Needless to say, Pokémon Red & Green were a massive success in Japan, revitalizing the life of the Game Boy single-handedly, & when it saw international release over two years later in 1998 (where Green was replaced with an updated Blue variant) the same happened around the world. Today, Pokémon is one of the biggest media franchises in the world, and one part of why the franchise became such an instant hit was because of the anime that followed, which debuted in Japan on April 1, 1997... and the movies that came later. Time to re-open the grindhouse!
Really, there's no need to go over the history of the Pokémon TV anime, which is still running to this very day with nearly 1,400 episodes in total across multiple series/seasons & is still beloved by many, both young kids of today as well as adults who first saw it as kids over the decades. Instead, I want to focus on the various theatrical films, which saw a yearly run of new productions between 1998 & 2020, as well as a Hollywood-produced live-action film spin-off. One thing about the Pokémon anime productions is that, as anime fans have gotten older, there has always been the occasional wish that the anime would one day see something beyond the dub-only releases they get outside of Japan. It's something that makes sense, as anime fandom has only grown over the decades since the first English-dubbed episode debuted on Kids' WB back on September 8, 1998, and other children's anime of the past have since received subbed and/or dual-audio releases, like Digimon, Monster Rancher/Farm, Mon Colle Knights, Medabots/Medarot, etc. Unfortunately, The Pokémon Company has been very staunch about never offering any sort of dual-audio release when it comes to Pokémon, even if only for the movies... except for that single year when they actually DID allow dual-audio releases of some Pokémon movies, even if only in Japan.
Yes, on June 23, 2000 Kadokawa Media Factory & Shogakukan teamed up to release the first Pokémon movie on DVD over in Japan, with the cover promoting that it included both the original Japanese audio & the English dub. However, instead of simply offering both versions as their own separate videos it instead only offered the original Japanese video, creating a true-blue dual-audio DVD release of the film where the dub was synced to Japanese footage. Then a few months later, on November 22, 2000, the two companies did the same exact thing for the second Pokémon movie, creating a second true-blue dual-audio DVD for a Pokémon movie. Finally, on July 7, 2001, Kadokawa Media Factory & Shogakukan performed a hat trick by giving the third Pokémon movie a true-blue dual-audio DVD release, though unfortunately this would be the last dual-audio DVD release ever for Pokémon, as all home video releases of later Pokémon movies in Japan wouldn't include the English dub. However, the most interesting thing about these three dual-audio DVD releases is that they not only include Japanese & English audio... but also Japanese & English subtitles... well, sort of. The way the DVDs are encoded mean that the subs are locked to their respective audio language when played on any standard DVD (or BD) player, i.e. you can't actually have English subs with the Japanese audio. Because of this the English "subs" aren't actually a translation of the original Japanese script, but rather are simply the English dub script in written form; they are proper subs, though, so they don't include closed captioning. However, one can bypass the "sub language must match audio language" restriction by playing these DVDs on a computer, using a program like VLC to force which subtitles are being used, which technically does mean that one can officially watch the first three Pokémon movies in Japanese with English subtitles, even if the subs themselves don't exactly match 100% to the Japanese audio; and, yes, this also means that you can watch the English dub with Japanese subs.
I've managed to get my hands on these three dual-audio DVDs, so let's begin a new April Fools' Day tradition by having me tackle something that's indisputably popular & iconic by covering the first three Pokémon movies in their original Japanese versions... but with (sort of) official English subs!
