Noctdemura

Friends and family alike loved the animated series. When we heard of a movie coming out, excitement was practically exploding throughout the room. What did we expect? An amazing CGI-filled world of magic and wonder, with the same emotional rollercoaster of laughter and empathy as the cartoon had shown.

The entire populace was disappointed though. Acting was bad. Names were mispronounced. Entire scenes were cut, scattered, or ruined. Forms of bending and their effects weren't impressive. The Avatar State wasn't anything worth paying attention to. Hell, Uncle Iroh wasn't even a lovable fat man!

For anyone who hasn't seen it, don't. This movie will only infuriate and disappoint with the first watch. At the very least, it can be accepted as a mocking parody based off of the original show - Because that's about all anyone is going to laugh at here.

Three things that I felt when watching this movie. I must've cried for the first five minutes as I realized everything was completely remade like the original first episode - The sensation was purely a wave of... "Oh my god, I'm OLD..." but this was all exactly how I would remember it being - Even if the quality back then was poor on VHS tapes. I was trembling with happiness.

I was expecting another run-in with Mew, MewTwo, and other legendaries... but it surprised and disappointed when instead heading into a battle against Ho-Oh, bringing about some childhood curiosity on that mysterious bird. The good note that it started on gradually fell though with that, and never fully picked back up to where it was.

I think Pikachu talking made the worst "Oof" moment. I don't know why... Pokemon just... shouldn't talk. Ever. Unless it's wholly telepathic, of course (MewTwo, Jurachi, Lucario, I can't hate you guys). In the series, Ash was able to understand Pikachu just fine once he got used to the tones and body language, and the one message the beloved Pokemon got to release here was... bland, and cheesy beyond belief. It doesn't even answer the question properly.

While I think it was more of a movie for the younger generations new to the topic, it had enough interesting bits to keep the older generation's classics at heart. A small feeling of satisfaction upon leaving the theater with my younger siblings-- although the writers still could've done a lot better with this one.

I would always blame this particular show for television going downhill when I was a teenager. It was the end of one era, and the beginning of a new one, and I ultimately had to switch away from Cartoon Network entirely when Flapjack became more popular. While some of the stories had a fun edge to them, and the appearance was new and outgoing, there were also a lot of depressing images - A new heavy dark humor, in comparison to the lighthearted jokes and stupid, slapstick violence that I'd been used to.

It reminded me a bit of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, honestly... I'll admit that I liked a couple of the plots and storylines out of the whole series (the rare and unusual fun facts in some episodes were probably the most memorable things to keep), but the imagery spooked me more than anything. Freakish sounds and constant hyper-realistic animation popping out often was a major turn-off, unlike shows like Spongebob where it was thrown in usually for humor. My friends and I usually used these sorts of things for Halloween at the very least, and breathed a sigh of relief when new shows stopped coming out.

This movie was one of the few that turned out not half-bad with recreation. "Be Our Guest" disappointed with its slight lackluster (I'm sure the actors tried their best, and I give kudos of course), yet the addition of more background and specifics in the characters captured my attention. It gave more of a relationship between Belle and the Beast, along with all of the castle servants. Things seemed much less like a case of Stockholm Syndrome turned to budding romance this time around.

It keeps most aspects of the original, which is what I most like, and simply builds onto that. Past plot holes sewed up with new patchwork to make it more of a complete story - As a movie like this should. While Disney is overdoing the live-action versions of everything just a smidge, I'll just remain here, enjoying this one that came out beautifully.