Pokemon Movie - The Rise of Darkrai
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 Just another Slop-Job Released by PokemonUSA PokemonUSA (the company that dubs the Pokemon anime into English) never really cared about the franchise and THIS DVD release seriously shows it. The original Japanese version included a song by the singer/actress Sarah Brightman. Instead of, you know, putting effort to retain the rights to use the original song in the USA version, they just opted to hire some two-bit singer to perform some adopted version. The DVD also contains NO extras/special features of any kind! They just plopped the movie on there and thats it! The packaging itself is even pretty lousey - 1 insert with ads on it and a rushed cover insert. And to top it all off, the movie is only available English dubbed (of course, like the rest of the series). I do not see why they cannot release this series in it's original Japanese form with faithful subtitles. PokemonUSA just trys to market the Pokemon series for younger kids, but there is A LOT of older kids and adults who enjoy playing/watching Pokemon (when Pokemon 1st came to America, who is the ones who first got into it and kept it strongly going? Gee whiz, they're adults now!). And besides, every kid knows that Pokemon is from Japan and has access to the internet where they can see what was changed for the English release. Its not like releasing the series in Japanese with Eng subs would traumatize them. If you like the dubbed version, I still wouldn't touch this DVD because of the half-fast job they did with it. Only if you can find it cheaper. This movie was already shown on TV before it was on DVD, so I don't see the point in charging that much for it, espcially since most fans probably already saw it and/or recorded it off the TV.  I WANT TO SEE IT THIS MOVIE LOOKS AWESOME I NEED TO SEE IT AND SHORE DO ALL OF YOU.  It's ok, but VIZ and PUSA still need to work harder There is some good news and some bad news with this DVD. First off, it's a 1.85:1 Widescreen presentation, video is nice and clear. Comes with a 5.1 Dolby Digital (if I recall correctly) track as well as normal stereo. English and Spanish subtitles. That's the good news. Ok, on to the bad news. For the folks looking for the Japanese audio track, DO NOT PURCHASE as it doesn't have one. Kinda disappointing. There are also no special features on the disc, none at all. Is a preview of Movie 11, or a commentary track to much to ask for. Seriously, the only real reason I bought this is because I love Pokémon so much. The widescreen is a plus, but the lack of special features, commentary, and a japanese audio track kinda defeats the purpose of it being on DVD. I'm still hoping for the day when VIZ and PUSA (Pokémon USA Inc. for those you don't know) announce/release remastered special editions of all the movies and an uncut (that means all the banned episode included too lol), remastered version of the show. Seriously it's time they started treating this series with some love. I know Pokémon is still marketed mainly towards kids, but what about us 20-somethings that watched this show from the very beginning. Anyway hope this review helped and sorry it kinda turned into a mini rant. :D Japanese / English Release If the product information is correct this will be the first DVD release of Pokemon in the US with both the Japanese AND the English tracks!!! This is a great movie (saw last year in Japanese theatres) that recreates the feel of the earlier films and also adds some mythology to the Unown from the 3rd movie (my personal fave). Great animation and music and the fact that the Dialga and Palkia battle continues into the 11th movie is a series first! Don't miss this release! | |||||||||||||