We begin with the very first Pokémon movie, the only one to debut during the TV anime's initial Indigo League storyline, and probably still to this day the most iconic one of them all. Released in Japanese theaters on July 18, 1998, only two days after Episode 54 aired, Pocket Monsters the Movie: Mewtwo no Gyakushu/Mewtwo's Counterattack (though officially translated as Mewtwo Strikes Back!) would go on to be the second-highest grossing film over in Japan with a total of around ¥7.6 billion. When it eventually saw English release as Pokémon: The First Movie on November 10, 1999 (subtitled as such because by that point the second film had already debuted in Japanese theaters) it debuted at #1, earning $10.1 million on its opening day alone (which got nicknamed "Pokéflu", due to how many children called out sick from school to watch it) & eventually earning $85.7 million domestically when the film finally left theaters on February 27, 2000; as of September 2025 the film's US box office (after inflation) is around $190.7 million. While the film was generally reviewed well over in Japan, with the only complaint being that its philosophical themes were a bit too much for children at the time, the reception in North America was much more mixed, with a common complaint being that the story was too contradictory for its own good. It's also worth noting that on July 8, 1999 an extended version of the film aired on TV in Japan that added a ~10-minute prologue, as well as some new animation & CG, and the version on the dual-audio DVD I have is in fact this extended version. The prologue was later dubbed as a bonus for the DVD release of the 2000/2001 Mewtwo Returns TV special, but Pokémon: The First Movie didn't include it in its initial theatrical & home video release, though more recent re-releases from the past decade or so seem to include it now. As mentioned, Mewtwo Strikes Back! is arguably the most iconic Pokémon movie ever made, so much so that it even got a (nearly) shot-for-shot full-CG remake in 2019, so let's see how it fares in its original Japanese form... and how much the English dub "subtitles" seemingly changed the script.
While enjoying lunch one day, & dealing with a sudden Pokémon battle, Satoshi (Ash Ketchum), Takeshi (Brock), & Kasumi (Misty) are suddenly interrupted by a Kairyu (Dragonite) who hands them a notice. The three have been invited to New Island to attend a special event for Pokémon trainers run by the owner of the island, allegedly the "strongest" Pokémon trainer there is, and the ship to head out will be leaving via the nearby wharf later that same day. Intrigued by the prospect of challenge the three decide to attend, with Musashi (Jessie), Kojiro (James), & Nyarth (Meowth) of Team Rocket following close behind, but in reality the event is actually a challenge by a psychic Pokémon known as Mewtwo. Created in a lab as a clone of the immensely rare (& possibly even extinct?) Mew via DNA found on a fossil, Mewtwo thinks, feels, & can even communicate (telepathically) like a human, but looks nothing like one. After destroying the lab he was created in, Mewtwo initially agreed to work with Sasaki (Giovanni), the leader of Team Rocket, but eventually found no reason to stay once he realized that Sasaki only saw Mewtwo as a powerful Pokémon for him to use for his own purposes. Now, after rebuilding the lab to create his own force of clone Pokémon, Mewtwo wishes to find powerful Pokémon trainers to prove the superiority of cloned Pokémon like itself... and if there really is any meaning to its own existence.
In its original Japanese version, Mewtwo Strikes Back! is actually a bit of an ambitious film when it comes to some of the themes of its plot, especially for a movie that's intended to be watched by little kids. Namely, the overarching theme of the film relates to Mewtwo's own existential crisis, i.e. does a clone inherently have the same right to life (& all that entails) that the original already has? The added prologue helps push that idea even more so, as it details Mewtwo's early existence before awakening proper at the start of the main film, where Mewtwo psychically interacts with other clones that the lab is creating... which includes Aitwo (Ambertwo), a clone of the daughter of the lead scientist, with the entire origin of the cloning experiments that created Mewtwo coming about from the scientist being unable to accept the death of his young daughter, so much so that his own wife left him. It's in the prologue that Aitwo welcomes Mewtwo & treats the Pokémon as a human, even considering Mewtwo to be just as human as she is, even though in reality Aitwo doesn't even have a physical form, and it's the degradation & death of Aitwo & the other clones that gives Mewtwo its first sensation of sorrow. Without the prologue this movie still works well enough with its themes, but with the prologue added on it really does help give extra context & adds to the theme of clone existentialism very well. Hell, the prologue even adds proper context to the film's notorious Deus ex machina during its climax, though even with that extra context the moment is still really bad & horribly contrived; it more than deserves the ridicule it still gets to this very day.
