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Plot Synopsis
The story begins in the Pokémon Lab, near Cinnabar Island (as seen in the game, the burnt out old lab). There the scientists, after finding DNA from the rarest Pokémon known to have once existed, Mew, have cloned the Pokémon, but not before genetically enhancing the creature by altering its genetic code by adding the best traits of all Pokémon types. When the creature, named Mewtwo by the scientists, awakes, it realizes that it's 'parents' don't truly care for it as he is only an 'experiment', only about their own greatness. In a fit of rage, Mewtwo murders it creators and destroys the lab, but not before one of the scientists records a message telling who ever may find it what has happened. As Mewtwo stands in the destruction it has created, a helicopter lands on the island. Giovanni, the notorious Team Rocket boss, emerges from the helicopter and asks Mewtwo to join him as his partner in his quest to one day take over the world. Mewtwo wonders whether this human is any different to those who created it, but his wish to control the world is shared by this human, so he decides to join Giovanni. Giovanni brings Mewtwo back to Team Rocket HQ, and has a mechanic suit made for him to help Mewtwo to control it's powers. To help Mewtwo to learn how control his power, Giovanni makes the Pokémon fight, and at one point tests him in his gym in Viridian against a young Pokémon trainer named Gary ('Battle of the Badge'). It beats every opponent. But after these battles, the alliance splits when Mewtwo realizes that Giovanni believes that a Pokémon like him can never be the equal of a human. Mewtwo destroys the HQ, and leaves, vowing to seek revenge on the human race and to prove that Pokémon are better than humans. Meanwhile, on a cliff somewhere, Ash battles another trainer while waiting for Brock to finish cooking dinner. After the battle, Mewtwo watches the trio. Later, a Dragonite lands near to the trio and gives Ash a same box. From the box the hologram of a beautiful, and familiar, woman appears and invites the three to a party held by her master, the greatest Pokémon trainer in the world. They decide to accept the invitation and tick the yes box on the invitation. Jessie and James, who were watching the three, decide to crash the party. Ash, Misty and Brock go to the port where they can get a ferry to the island that is the home of this trainer, but a storm has erupted, created by Mewtwo, meaning that all ferries have been cancelled. Officer Jenny warns the other Pokémon trainers, who have also been invited, not to try and cross the sea. The three also find a poster saying that the local Nurse Joy has disappeared and is feared to have been kidnapped. Far away, deep in some waters, Mew emerges from it's bubble, and rises into the sky and flies away. It has a job to do. Anxious to get to the island, Ash tries to think of a safe way to cross the sea. A boat, with two vikings onboard comes up to them and offers them a ride. Despite to get to the island they agree. But the storms rock the boat and the furs of the vikings are washed off, revealing their true identities - Team Rocket. The boat is then knocked again by a wave pushing everyone into the sea. Luckily by using their water Pokémon, they are able to reach the island. When they arrive, they are welcomed by the same woman as was in the invitation, and Brock makes a disturbing realization - it was Nurse Joy! She brings them into the castle, and there in the main room are several other trainers that Ash, Misty, and Brock recognize from the port. They have also braved the storm to reach the island. After the trainers introduce themselves, a noise in the background catches their attention. A figure floats down a tube and into their sight. It was a Pokémon. Then the woman speaks and announces something that shocks everyone present. The trainers can't believe this. How can a Pokémon be a trainer as well? Mewtwo attacks one of the doubtful trainers, and he attacks back with one of his Pokémon, but he is easily over-powered by Mewtwo. Mewtwo also releases his control on Nurse Joy, saying that he no longer needs her. Jessie, James and Meowth reach the island and enter the castle through a sewer, followed by a curious Mew. They find themselves in a room filled with computers and strange machines, linked by tubes that look like tendrils. In these tubes they discover several Pokémon - a Venusaur, a Blastoise and a Charizard- but they look different to normal Pokémon. They then happen upon a message made by a scientist, telling of the creation of Mewtwo. In the background of the message, they can here destruction, even over the static. They also