_Digimon:_The_Movie_ (PG) * (out of ****)
If you think a passing familiarity with _Pokémon_ is preparation enough for _Digimon:_The_Movie_--the big screen debut of the _Pokémon_ knockoff/rival television series--think again. In fact, nothing but an extensive knowledge of the DigiMythos will make the story of this animated feature the slightest bit comprehensible. Not that it really matters, anyway--when it all comes down to it, this is just one exhausting 70something-minute exercise in hyperactive visuals and sound. _Pokémon_ on speed, if you will.
After a baffling and completely unnecessary pre-film vignette about a rabid _Digimon_ fan waiting in line at a movie theatre and imagining herself in a _Digimon_ adventure (this piece of work makes the Pikachu shorts that precede the _Pokémon_ films look like Oscar bait), _Digimon:_The_Movie_ wastes no time in getting the plot underway. A brief voiceover narration by the character Kari (voiced by _Gimme_a_Break!_ alumna Lara Jill Miller) dispenses some exposition before the first of what are many battles between Digimon. Now what _are_ Digimon, you ask? The nearest I could figure is that they're some strange breed of monster that originates in cyberspace but sometimes crosses over into the real world by way of an egg that somehow emerges from a computer screen. How or why this happens, I don't know. Maybe it was covered in that narration, maybe not--it is delivered so quickly that it's impossible to not miss something.
Why do these Digimon fight? I suppose it all comes down to some being "bad" and some being "good." The "good" ones are able to be summoned by children called the DigiDestined (how they are selected and what they are destined to do is beyond me) to defeat the "bad" ones in the digital world. In the first half of the film, the bad Digimon is a computer virus that threatens to wipe out the world's computers, and its up to Kari's big brother Tai (Joshua Seth), the rest of the DigiDestined, and their Digimon to save the world. It's no spoiler to say that Tai and company do... but then the story picks up four years later, with some new characters and an older Kari facing some remnant of said destructive Digimon.
All this, of course, would make sense to the target audience of 6-year-olds who watch the _Digimon_ television series every weekday afternoon on Fox. But that's a moot point for them, since the show and the film are all about the fire-breathing, bomb-exploding, all-stops-out battles between Digimon. And the makers of _Digimon:_The_Movie_ don't skimp, barely taking a breath between action scenes. While this ensures that the tykes won't ever get antsy, it also guarantees one big headache--and a severe case of motion sickness to match--for adults. The violence may be between the Digimon, but it's the older viewers in the audience that feel the pain.
The pace may be quicker and the action louder and more extreme than in _Pokémon_, but that doesn't necessarily make _Digimon_ better. With the assaultive nature comes the absence of any slight bit of humanity. Say what one will about _Pokémon_ poster critter Pikachu, one must concede that he has personality, and there is some warmth to his relationship with trainer Ash Ketchum. Here, all the characters, human and Digimon alike, are merely interchangeable pieces in a mechanical game--an apt description for _Digimon:_The_Movie_, a "movie" in name only.
©2000 Michael Dequina
Michael Dequina twotrey@juno.com | jordan_host@sportsmail.com | mrbrown@iname.com Mr. Brown's Movie Site: http://www.mrbrownmovies.com CinemaReview Magazine: http://www.CinemaReview.com on ICQ: #25289934 | on AOL Instant Messenger: MrBrown23
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