Pokemon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back 1998

Roger Ebert, At the Movies: It's just a sound-and-light show, linked to the marketing push for Pokemon in general. Read more

Susan Stark, Detroit News: Read more

Nancy Churnin, Dallas Morning News: For the legions of Pokemon fans, the film gives them everything they crave and more. Read more

Anita Gates, New York Times: A lot has been written about the admirable lessons that Pokemon teaches children about responsibility, teamwork and obedience. But some unfortunate messages are being sent as well. Read more

Lisa Alspector, Chicago Reader: The repetitive plot is essentially a string of excuses for fantastical combat sequences, but somehow several characters' insistence that violence is bad doesn't come off as hypocritical. Read more

Bob Longino, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: With intentionally stilted animation, uninspired music and lame jokes, Pokemon is basically an ultralong version of the phenomenon's own boring TV 'toon. Read more

Robin Rauzi, Los Angeles Times: Pokemon isn't even good animation, unless the standard of measure is the crude LCD graphics of a Game Boy. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Read more

Entertainment Weekly: Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: The wisdom of putting bad experiences behind us never rang more true than after viewing this movie. Avoiding it though, may be impossible, so be prepared. Read more

Peter Stack, San Francisco Chronicle: For the record, it isn't terrible. It's far from a milestone in Japanese animation, and not an especially memorable entertainment. Yet it doesn't try to be either of those things. Read more

Wally Hammond, Time Out: The story is a humourless retread of a Bond-style world domination yarn with a Frankenstein theme. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: This pacifist spirit of brotherhood echoes the heroics in Princess Mononoke and other anime titles, but the artistic gap between the Miyazaki masterpiece and this project is huge. Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: It makes the Star Wars mythos play like Pong. Read more

Mark Jenkins, Washington Post: A dull, crudely animated Pokemon byproduct. Read more