Still, I can see why the Japanese reviews at the time brought up he philosophical themes being a bit too much for kids, because it really is heavy stuff for anyone under the age of, say, 10 to have to think about. Still, credit where it's due to director Kunihiko Yuyama & the late writer Takeshi Sudo, who never shied away from challenging kids with heavy subject matter; I mean, the two also made Minky Momo in both the 80s & 90s, after all. I do feel that the climax & aftermath are both pretty lackluster, which in turn does bring the film down a bit, but overall Mewtwo Strikes Back! is still a solid first film for Pokémon, & one that does try to be more than what one would expect from this franchise. As for how the English "subs" worked for this film, they were decent enough when it came to general conversation, though naturally things like jokes could be radically different. Really, the only major change early on is that the dub ties Giovanni directly into the cloning project that created Mewtwo, where in the original Japanese Sasaki simply came across Mewtwo after he destroyed the lab. However, when you get to the climax of the film & the OG Pokémon fight against their clones the dub script really shows how the writers didn't even want to bother touching the philosophical aspects seen in the original Japanese script. Instead, they went with a simple "fighting is bad" message that immensely dumbed things down way too much, and was rightfully criticized by all reviews at the time as being inherently hypocritical to the general concept of Pokémon, which was primarily about having Pokémon fight each other in battle. I'm sure the intention was to say that pointless battle is bad & tragic, but the way it's written in the dub script was too simplistic, instead giving the feeling that the writers for the English version had to dumb things down for kids; sure, Sudo probably went too far in the other direction with his message, but still.
I haven't seen this first Pokémon movie in a long, long time, and certainly never with the bonus prologue added on to the beginning, but I'm glad to have finally rewatched it for this piece. While I wouldn't call it an amazing film, especially since I do feel that it kind of drops the ball in its last few minutes before the credits play, it is still an overall good watch & I can certainly respect the original Japanese version for its more ambitious themes when it comes to something like cloning & the right to life clones would have.
Up next we have Pocket Monsters the Movie: Maboroshi no Pokemon Rugia Bakutan/The Explosive Birth of Lugia, The Phantom Pokémon, or simply Revelation-Lugia. Released in Japan on July 17, 1999, two days after Episode 106 aired (i.e. Episode 24 of the Orange Islands storyline), this movie was such a big deal at the time that it even had a Namie Amuro song ("toi et moi") as its ending theme, and this was Amuro during her initial peak of popularity, with the movie eventually grossing ¥6.4 billion in Japan alone. It eventually saw English release on July 21, 2000, where it was retitled Pokémon the Movie 2000 (& later subtitled The Power of One, after the theme song performed by Donna Summer), where it grossed less than half of Pokémon the First Movie (~$43.7 billion) but was still deemed a successful run. However, it could be argued that, today, Pokémon the Movie 2000 might be known most for the fact that it gave the world "Polkamon" by "Weird Al" Yankovic; I mean no shade, as I just wanted to point out this awesome song. However, how is the original Revelation-Lugia? Personally, my only experience with the Pokémon movies is just Pokémon the First Movie back when I was a kid & (much later in life) 2018's The Power of Us (no relation to Pokémon the Movie 2000), so I am admittedly curious to see how the second movie holds up, 27 years later.
Satoshi, Kasumi, & Kenji (Tracey Sketchit) are in the middle of their journey across the Orange Islands, with Team Rocket secretly following them, when a sudden & inexplicable storm forces the boat they're on to land on Earthia Island (Shamouti Island). They're immediately greeted by the natives, one of which is the current shrine maiden Flura (Melody), & when the natives are told that Satoshi is a Pokémon Trainer they rejoice, as this will allow their yearly festival to properly take place. Part of said festival will require Satoshi to travel to the nearby islands of the three legendary bird Pokémon (Fire [Moltres], Thunder [Zapdos], & Freezer [Articuno]) & recover a jewel from each island, which will allow the festival to properly finish. However, a man named Gelardan (Lawrence III) has started collecting the three legendary birds so as to awaken the fourth legendary bird of legend, the water-based Lugia. Gelardan's actions, though, have resulted in bizarre weather occurring around the world, like snow in the middle of summer, due to the imbalance this creates. The only way to return things back to normal is for Satoshi & his friends to free the captured legendary birds, gather all three jewels, & help Lugia bring things back into harmony.
