Superhero Media: Pokemon The First Movie Mewtwo Strikes Back

I want to talk about something specific with this one, but there's a few things to get out of the way first. One; I'm just going to call this Mewtwo Strikes Back to save on typing, ok? Two; don't worry, I won't be covering every single one of the several dozen Pokemon films, I just want to talk about this one and Detective Pikachu later on. Three; this film, and the (at the time of writing) upcoming remake caused quite a spectacular argument in my roleplaying group's Messenger chat. When I said the remake trailer looked interesting, but that I hoped the "shitty" ending had been changed, I received a rather personal insult in response, which I felt was unwarranted, but evidently, Mewtwo Strikes Back is a sacred cow in some circles. The people in question are 10 years younger than me, I saw the film in the cinema when I was 12, meaning they were probably 3 years old when it came out? Not sure what to make of that. I'm well aware that nostalgia doesn't really function for me, but Mewtwo Stikes Back seems a weird hill to die on. The ending is terrible though, Ash is brought back to life by magical Pokemon tears after Mewtwo turns him to stone. Garbage. 

I really didn't find much to enjoy in Mewtwo Strikes Back as an adult, even one who still enjoys Pokemon and plays the card game online. The story is basic, the characters are two-dimensional and the message of the film is muddled, with Pokemon battles being framed as a bad thing if they're not done for specific reasons. It feels like trying for an anti-violence message whilst maintaining the "monster battles" aspect of the franchise and it doesn't really land at all. The best part of Mewtwo Strikes Back is the titular antagonist who, as I've discussed before, is a great foil and anti-hero, still working through being a villain in this film. Created in a lab to be a living weapon, Mewtwo breaks free, shedding his power-focusing costume and develops a plan to conquer the world of Pokemon. Just how much time passes between his escape and the mysterious invitations being delivered to Pokemon trainers is unclear, but Metwtwo is able to build a tower, cloning machine, robot Pokeballs and a weather control machine by himself, clearly indicating himself to be the Pokemon Doctor Doom. When confronted by Mew, his "parent" Mewtwo fights until Ash is killed and revived and Mewtwo, Mew and the cloned Pokemon fly away into the sunset. 

Yeah, this isn't a good story, but I still find Mewtwo to be a compelling character in his own right, with just the right mix of Magneto and "Evil Clone" to build a good antihero narrative. Not many Pokemon, being analogous for the most part, have real personalities of which to speak, even the legendary ones, so Mewtwo is pretty special. Mewtwo is as much a character as many of the humans in the Pokemon setting, and perhaps more so than Ash, Red and the various Professors Tree, as he is driven by grief and loss he can't identify; rather than a search for something tangible, he seeks identity. For a "boss monster" from a 1990s video game about pet collection, Mewtwo is thoroughly interesting and really needs to be explored more as a character in his own right, rather than just an antagonist or foil, as in Detective Pikachu. I'm not sure what that story would be, perhaps a Pokemon take on Seven Years in Tibet and/or A Wizard of Earthsea, in which Mewtwo tries to find his identity and purpose in a world that only sees his power and threat? Food for thought.