I know that I said for
episodes that I wouldn't be going on about edits and things, but
there's no way around it for "Digimon: The Movie" -
unlike the episodes, "Digimon: The Movie" had it's plot
re-written from the three Japanese movies which make it up. But
what can you do? I swear, if I hear the word
"butchered" one more time...
Angela Anaconda Short
I don't mind the Angela Anaconda show. Really, I don't. I mean, it's WEIRD. But it's watchable, if there's nothing else on. But this little vignette made me want to cry. I just cringed in my seat in the theatre when I saw it, it was so horrible. Angela and her friends have been waiting in line to see the Digimon movie, but Nanette and her two followers get in ahead of them. However, when Angela bumps a sign, all the kids wind up in the wrong theatre, but they don't find out before Angela has one of her fantasty sequences where she and her friends Digivolve to bash Nanette about. God, just shoot me now, why don't you?
Opening Titles - Movie 1: "Digimon Adventure" or "Highton View Terrace, Japan, Eight Years Ago"
The CGI visuals were nice, but the bouncing stills of the
Digimon weren't such hot snot. It also sounded to me like the
Digi-Rap (which I don't mind, y'know) was sped up.
While the first part of the movie is definitely the most boring
part (relatively speaking), that's not to say that it doesn't
have it's plus points. For one, it helps the eyes adjust to the
new animation style, as it is considerably far removed from what
the TV show has to offer. And also, of course, it finally fills
us in on the details of the Digimon battle witnessed by the kids
which led to their becoming DigiDestined, as shown in the TV
episodes, "Return to Highton View Terrace" and
"The Ultimate Clash." Audiences had a long time to wait
from these episodes until the movie, but their answers are
delivered.
The "Big Agumon" intruiges me, because he is animated
and written like a dumb animal, which I particularly like. He
just sniffs around and reacts violently to anything that he
doesn't like the look of. It's interesting to see how
intelligence can be affected by Digivolving - he doesn't seem to
really care that he's putting Kari danger when he's Agumon, but
when he becomes Greymon, he wants to protect them.
I found the battle sequence between Parrotmon and Greymon to be
intensely enjoyable - I think it was because I really like the
remix job done of the Digimon theme tune for the movie, and felt
that it complimented the scene well. "Going Digital,"
on the other hand, was not as well-placed.
Movie 2: "Our WarGame" or "Four Years Later"
Probably the most enjoyable of the three movies, the second
portion of the feature tells the story of how a Digimon hatches
out on the Internet, and begins to consume data, threatening all
technology as we know it. It rapidly Digivolve to it's Mega stage
of Diaboromon after battles with the DigiDestined's Digimon, and
then launches nuclear missiles in an attempt to destroy the
DigiDestined for good. Only the fusion of WarGreymon and
MetalGarurumon into the powerful Omnimon saves the day.
I despise when people call this movie "butchered." The
only main change is that Willis, a DigiDestined from Colorado,
created Diaboromon (whereas in the original, he was the
personification of the Y2K bug). A few minor chages occur as a
result of this one, but certainly not enough to consider the
movie butchered.
Having grown used to the animation of the movie now, it's
interesting to look for little animation "easter eggs"
in this movie. For example, when WarGreymon punches Diaboromon in
their first battle, if you pause your VCR, you can see
Diaboromon's eyes bug right out of his sockets like a comedy
cartoon. Other little things you can spot are the inclusion of
future DigiDestined Ryo and Yolei, as well as errors like Keramon
missing half his body when Agumon and Tentomon sneak up on him,
and Diaboromon's head changing colour from time to time. The
animation comes across as really smooth, particuarly on Matt and
Tai when they are in the Internet, as they have no outlines, and
move very realistically.
The music in this part of the movie is well synched and very
complimentary - "One Week," "Here We Go,"
"All My Best Friends Are Metalheads," "Let's Kick
It Up" and "The Impression That I Get" play mosty
during montage and battle sequences, which work well.
I believe some things were editing in this part of the movie for
the video release, as well. When Izzy says "That's the only
way we have access to the Internet," in the theatre, he
pronounced it "oxcess," while on the video release, it
was "access." Similary, in the theatre, Omnimon said
"Supreme Cannon" twice while shooting at the
Diaboromon, and only once on the video.
Movie 3 - "Digimon Hurricane Touchmon/Supreme Evolution: The Golden Digi-Eggs" or "Present Day"
...and THIS is where it all goes wrong. This movie tells the
tale of Willis, the DigiDestined from Colorado, who is on the run
from his rogue Digimon partner, Kokomon, who has been infected by
the virus which mutated Diaboromon four years prior. T.K. and
Kari call the other 02 DigiDestined in to help, and together,
they battle Kokomon, until he Digivolves to his Mega form.
Angemon and Angewomon transform to their Mega forms of Seraphimon
and Magnadramon, and release the Golden Digi-Eggs, allowing
Veemon and Terriermon to become Magnamon and Rapidmon to finish
Kokomon off.
Now, while that might sound okay written out like that, it's very
annoying when you're aware of just how much was changed from the
original Japanese version. Furthermore, this movie is not
supposed to exist in the same timeline as the other movies and
the series, so Angemon and Angewomon going Mega and the existence
of the Golden Digi-Eggs does nothing but confuse those who don't
know how much was changed (ie: The little kids Saban does it's
damndest to cater to).
In the original version, Kokomon had not been infected with the
Diaboromon virus (Willis had no hand in creating Diaboromon), but
was sucked into another dimension. This happened around the time
of the Parrotmon/Greymon battle, not the Diaboromon battle. In
the dimension, a virus he had been infected with made Kokomon go
slightly nuts, and then, in the present day, he began his search
for Willis. Not knowing what Willis looked like, he set about
capturing all the DigiDestined, and bringing them to the other
dimension, which reversed ageing, turning them back into children
- the age they were when Kokomon was separated from Willis. That
is the reason the other 02 DigiDestined are called in by T.K. and
Kari. Furthermore, the fight sequences in the movie were all
chopped up and some were rearranged, and basically, the US movie
stops making sense when Kerpymon appears, as the other dimension,
the Angels going Mega and the Golden Digi-Eggs are not explained.
And Kokomon was not dancing at the end! ARGH!
That said, the animation of this movie was superior to either of
the other two, and I have to admit, for all the cutting up they
did, they were able to put the movie back together rather well
(there are still some holes, but Saban ain't perfect). The pace
of the movie is rather fast, however - while it's easy enough to
follow, the original melancholy feel of the Japanese version gets
lost somewhere underneath "Run Around,"
"Strange" and "Hey Digimon."
End Credits
Hey, they misspelled Seraphimon, dagnabbit!
Overall
There were other things they could have done, one supposes - release the movies on video individually, show them as specials on TV... but what it all comes down to is money. Moolah. Greenbacks. Spoondoolicks. Saban makes more money by releasing the movie in theatres, then on video, and they'll assuredly show it on TV in years to come. To quote my friend Susan - "the biggest moneyspinner was the biggest disappointment for hardcore fans."
Rating: 3 out of 5 - if they just hadn't cut so much, it would have got 4.