Compared to Mewtwo Strikes Back!, Revelation-Lugia is a much more "standard" type of film you'd maybe see from Pokémon, one where the themes are rather straightforward & easier for kids to grasp, in this case the idea of respecting nature & preserving the proper "balance" between things, instead of engaging in pure greed, like Gelardan does. However, I would argue that Revelation-Lugia winds up being the more consistently enjoyable, & simply better, film when compared to Mewtwo Strikes Back!, because while the story it tells isn't anything amazing it's at least well told & maintains the same overall quality throughout. It does, though, play around with some expectations (in the original Japanese, at least), as while Satoshi is pushed to gather all three jewels so as to help restore harmony back to the legendary birds' islands (& help Lugia out) he isn't portrayed as some "Chosen One" who's destined to do this. Instead, it's treated more as "Satoshi, you already got the first two jewels, so you better finish the job you started; we're counting on you", which is a simple little change that helps prevent the situation from feeling truly hackneyed. It's also neat to see Fire, Thunder, & Freezer be given some importance, as the unbalancing that Gelardan does results in the three fighting each other over who gets to rule over the others, instead of living in harmony, which is what brings Lugia out. Also, Lugia's actual reveal doesn't happen until ~40 minutes in, a stark contrast to how Mewtwo was effectively the main character of its own movie, for the most part.
Still, it's not a film without its flaws. While Kasumi's conflicted feelings towards Satoshi do play a role in her importance in the plot, at least to a small extent, Kenji is very much just along for the ride & plays little to no relevance whatsoever. The same is true of Satoshi's mom & Dr. Okido (Prof. Oak), who make their way to the Orange Islands to assure themselves of Satoshi's safety amidst the weather shenanigans, and while Okido does help provide an explanation as to how the harmony between the legendary birds works it didn't need to require him actually travelling over via helicopter to be done. Finally, & most shockingly, Gelardan himself isn't much of an antagonist, instead being nothing more than a plot device that allows the legendary birds to lose their harmony. In fact, after Satoshi & the gang escape from his air fortress halfway through he's literally nowhere to be seen again until near the climax, when he tries to capture Lugia... only for Lugia to instantly one-shot him back & make him a true non-factor. Still, those flaws aside I actually had a really fun time watching Relevation-Lugia, and I think it holds up rather well today.
As for how the dub script worked as subtitles, this film actually looked to have been adapted much more closely than Mewtwo Strikes Back! was, with mostly only minor changes in lines for things like gags or added emphasis on certain elements, like Misty being more assertive in how she is TOTALLY NOT Ash's "girlfriend". However, instead of going with the original Japanese script's idea of "Satoshi must finish the job he started" when it comes to collecting the jewels, the dub fully embraced Ash being "The Chosen One" ordained by destiny, even going as far as including his name in the dub-exclusive prophecy as a pun ("...the world will turn to ash"; get it?), which is admittedly pretty lame. Also, the dub removed two small moments from the original Japanese version, and while I imagine the reason was to speed the pacing up a bit the two bits literally amount to no more than 30 seconds, or so, and one of those bits was even a quick part where Kenji had some extra (comical) lines; in other words, Tracey got even less to do in the film than Kenji did! So how did the dual-audio DVD handle this discrepancy between versions, since only the Japanese footage is used? If you watch with the dub then these two short bits get literal silence while they happen, & the subtitles simply state "<NO SOUND ON ENGLISH VERSION>"; the cue marks for reel changing were also clearly visible halfway through, which was amusing.
The third movie, Pocket Monsters the Movie: Kesshoutou no Teioh/Emperor of the Crystal Tower - Entei, certainly had some fun with its logo, as five Unown (a Pokémon that plays a big role in the plot) spell out the name "ENTEI"... only for the official English subtitle Lord of the 'Unknown' Tower to completely ruin things by going with the "proper" spelling of the word "Unknown", rather than the name of the Pokémon itself. To be fair, though, Pokémon Gold & Silver didn't see English release until October 2000, three months after this third Pokémon movie would debut in Japanese theaters on July 8, 2000; still, I imagine the official English spelling for Unown had to have been decided by then. Anyway, this movie debuted in Japan two days after Episode 157 (what's now considered the 39th & antepenultimate episode of "The Johto Journeys") aired in Japan & was the first Pokémon movie to debut in IMAX. The movie would see English release in theaters on April 6, 2001, where it was awkwardly titled Pokémon 3: The Movie & would be the last Pokémon movie to be distributed by Warner Bros. until Detective Pikachu in 2019. Miramax would distribute only the next two movies theatrically before all future (animated) Pokémon movies went direct-to-video/streaming from then on out. Pokémon 3: The Movie would open at #4 in American theaters & gross only over $17 million, showing that while the franchise was still going strong on the game & TV front it was no longer anywhere near the smash it once was in theaters. But does that mean anything in regards to the actual quality of Lord of the 'Unknown' Tower?
