Pokémon: The Movie 2000



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- The opening lines of the prophecy, Pokémon: The Movie 2000

Pokémon: The Movie 2000: The Power of One, also known as Pocket Monsters Revelation - Lugia in Japan, is the second Pokémon film. Unlike Pokémon the First Movie, this is the first one not to suffer from horrible amounts of Bowdlerization.

A collector, Lawrence III (Jirarudan in the original Japanese version), plans to capture the three Legendary Birds--Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno--in order to collect his prize, Lugia. The obsession of capturing the birds started with a Mew Card.

Meanwhile, Ash, Misty, and Tracey arrive at Shamouti Island, and they learn about the legend. Once the weather turns bad, our heroes must stop Lawrence III and his plan before it's too late.

"Jessie: (when the legendary birds are fighting) I'd hate to get burned by their fire. James: I'd hate to get zapped by their lightning. Meowth: I'd hate to get hit by...their droppings!"
 * Affably Evil: Lawrence, even though he's not really evil...
 * All There in the Manual: The villain of the film is never referred to by any sort of name in the dub, and so the name Lawrence III came from the English novelization of the movie.
 * It's the same in Japanese. His name is never said and comes from the film's program book and soundtrack.
 * According to a production sketch, he's also a scientific genius. This is never brought up in the movie, although the common assumption is that he designed the capture devices he uses. Which WOULD go along with another tidbit from the production line--he aided in the design of his airship.
 * Also the Shamouti chief is only named in the closed captions--Tobias. He has no Japanese name.
 * Ambiguous Disorder: Lawrence III/Jirarudan: He's an art collector of a ridiculously high magnitude who seems to have learned social skills entirely by rote, has a narrow and fixed attention span, wears a long coat with an undershirt to tropical islands in the middle of summer, has almost no change in facial expression or vocal intonation despite living by his passions, seems to have difficulty recognizing cues from others, and takes everything, including the legend and Misty screaming at him, only by the words presented without considering tone or alternate meaning.
 * Anti-Villain: Lawrence III/Jirarudan, Type I. He's selfish and ego-maniacal, but also very polite and dignified.
 * Apocalypse How: A Class 4 variety, because the harmony of fire, ice, and lightning started a world destructive storms that will wipe out humanity and Pokemon as we know it.
 * Arc Words: "Disturb not the harmony of fire, ice and lightning..."
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:

"Jessie: Prepare for more trouble, than you've ever seen! James: Make it double, we're on the big screen! Ash: ...I'll have to catch this on video."
 * Big Bad: Lawrence III
 * Big Damn Heroes: Lugia, and later...Team Rocket.
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall: Jessie and James do it when they first confront Ash:

"Tracey: Electricity plus fire plus water...electricity separates water into hydrogen and oxygen, which is then recombined using fire which means - EVERYBODY GET DOWN!"
 * Also occurs at the end of the movie with Team Rocket and Slowking. Team Rocket is upset that nobody saw how good they were in helping Ash, and Slowking directs their attention to the audience, starting the "That's good/That's bad" gag below. Fans weren't happy about this, and DVD commentary explains that 4Kids didn't know how else to handle the scene.
 * Broken Aesop: The film ties Pokémon collecting in with, well, evil. A particular example with which fans take issue is the protagonists' reactions of horror in response to seeing how Jirarudan keeps the birds in cages, which actually seem more open than Poke Balls (although it seems as though Pokémon are quite comfortable in Poke Balls).
 * The distinction is actually quite clear: Lawrence III basically treats everything in his collection - including the Pokémon - like objects (Misty even points this out). Do you actually expect him to ever release the birds from those cages?
 * And how do most players treat the majority of the Pokémon they catch? Double when you consider that he says pretty specifically that they're only valuable to him as a means to an end, so likely he would have traded them for something better.
 * Considering Ash and his friends' close relationships with their Pokémon, it's given that they're within the justified range of being able to criticize Jirarudan.
 * Captain Oblivious/Rich in Dollars, Poor In Sense: Lawrence III (Jirarudan), so very much. The entire reason he wreaked so much havoc was due to him being clueless he was doing anything wrong in the first place. The film's writer even stated on a blog that it's total egomania, not a desire to do evil, that drives his actions.
 * The Chosen One
 * The Chessmaster: Lawrence
 * The Collector: Lawrence III (Jirarudan), who aims to collect the three legendary birds and Lugia.
 * Continuity Nod: One of the opening themes in the Johto saga references the relationship established here between Lugia and the three Birds, even drawing a parallel with Ho-oh and the three Beasts. This connection, however, has never been alluded to ever since.
 * Cosmic Keystone: Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres serve this function to Lugia, though the orbs of fire, ice, and lightning also qualify.
 * Cool Ship: Lawrence III's.
 * Deconstruction: Similar to the previous film, the movie breaks down one of Pokémon's core tenets. This time, it's "Gotta Catch Them All"; and boy does he gotta.
 * Dub-Induced Plot Hole: Sort of. Professor Oak had an extra line theorizing that lightning striking volcanic seawater began a chemical reaction that created life on Earth. And in the scene on Lawrence's ship, Tracey had a line that went something like this:

"Jessie: Listen to me, kid: when you get involved with the opposite sex, you're only asking for trouble! James: Yes, and that's the kind of trouble...I stay out of. Meowth: Youse two don't need the opposite sex cause youse got each otta. *laughs like a maniac*"
 * Early-Bird Cameo: Lugia and Slowking appear here before the release of the Pokemon Gold And Silver video games. Pikachu's Rescue Adventure had appearances by Elekid, Hoothoot, and Ledyba as well.
 * Enemy Mine: The Team Rocket trio assists Ash when he attempts to grab Articuno's sphere, claiming that if the world were to come to an end, there'd be "no one left to steal from". However, it becomes clear that they've got more noble motives when they sacrifice themselves to help Lugia and Ash escape later, because it also makes it really hard to steal if you're dead. Luckily, though, the three survive the plunge.
 * Fire, Ice, Lightning: Obviously.
 * Funny Background Event: Brock's cameo has him running around in a frenzy while Professor Ivy talks on the phone with Professor Oak. Also, the Krabbys comment listed below.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar/Orphaned Punchline: Towards the beginning, during the festival on Shamouti island, the movie cuts to a dining hall and we hear "...and she said, 'No, but I have Krabbys!'"
 * Gondor Calls for Aid: Subverted; according to Lugia,
 * Green Aesop: A selfish collector disregards the balance of nature, and as a result causes some severe climate change.
 * Green-Eyed Monster: Misty of course, denies every aspect of it, but she still gets very jealous of all the attention Melody provides Ash.
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * He's Not My Boyfriend: Misty about Ash throughout the movie. At one point Jessie and James about each other.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: In the original Japanese version, Lawrence III is voiced by Takeshi Kaga and Lugia's voiced by Koichi Yamadera.
 * It's Always Mardi Gras in New Orleans
 * List Song: "Polkamon" in the end credits.
 * Magic Music: Melody's ocarina.
 * Melee a Trois: Articuno vs Zapdos vs Moltres, with Lugia trying to be the Conflict Killer, and Lawrence III awaiting his chance to capture the latter.
 * Merchandise-Driven: Pretty egregiously, even for this franchise; the card that started Lawrence on his obsession is the same one that was given away with tickets for the film.
 * Could also count as a Take That at the fans, since he was the antagonist.
 * Or just the obsessive collector-type fans.
 * Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds: Lawrence III / Jirarudan.
 * Misfit Mobilization Moment: All of Ash's Pokémon on-hand coming out to encourage him in fulfilling his role as The Chosen One. Yes, even Charizard.
 * At the time this Movie aired in Japan, Charizard had already began to obey Ash.
 * Mons: Of course.
 * Obliviously Evil: Lawrence, though this is pretty much his own fault.
 * On Second Thought: In the opening, Ash retracts his decision to let two of his Pokémon out for fresh air: Charizard (out of control) and Snorlax (he nearly capsizes the party's boat). In fairness, Snorlax can swim.
 * Overly Long Gag: In the dub, Team Rocket's dialogue during the ending, contemplating on whether they decide to permanently be good guys or not. Topped by James saying "That's good/bad" each and every time...
 * Prophecy Twist: Only present in the dubbed English version: through a clever bit of wordplay, the line "thus the earth shall turn to ash" in the legend was originally thought to reference the world's destruction; however, the heroes later realize the legend is talking about Ash. Ash then wished he had the name "Bob".
 * Purple Eyes: Lawrence III has somewhat striking violet eyes.
 * Rich Idiot With No Day Job: Lawrence III, and how. He decides to capture the three legendary birds because they'll make good additions to his collection.
 * Actually, what we see IS his day job. He's an art collector. This is what he's like ALL THE TIME.
 * Screw Destiny: The Japanese version.
 * Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Lawrence III accidentally set the events of the prophecy in motion by trying to capture the three legendary birds because he believed that he was The Chosen One meant to "bring together all three" and "tame the Beast of the Sea."
 * Ship Tease: Many a Pokéshipper (Ash/Misty) cite this movie as their favorite, for some reason...
 * Upon hearing Misty and Melody arguing about Ash:
 * Upon hearing Misty and Melody arguing about Ash:


 * Oddly (considering that the Team Rocket trio's lines get re-written most of the time), these lines are fairly similar to the Japanese dialogue, with Meowth originally saying "Whatever you say. You guys get love-love all the time!".
 * Shout-Out: The concept of misaligning three divine beings (or in this particular case, legendary Pokémon) and it causing a major calamity as a result is extremely similar to Final Fantasy VI, the two major differences are that the main villain in that game, unlike here, is fully aware that his actions would cause the world to be ravaged, and yet did it anyways simply because he could, and that unlike in the game, here the destruction of the world was actually averted, although just barely.
 * Soft Water:.
 * Not that this is unusual for them, though.
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Lawrence III's Japanese name has been spelled as Jirarudan (the preferred Romanization amongst his fans), Gelardan, Girardian, Gelarden (what the closed captioning on the English dub calls him), and Geraldine. Add into it that there's no official Romanization of his Japanese name, and that phonetically the J sound is closest although the name is (most likely) based off Rene Girard (which is pronounced as a J but such a thing is difficult to get across in the Roman alphabet).
 * The Stoic: Lawrence has about four facial expressions in the entire movie. Most of them are variations on "smug". Even at the end when he's standing in the ruins of his vaporized collection, he expresses nothing. It's clear that he feels things, and he's not trying to hide his emotions. They just don't manifest.
 * Viewers are Morons/Viewers Are Goldfish: "Disturb not the harmony of fire, ice or lightning" is repeated by various characters something like five or six times throughout the movie.
 * Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Averted. Lawrence III's ship has little force fields around all of his treasures to keep them from being broken.
 * Not that it helped, considering that it it couldn't protect against Aeroblast.