— Ch. 1 · Mewtwo's Existential Crisis —
Pokémon: The First Movie.
~6 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
In a laboratory on New Island, a cloned Pokémon named Mewtwo gains sentience and immediately questions his right to exist. He befriends the salvaged consciousness of a deceased girl named Amber, who appears as Ambertwo in his mind. When Ambertwo and other clones decompose and die, Mewtwo suffers deep trauma that defines his entire existence. The scientist Dr. Fuji tranquilizes him to stabilize this emotional collapse, sending him into suspended animation for years. Upon awakening, Mewtwo learns he was created from an eyelash of the Mythical Pokémon Mew by human hands. Infuriated that humans view him as a mere experiment, he uses psychic powers to destroy the laboratory and kill Fuji and all the scientists present. Giovanni watches the carnage from afar and asks Mewtwo to help develop his mental abilities further. Mewtwo eventually destroys Team Rocket headquarters after realizing his purpose is merely to serve as a weapon for Giovanni. He returns to New Island to plot revenge against humanity and Pokémon alike. The film explores whether a being created through cloning has the same rights as natural life.
American Script Changes
Norman J. Grossfeld served as producer for the English-language North American version released on the 10th of November 1999. He worked with Michael Haigney and John Touhey to heavily edit the original Japanese script written by Takeshi Shudo. Grossfeld felt American audiences needed to see a clearly evil villain rather than a morally ambiguous one like Mewtwo. This decision significantly toned down the existential themes seen in the Japanese version. Executive producer Masakazu Kubo described Warner Bros.' proposed changes as a hassle during production. The English script removed most of the ethical topics regarding cloning and genetic modification found in the original. Three Pokémon are referred to by wrong names in the English dub: Pidgeot becomes Pidgeotto, Scyther becomes Alakazam, and Sandslash becomes Sandshrew. 4Kids Entertainment decided to leave these errors because they thought children would notice them as plausible mistakes made by Team Rocket. Grossfeld had new music re-recorded to better reflect what American kids would respond to compared to the original score. John Loeffler of Rave Music produced the English-language music and co-composed the film score with Ralph Schuckett. One studio suggested having Leonardo DiCaprio dub over Ash's lines, but Grossfeld found that idea weird.