History Anime / PokemonTheFirstMovie

* BigBadassBattleSequence: The clones vs. their originals. Very much PlayedForDrama to deliver AnAesop about fighting. Even includes a bit of SoundtrackDissonance. (The undubbed version uses "all life being equal" instead of "fighting" and a more suitable OneWomanWail for the music.)

* EarlyBirdCameo: Marill and Snubbull (in the tie-in short movie), and Donphan. Mewtwo's SignatureMove (in this movie, at least) Shadow Ball. Corey (the Pidgeot trainer) may also count, as he greatly resembles the Cooltrainer design from ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver''.

* ResolvedNoodleIncident: Mewtwo blowing up Giovanni's mansion and pulling a ScrewThisImOuttaHere in the prelude is this in terms of the American release (since the movie was released after this episode rather than the other way around for the Japanese audience). Since [[Recap/PokemonS1E65ShowdownAtThePokeCorral "Showdown at the Po-ké Corral"]] showed the incident from the perspectives of Jesse, James, and Meowth (who were outside the mansion when it blew), it was unclear there what had happened to cause Mewtwo to go rogue. That incident is now finally dramatized here.

* ResolvedNoodleIncident: Mewtwo blowing up Giovanni's mansion and pulling a ScrewThisImOuttaHere in the prelude is this in terms of the American release (since the movie was released after this episode rather than the other way around for the Japanese audience). Since [[Recap/PokemonS1E65ShowdownAtThePokeCorral "Showdown at The Poké Corral" showed the incident from the perspectives of Jesse, James, and Meowth (who were outside the mansion when it blew), it was unclear what happened that caused Mewtwo to go rogue. That incident is now finally dramatized here.

* CloningBlues: Mewtwo has a pretty severe case of this.

This was the first of three anime films in the franchise distributed outside Japan by Creator/WarnerBros, which would go on to distribute ''Film/DetectivePikachu'' in 2019 as well.

* TheCameo: Gary Oak appears briefly during Mewtwo's training montage. [[TheWorfEffect His sole purpose in the film is to show how ludicrously powerful Mewtwo is by getting defeated]]. Doubles as a PerspectiveFlip of a scene from the TV series episode, ''The Battle of the Badge''.

* BadassBaritone: Mewtwo, particularly in the English dub.

* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: Not a good idea to try physically punching a psychic-powered clone, Ash...
** This marks the first in a long line of instances in the Pokémon movies where Ash attempts to punch or manhandle powerful Psychic types.

* ThePowerOfLove: It helps win the final battle [[spoiler:and bring Ash back from the dead]].

A team of scientists create Mewtwo, a superior clone of legendary Pokémon Mew. Angry at having been created to serve and be used by humans, it decides it's [[IncrediblyLamePun Gotta]] [[GottaKillThemAll Kill 'em All]].

** In the dub, Mew is portrayed more as a hero, whereas in the original, it has more anti-heroic qualities. ''[[KillerRabbit Mew is much more hostile.]]'' It more or less states only original Pokémon are real, and no matter how much they fight, [[FantasticRacism the real ones will never lose to mere copies in a fight like this]].

* BerserkButton: In the ''Pikachu's Vacation'' segment, Pikachu's is shown to be other Pokémon bullying Togepi, and Charizard's is when other Pokémon step on his tail.

%%* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: The aforementioned re-animated version used internationally.

!!Release Date:
* July 18, 1998 (Japan)
* November 6, 1999 (USA; premiere)
* November 10, 1999 (USA/Canada)
* December 15, 1999 (Venezuela)
* December 16, 1999 (Australia/New Zealand/Puerto Rico)
* December 23, 1999 (Argentina)
* December 25, 1999 (Peru/Uruguay)
* January 7, 2000 (Brazil)
* February 3, 2000 (Hong Kong/Taiwan)
* March 19, 2000 (Portugal; CCB, Belém)
* April 5, 2000 (France)
* April 7, 2000 (China/Romania)
* April 8, 2000 (Finland)
* April 12, 2000 (Bangladesh)
* April 13, 2000 (Switzerland; German speaking region/Germany/Israel)
* April 14, 2000 (Denmark/Spain/Finland/UK/Ireland/Norway/Sweden)
* April 20, 2000 (Italy/Netherlands)
* April 21, 2000 (Greece)
* May 5, 2000 (Belgium)
* June 9, 2000 (Turkey)
* June 21, 2000 (Kuwait)
* July 21, 2000 (Iceland)
* August 4, 2000 (Mexico)
* November 9, 2000 (Hungary)
* December 23, 2000 (South Korea)
* February 9, 2001 (Poland)
* March 1, 2001 (Czechia)
* October 24, 2001 (Russia; Video)
* May 6, 2002 (Slovenia)
* August 1, 2002 (Netherlands; DVD)
* February 26, 2017 (Kansas City Japanese Film Festival)
* November 1, 2020 (Tokyo International Film Festival)

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Also known as ''Mewtwo Strikes Back'', [[Title1 the very first movie]] complementing ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries''.

!!Release date

* CutAndPasteTranslation: The English dub, especially when compared to later movies and the regular series. Even the dubber's DVD commentary has them admitting to having trouble during translation. There is quite a BrokenBase as to how this affects the film's enjoyability.

* DeliberatelyMonochrome / RealIsBrown: The first 20 minutes of the film has a very desaturated color palette, which showcases the film's aforementioned dark tone. Even the opening scene which takes place in a Jungle. Also the scene in which Dr. Fuji's wife leaves him is Black and White.

* BroughtDownToNormal: Just before the final battle, Mewtwo after being enraged by Mew's assertion that powers or not what truly makes a Pokémon's strength is what's in their heart, decides to use his PsychicPowers to block all the special abilities of both the originals ''and'' the {{Modified Clone}}s, thus putting them on an equal physical playing field.

%%* BetaTestBaddie: Mewtwo.

* CaptainErsatz: Dr. Fuji to Dr. Tenma, the creator/father of ''Manga/AstroBoy''.