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'Digimon - The Movie' was
released to theatres on October 6th in the USA. It did fairly poor
however, and wasn't well received by die-hard
Digimon fans, for it had several major (and controversial) edits done to it so
it could get a PG rating which is high enough for an animated feature aimed at
kids. Plus, the animation was only average in some areas, while it was
excellent in others.
The movie is a combination
of 3 Japanese Digimon movies, divided into sections. Each segment had
it's own story
Part
I | Part II | Part
III | My Thoughts
Part
I - Digimon Adventure:
Segment Length: 22 min.
The first segment of the
Digimon movie centers around the happenings at Heighton View Terrace four
years before the children's first trip to the Digital-World. In episode 29 of
the TV series, the children remember that it was then that they first saw the
Digimon. The movie serves as an extended flashback told from Kari's point of
view.
One night he wakes up to go to the bathroom and finds Kari staring at a
glowing Digi-egg on the computer screen. Before thier eyes the egg begins to
emerge from the screen. The next morning the egg hatches out pops a strange
black animal. It's a Digi-Baby - Botamon to be precise, but of course the
children don't know that. He soon Digivolves again into Koromon and later that
night into Agumon.(This is not that same Agumon we know from the TV show; this
one is much bigger, and meaner.) Agumon was riding on Kari's Back then jumps
out the window. Tai goes running after it in his PJ's. Then another Digimon
appears from the sky. Its a huge, green bird-type Digimon, Parrotmon. He and
agumon battle and eventually Agumon Digivolves once more. This time becoming
an even larger Dinosaur, Greymon. Greymon manages to destroy the giant bird,
but to Kari's dismay the dinosaur disappears too, and the movies ands with
Kari calling after her lost friend Koromon.
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Part
II - Our War Game:
Segment Length: 40 min.
appx.
The second part of the movie takes place 6 months after
the kids return from the Digital World. So it is spring vacation instead
of summer and the children are all busy. Mimi and her family are in
Hawaii, Joe is taking enterance exams for junior high, Kari is going to a
birthday party, and Matt and TK are visiting thier grandma in the country.
The only ones not doing anything are Tai, Izzy, and Sora.
Playing on his computer, Izzy sees what seems to be a Digi-egg appear on his
screen and watch into a small jellyfish-like Digimon. Realizing that this
can't be a good thing, Izzy hurries over to Tai's house to tell him. Once
there he hooks up his computer to Tais computer and shows him the Digimon. Before
their eyes it Digivolves once more. Tai tries calling the others, but finds no
one is home. He asks Izzy to call Sora for him, but Sora is still upset at Tai
over a silly argument they had the other day and tells her mom to say she's
not home.
Just when it looks like there is nothing they can do against this Digimon,
Izzy gets an email from Gennai. Gennai tells him that he will transfer
Tentomon and Agumon into their computer to fight the evil Digimon. But the
Digimon Digivolves again and is too strong for the two to defeat him. Izzy
looks at his computer and finds an email from other children around the world
who have been watching the battle. Some sends words of encouragement, others
only derision. The Digimon makes his way into various computer systems around
thw world, eating the data and causing confusion wherever he goes. Tai finally
gets a hold of Matt and TK, but the two boys are hard pressed to find a
computer in a small village in which their grandma lives.
After what seems
forever, they find a computer, and Gennai sends Patamon and Gabumon to help
out the other two. Agumon and Gabumon Warp Digivolve into Thier Mega levels.
but this still it's not use; this Digimon is stronger than anything they've
ever seen before. The Evil Digimon starts a countdown, and izzy receives email
from a boy who tells them that when the timer reaches zero, missiles will be
fired all over the world. Just when it looks like there is no hope left, Matt
and Tai somehow find a way into the computer and revive their Digimon.
WarGreymon, and MetalGarurumon join together into one huge Digimon, called
Omnimon, but are still unable to catch the enemy. Then Izzy has an idea. If he
forwards all the email from the children watching the address of the evil
Digimon, hey might be able to slow him down. His plan works and the children
are able to strike a fatal blow at the Digimon. The Digiworld is saved with
one second to spare.
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Part
III - Golden DigiArmor:
Segment Length: 30 min.
appx.
The third and last part of the Digimon flick takes place
during Digimon 02 (after episode 11 I think), and here, the 3 new Digidestined
along with Kari and TK have to travel to the USA to meet another Digidestined
named Wallace. (The translators decided to call him Willis.....BAH!! :P)
This portion isn't easy
to put out in a story, because it got the most editing out of the 3
sections....in fact, a 30 min chunk was cut out due to censorship here in the
USA. From what I gathered, it shows the kids hitch-hiking halfway across
the USA to get to Colorado, where Wallace lived. In Japan, I suppose
kids are taught well not to do this kind of activity......guess you can't
trust 'em in America, so that pretty much explains the reasoning behind that
edit.
After that, they run
into Wallace, and he is faced by one of his 2 Digimon, who had turned
evil. The Digimon attack, but get nowhere, so Angemon and Angewomon go
straight to Mega level, and from them, come 2 Golden Digi-eggs. These
allow the Digimon to Armor-Digivolve into a stronger Digimon. Just
before the evil Digimon could turn back time far enough to where the new
Digidestined didn't exist anymore, the Digivolved Digimon defeat the Digimon
that turned on Wallace.
I know, it's not a very
good description, but it's what I can remember from this segment of the movie,
which due to poor translation and editing, made it go too fast to really catch
on with the story.
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My
Thoughts:
Well, this movie was so-so
to me. The first segment was quite cute with a younger Tai and Kari
meeting their first-ever Digimon. The second part was the best as far as
plot goes.....very exciting towards the end, and WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon
merging into Omnimon leading up to the end of the segment was 'awesome',
if you want to put it that way. The animation takes getting used
to.....Tai and Izzy look somewhat different than on the show.
Now for my rant. The
third part of the movie, despite being beautifully animated and giving us a
primitive example of what anime may be like in the future.....merging 2-d
drawing done entirely by CGI, and traditional 2-d cel animation, just ended up
with my mind in question walking out of the theatre. Angemon and
Angewomon Digivolving to Mega level was completely useless, and no thanks to
the 'net and numerous Digimon fans, I find out that 30 min. worth of scenes
was cut out due to censors. Shame on Saban & the Digimon crew for
messing this part up. They could have done slightly
better work on this.....I felt they really rushed this segment. I guess you can't have everything, huh?
Overall, this movie,
omitting the third segment, is great, however, once you get into the third
section...the quality starts going downhill.
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