Originally Posted by
Neo Emolga
Unrelated: Your new avatar is awesome and is totally you!
Anyway, thinking about it a little further and a little deeper, there's a few reasons why I just don't see a live-action Pokémon movie working out all that well.
Game/Anime Logic - What's possible in games and anime is not very possible in real life, and the stuff that happens in Pokémon doesn't carry over into reality very well. When Team Rocket gets blown up and goes "blasting off again," they're able to shake off the damage from ground zero explosions and getting flung nearly a thousand feet in the air less than a minute later as if it never happened when in reality, they'd be deader than dead. Also, apparently taking a Flamethrower attack to the face is really only just as damaging as getting some soot and ash smothered on your face. And then there's Squirtle's ability to conjure up more water out of hammerspace than it could ever possibly hold in its body. It's fine and it's funny in the anime, but try imagining these same things happening in a format that's supposed to mimic real life. It's just impossible and seeing it happen would make it seem so hard to believe and take seriously. Unless you're going for a Space Jam approach where Michael Jordon's body can be temporarily used as a basketball and that kind of thing is totally fine, I don't see it working.
Pokémon are cute, but their body proportions are screwy - Pikachu's head is nearly the size of the rest of its body. Heck, look at some of the more oddball cases like Sharpedo and Pelliper! We don't think too much of these things in terms of game and anime appearances because the fact they look cartoony in the first place kind of clues us in not to take them too seriously. However, now that you're carrying that over into reality, it starts to feel weird and wrong. I will not deny there are a lot of real life creatures that seem ridiculous (platypus!), but at least most of their proportions make sense and stay consistent.
Pokémon are flippin' dangerous! - Let's face it, with the kinds of attacks Pokémon can fling at each other like there's nothing to it, it's a surprise both Pokémon and their trainers survive the mayhem of a Pokémon battle. If Pokémon existed in real life, hate to say it, but we definitely wouldn't be living together. If they could be trained, chances are good they would be militarized and wouldn't be used for simple casual battles.
I could go on about this, but here's the main underlying problem of a Pokémon live action movie. You're going to have one of two scenarios happening. You're either going to have to defy Pokémon's logic and readapt it for reality, or you're going to have to defy reality's logic just for the sake of the Pokémon in the movie, because the two just don't work in unison.
The other point is yes, there have been many video game to movie attempts that have failed, and they had even less reality-twisting to do to be readapted. Silent Hill (I actually enjoyed the Silent Hill movie and didn't think it was that bad) was based on horror anyway, and horror movies can have free reign at twisting reality in dark ways. Other movies like Mortal Kombat had terrible plots even though there was an honest attempt. As for Super Mario Bros, that movie is sacrilege to all video games. >.<
And to top that massive sundae of Pokémon live action movie of trouble with a cherry of anxiety, here's some questions. What would be the plot of this thing? How would they cover it in a two-hour time span? Would they focus on Ash, or would they focus on a new character? Who would be the target audience and how would they gear the movie toward them while still keeping the movie in live action?
And boom, that's why I have my serious doubts about this one. There's just so, so much that can be done wrong and I don't see any one way of them being able to do it right.
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