While on their travels throughout the Johto region, Satoshi, Kasumi, & Takeshi come across a Pokémon trainer named Rin (Lisa). After a quick Pokémon battle, which Satoshi just manages to win, Rin offers to guide the three to Greenfield, a popular locale in the area that Kasumi has always wanted to visit. However, there's trouble in Greenfield as the mansion that normally plays home to Prof. Shuly Snowdon (Spencer Hale) & his young daughter Me (Molly) has now been encased in a mysterious crystal. which has also spread throughout parts of the town itself. Snowdon was obsessed with discovering more information about the elusive Pokémon Unown, and during an expedition to some ruins with his colleague John (Schuyler) Snowdon mysteriously disappeared. John brought some small, Unown-like tablets back with him while informing Me about her father's disappearance, and after playing around with the tablets to spell "Papa", "Mama" (who had previously disappeared), "Me" she accidentally unleashed the Unown in the mansion... alongside the legendary Pokémon Entei, who Me instantly believes to be her father reincarnated. Satoshi's mom is an old friend of Prof. Snowdon, who himself was one of Dr. Okido's students, so when the two of them also head to Greenfield due to their worries Entei brainwashes & kidnaps Satoshi's mom, to act as a surrogate for Me alongside Entei. Now it's up to Satoshi & crew to rescue his mom, stop Entei & Me from having the crystallization spread even further, and what exactly the Unown have to do with all of this.
At 73 minutes Lord of the 'Unknown' Tower is the shortest of the three Pokémon movies that were released in this dual-audio DVD format, but at the same time it's a film that knows how to properly use that time to focus strictly on the main plot... for the most part, at least. At its heart this is a story about loss & how to properly deal with it, as seen with Me (which is pronounced like the English word, i.e. "You & Me") doing what many people may do when dealing with the sudden loss of a loved one: Sink into depression & isolation as a way to cope. It's just that, in Me's case, her sense of isolation is given power via the Unown & Entei, which allow her to create an enclosed world within her home where she can spend all the time she wants with her "Papa" in Entei (relating to a game Snowdown would play with his daughter) & later being willing to steal Satoshi's mom from him so that she can have a "Mama" of her own. Meanwhile, when Satoshi & crew enter the crystallized mansion both Takeshi & Kasumi have Pokémon battles with a fake Me, one who can make herself older so that she can be a "proper" Pokémon trainer. Naturally, to go with that there's a focus on "friends" (or "family", as the dub uses) that will always be there for you when things are at their worst, best seen with Lizardon (Charizard) coming to save Satoshi from near death, despite no longer being with his trainer in an official capacity. Unlike the prior two movies, which both dealt with larger scale scenarios at their heart (Mewtwo wanting clones to reign supreme & the disruption of natural balance resulting in world-affecting climate change), Lord of the 'Unknown' Tower is very much a personal conflict and in some ways makes this the strongest film, thematically. While Dr. Okido's inclusion didn't play much of a factor, I do appreciate the movie actually making Satoshi's mom an important part of the plot, as she does play a major role in helping Me recover from her depression & isolation. This was apparently the last Pokémon movie that was written by Takeshi Shudo, so at least he went out on a strong one, thematically (even if the overall experience actually turned him off from doing anymore Pokémon, not too long later).
However, it's also not without its own problems. Namely, there are entire characters & scenes that play literally no real factor at all in the grand scheme of things, and honestly just feel like they were included because they had to be. Rin, for example, is only relevant for the Pokémon battle with Satoshi during the opening credits & showing the way to Greenfield... and that's it, as she plays literally no important role whatsoever for the entire rest of the film & truly felt like there was a mandate that there had to be some sort of original female character included in these films. She does provide Satoshi with a walkie talkie later on, but that seriously could have just been done by John, who at least had some connective relevance to the plot (even if he, too, was extremely minor). Meanwhile, Team Rocket's inclusion is easily the most pointless of them all across these three films, as they seriously have no reason to even be involved with any of this, except for one moment where they help save Satoshi with Kasumi & Takeshi... and even then everyone literally goes "Wait, why are you guys here?!" to the sight of them. Much like Rin, Team Rocket's inclusion feels simply like needing to fulfill a quota, and any scene involving them truly just felt like padding, which is shocking considering the shorter length of this film already. Even the fact that Musashi, Kojiro, & Nyarth came across the Unown first while in the mansion plays no importance to the plot, despite it being an easy way to make their inclusion feel even the slightest bit relevant.