knock the cloning machine on. Two hands grab Meowth and try to drag him into the machine, but he is saved by Jessie and James, but the machine holds on and pull three hairs from Meowth. The machine then extracts Meowth's DNA, and in one the tubes, and exact copy of the feline. Meowth has been cloned! Mewtwo tells the trainers that he will never serve humans and that they, and the other Pokémon who have let themselves become slaves to the humans are no good and need to be destroyed. Pikachu disagrees, saying that he is with Ash because he wants to be, but Mewtwo tells him that he is weak if he needs to be with humans. Ash challenges Mewtwo to see if it truly is the most powerful Pokémon in existence. And below, where Team Rocket are, the cloned Pokémon awake and leave the lab, followed by Mew, who flies right past Team Rocket. The clones rise on platforms to meet Ash and the other trainers who challenge them with their own original Pokémon of each of the three types. Mewtwo reveals his own Pokémon battle gym. The battle does not last long though. Ash's and the other two trainers are easily beaten. Mewtwo's Pokémon have been genetically enhanced as it has been. Now Mewtwo claims it prize - everyone's Pokémon! Three Poke balls, coloured black and silver rather than the usual red and white, appeared in the air and captured the three Pokémon that had just battled and lost, including Ash's Charizard. Ash, after trying to oppose Mewtwo, is knocked to the ground by a psychic blast, and then more poké balls appeared. Even though the Pokémon fought them, the other Pokémon were captured just like the first three. Ash, having an idea, told his Pokémon to get into their own poké balls, but it was no use. Mewtwo's poké balls still were able to capture them. The trainers tried to escape, but before they could get to the entrance, Mewtwo captured both Misty's and Brock's Pokémon. The poké balls then charged Pikachu. Pikachu ran from them up a spiral staircase in the main room, but they followed, and were gaining on him. Ash ran after his Pokémon, hoping that he could help it. He also scaled the staircase, but lost his footing and fell. Luckily he grabbed onto the railing. Meanwhile, Pikachu was keeping the poké balls away from him with his electric attacks, but this only stopped them for a second a time. Ash looked up towards Pikachu and saw him surrounded by Mewtwo's poké balls. Pikachu also loses his grip on the staircase and falls, pursued by the poké balls. Ash, seeing Pikachu fall past him, let go of the railing and tried to grab Pikachu but doesn't manage to catch him. Then the poké balls gained on Pikachu and captured him. Ash managed to grab onto the ball and landed in a pool of water. But his grip slipped and the ball travelled down through a hole in the ground, followed by Ash. He ended up in the laboratory below. He landed on the conveyor belt just in time to see the poké ball with Pikachu inside being grabbed by mechanical arms. He grabbed the ball again to prevent it from being taken into the machine and was able to pry it from the hands. Ash fell back onto the floor and the ball fell next to him. It opens and Pikachu emerged. Then the two heard a few familiar voices - Team Rocket. They told him that this place was where the clones were being made and showed him the computer. On one of the screens he saw a silhouette of Pikachu. Then more silhouettes of different Pokémon appeared. Each tube then filled up with several sleeping Pokémon. The Pokémon awoke and then exited the lab. Ash and Team Rocket looked on shocked. The poké balls, containing the original Pokémon, fell to the floor and each Pokémon emerged. Ash lead the originals out of the lab and back to the room above, leaving Team Rocket in the lab. Then, Mew, the Pokémon Mewtwo has been cloned from, flew past the group, following the others. Above, Mewtwo told Brock, Misty, Nurse Joy and the other trainers the leave now if they could brave the storm, but they all refused. Ash arrives in the main room, followed by all of the original Pokémon. Instead of letting them attack him, Ash ran towards the Pokémon himself and tried to punch him but instead hit a shield Mewtwo put up to prevent him from being hurt. When Ash hit the shield, he recoiled and was thrown back, but rather than hitting the stone wall behind him, he hit something soft. He looked behind him and saw Mew. Mewtwo seemed stunned to see it's original self, but wasn't scared. He began to hurl balls of psychic energy at Mew, but playfully it dodged every one. When at one point it seemed to be hit, but instead it sent the blast back at Mewtwo, but he was again protected by a blue shield. Mewtwo decided that the only way to see which