Poketto monsutaa: Pikachû no natsu-yasumi (1998)

User Rating:

4.0/10   

Release Date:

10 November 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Short | Comedy

Plot:

Pikachu and the gang learn responsiblity, team work as well as cooperation during their Summer vacation at Pokemon Island.

Plot Keywords:

Pocket Monsters | Pokémon | Character Name In Title

Cast

Ikue Ootani	...	Pikachû
Satomi Koorogi	...	Togepy
Rikako Aikawa	...	Zenigame
Megumi Hayashibara	...	Fushigidane
Shinichirô Miki	...	Lizardon
Kôichi Sakaguchi	...	Arbok
Naoki Tatsuta	...	Blue
Rei Takano	...	Raichû
Mika Kanai	...	Maril
Chiyako Shibahara	...	Karakara
Rica Matsumoto	...	Satoshi
Mayumi Iizuka	...	Kasumi
Yûji Ueda	...	Takeshi
Aiko Satô	...	Narrator

Also Known As:

Pikachu: The Movie (Japan: English title)
Pocket Monsters: Pikachu's Summer Vacation (Japan: English title)

Runtime:

23 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Movie Connections:

Featured in Gekijô-ban poketto monsutâ - Myûtsû no gyakushû (1998)

A seemingly pointless affair with unfunny pratfalls

On a remote island the pokèmon have their holidays. It is generally a very peaceful time of fun and relaxation. However when Pikachu goes there for his vacation he finds things less than fun as he has a baby to look after – a baby that is difficult to keep happy and entertained leading to conflict between him and other groups of pokèmon.

Shown as part of the film to make everyone feel like they're getting value for money (!) this short certainly feels like it's only purpose is to fill time and make the movie feel longer. The plot is basically an excuse to get as many pokèmon together in one place so that they can be shown off in front of kids who cry out their names in the cinema! Between scenes we have shots of pokèmon not involved in the story – this only serves to make it feel more and more like a gallery than a film.

The film relies on pratfalls and basic physical humour to get by. Because the pokèmon just make noises it is hard to get involved in them as characters and the lack of human characters is a problem. The silly little scenes continue for quite a long time and it gets very tiresome very quickly. I actually was OK with the main movie, but this short had me feeling like I might not be able to stick it out, so poor was it.

Overall this is a cheap little cartoon that just serves to show off as many different pokèmon as it can in 10 minutes. Outside of this it has no reason or merit – I didn't laugh a single time. Other animated features have combined with shorts as part of a cinema or dvd release (Ice Age and Monsters Inc come to mind). However these have tended to be of a better quality and exist to compliment the film rather than just extend it's run time. This short film doesn't do that and is worthless. The only good thing about this short is that, after seeing it, I maybe enjoyed the main film more because, for all it's weaknesses, it was much much much better than this waste of time.