As for how the dub script works as de facto subtitles on this dual-audio DVD, this is probably the closest they get to being a mostly 1-to-1 equivalent, though you still get the usual changes for the English version, especially when it comes to Team Rocket's lines, which focus primarily on puns for the dub. Still, unlike how the dub for Mewtwo Strikes Back! didn't even bother to localize the philosophical theme of clones having the right to live, or how Revelation-Lugia's dub specifically made Ash into a "Chosen One" (when the original Japanese specifically avoided doing that), Lord of the 'Unknown' Tower's dub actually sticks true to the original Japanese version's overarching theme of how one handles something like depression & self-isolation after a traumatic event, which is nice to see. I was told that the dub did also shift some scenes around, but that seemingly only applies to a shot that was used at the start of the end credits, as 4Kids felt that people would leave the theater before the credits started; naturally, it's where it originally was here, due to the Japanese video being used.
Overall, the first three Pokémon movies are a solid bunch, though all three do have their notable flaws. For Mewtwo Strikes Back! it's the ending, which was ridiculed way back when & continues to deserve ridicule to this very day, because it truly is just that bad & brings down what's otherwise a bit of an ambitious film, at least thematically in the original Japanese. For Revelation-Lugia it's the villain, as Gelardan literally plays no real factor in the entire second half of the film, in turn revealing that his entire purpose in the movie was to simply act as a literal plot device, rather than be a proper antagonist. Finally, for Lord of the 'Unknown' Tower it's the inclusion of utterly pointless characters in Rin & Team Rocket, none of which play any major role (outside of one or two moments) & seriously could have been excised completely without anything else in the film really changing; in fact, it might have even improved it slightly, from a pacing perspective. Still, I had fun revisiting Mewtwo Strikes Back! for the first time in literal decades, & it was nice to finally give some other Pokémon movies a watch, because while I'm no longer the fan of the franchise as I was back as a kid (the only game I ever played was OG Blue on the Game Boy, & I stopped watching the anime regularly once Ash caught a Snorlax) I still have tons of respect for the franchise, as a whole.
As for these specific dual-audio DVDs, I am a bit sad that this treatment stopped after only three films, but at the same time I can understand why it happened. The fourth movie (Celebi - A Timeless Encounter/Pokémonm 4Ever) actually had some brand new sequences made specifically for the English dub, so it wouldn't have been possible for the dub to be matched to the Japanese footage, at least without removing bits of the dub outright; apparently a Japanese dub of the English dub of the movie was produced for later TV airings over there, though. Also, these DVDs were made specifically for Japan (they're Region 2 DVDs, after all), and I imagine the English dub had very limited appeal over there, hence why they were only done for the first three movies. And, yes, each DVD also has dual-audio versions of the short films that accompanied each movie (Pikachu's Vacation, Pikachu's Rescue Adventure, and Pikachu & Pichu), but I felt that covering three films would be more than enough here, for this edition of Anime Grindhouse; hey, the previous time I wound up including a fifth film as a bonus, so give me a break here. I would say that these DVDs should be a must-own for big time Pokémon fans, but sadly they are now highly out of print & aren't necessarily cheap today, but I am glad to own them myself.
We may never get a true-blue dual-audio release of a Pokémon anime outside of Japan, or even simply an officially subbed release of the Japanese version in some way, so I'm sure this is the closest we'll ever get.
Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back! © Nintendo・Creatures・Game Freak・TV Tokyo・Sho-Pro・JR Kikaku © Pikachu Project 98
Pokémon: Revelation Lugia © Nintendo・Creatures・Game Freak・TV Tokyo・Sho-Pro・JR Kikaku © Pikachu Project 99
Pokémon: Lord of the "Unknown" Tower © Nintendo・Creatures・Game Freak・TV Tokyo・Sho-Pro・JR Kikaku © Pikachu Project 2000
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