was more powerful, the originals or the clones, was by battling. Mew felt that it would be an unfair fight unless the Pokémon fought hand to hand rather than with powers (as this is what had been enhanced in the clones genetic structure). Agreed, the Pokémon began to fight, original against clone. The Pokémon battled. Ash looked around the field for Pikachu. Pikachu saw his trainer, high on a ledge over-looking the battlefield. He ran towards the ledge that Ash was upon, but his clone got in the way. The clone began to hit Pikachu, but he refused to fight back. Ash climbed down the ledge, but by the time he reached the ground, most of the Pokémon were exhausted from fighting. The cloned Pikachu hit Pikachu for a last time before passing out. Ash ran up to his Pokémon and hugged him. He knew he had to stop the battle before they all ended up dead. Mewtwo and Mew returned back to the ground and both prepared to hurl a powerful psychic blast at each other. At the time they let go of the ball, Ash ran into the middle of the field. Both blasts collided, with Ash trapped in the middle. When the light from the blasts dimmed, Ash hung in the air, his body glowing, but then he fell, his body lying motionless on the floor. Pikachu ran up to it's trainer's lifeless body. He knew that Ash was dead, but that didn't stop him trying. Pikachu let shock after shock leave his body, aiming the bolts at Ash in a desperate attempt to revive him. But it didn't help. He give up, and began to cry. Moved by the love Pikachu had for it's trainer and his sorrow at his death, all of the other Pokémon, originals and clones, began to cry. Then something amazing happened. All of the tears came together to form a spiral, and then the tears were absorbed into Ash's body. The body began to glow and when the light left, he began to move. Moved by Ash's sacrifice, a tear fell from one of Mewtwo's eyes. He realized that maybe all humans weren't like the scientists who had created him or Giovanni. Maybe other humans were like him. He became to believe that Pokémon weren't created to destroy and kill. The tears taught him that Pokémon could create life as well as destroy it. Ashamed at what he had done, Mewtwo left with his clones to find somewhere peaceful to live. Before he left, though, he returned the trainers and their Pokémon back to where they were before the began to head to the island and wiped their memories of everything that had taken place. Back at the port, Ash, Misty and Brock wonder what they are doing by the sea. Then as they leave, Ash looks into the sky and sees a small, pinkish, feline Pokémon flying. He tells his friends about it and that it seems familiar. He then vows that he will not stop until he finds this legendary Pokémon.
This is a very Anime/Japanese ending (like 'Ghost in the Shell'. The bad guy doesn't always ends up as the enemy in the end). At the end of most western movies, the main hero fights and defeats the main baddie (don't get me wrong, a lot of the time this is the best and coolest way to go .e.g. Die hard). This ending, however, is very different. Instead of by fighting the main bad guy, Ash becomes the hero of the story by sacrificing his life for want he believes, that fighting, at least in the case, is wrong. He also receives his reward for standing up for his beliefs - his life is returned to him after he dies (in Anime, when someone dies, half of them will come back to life again). Also, if 'Pokémon' was a western concept, the main hero would probably have been able to overcome all odds and defeat the creature that is obviously more powerful than him. In this case, however, Ash never could have been able to beat Mewtwo in a battle, even with all of the originals. He is only an 11-year-old kid. The only thing that could match it's powers was Mew. Rather than the main bad guy being killed, he realizes that what he is doing is wrong and has a change of heart. He is not the evil creature that we thought he was. He just had a bad start in life and became a misunderstood character (although he did murder the scientists who created him, meaning that he is not a fully 'good' character at the end). The change of heart shows us that he did have real compassion in his heart, but he didn't express it until this until he saw his enemy, a human, commit a selfless act. Ashamed at what he has done, he takes the memories from each person's mind, and begins his life anew. Ash 'defeated' Mewtwo not with violence (he tried this, but it failed), but with selflessness. This emphasizes the passive tone of the movie, proving that violence is not the only way, and not the most powerful way, to stop someone. |
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