. On October 2, 2018, the three-film Blu-ray set was re-released as a standard one-disc edition.

Reviews of the original Japanese version have generally been positive, due to the film's emotional impact and exploration of ethical topics such as cloning and genetic modification. However, the philosophical themes were criticized being difficult to pick up on due to their complex presentation, especially for a film aimed at children.[32]

While the English dub of the film received decent reviews from audiences, it received mostly negative reviews from critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, just 15% of critics have given the film's English adaptation a positive review based on 89 reviews, with an average rating of 3.57/10. The website's critics' consensus reads, "Audiences other than children will find very little to entertain them."[33] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 35 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[34] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.[35]

Anime News Network review called the main feature "contradictory", stating that "the anti-violent message that is pretty much crammed down our throats works directly against the entire point of the franchise" and criticized Pikachu's Summer Vacation for being "incoherent, pointless and fluffy".[36] Rating the movie two stars out of four, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called the movie "a sound-and-light show, linked to the marketing push for Pokemon in general" and said that the movie had "no level at which it enriches a young viewer, by encouraging thinking or observation."[37] Michael Wood, of the Coventry Evening Telegraph, said that Pikachu's Summer Vacation "can only be described as a mind-numbingly tedious piece, with no discernible storyline and lots of trippy images and silly voices". Wood did note that the main feature had a "mildly intriguing premise", but said that the rest of the film "was like a martial arts movie without the thrills".[38]

In Japan, it was the second top-grossing domestic film of 1998, earning a distribution income of ¥4.15 billion ,[39] and grossing a total of ¥7.6 billion .[40]

In the U.S. box office, Pokémon: The First Movie was an instant commercial success, debuting at number one and earning $10.1 million on its Wednesday opening day. This day is commonly referred to as the "Pokéflu" because so many children missed school to see the film, much to the chagrin of educators. This was the biggest animated film opening for any film in the history of Warner Bros.[41] During its first weekend, it grossed $31 million and went on to generate a total of $50.8 million since its Wednesday launch in 3,043 theaters, averaging to about $10,199 per venue over the three-day span. It also held the record for being the animated feature with the highest opening weekend in November, which would be broken two weeks later by Toy Story 2. Despite a 59.72% drop in its second weekend to $12.5 million, the film made $67.4 million within 12 days. It closed on February 27, 2000, earning $85.7 million in North America, and $77.9 million in other territories. It is the highest-grossing anime film in the United States and the fourth highest-grossing animated film based on a television show worldwide.[1] It was also the highest-grossing film based on a video game at the time, until 2001's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.[42] Commercially, Takeshi Shudo states the film fared better overall in the U.S. than it did in its home country.[15]

In the United Kingdom, the film grossed £10.8 million at the box office.[43] It is also the highest-grossing Japanese film in France and Germany, where it sold 2,224,432 and 3,222,452 box office admissions, respectively.[44] In total, the film's worldwide box office gross was $172,744,662[3] (¥19 billion ).[45]