History YMMV / MewtwoStrikesBackEvolution

** The TruerToTheText English dub receives a lot of praise, but there have also been complaints about some line changes (such as Dr Fuji's "We dreamed of creating the world's strongest Pokémon, and we succeded" line and Meowth's sky monologue with his clone).

* TearJerker: Pikachu trying and failing to revive Ash near the end is perhaps ''worse'' to handle in this version compared to the original.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** Mewtwo's original voice actor reprises his role in the trailer, confirming from the very start (unlike [[Anime/PokemonGenesectAndTheLegendAwakened a certain disliked movie]]) that this is ''the'' Mewtwo (or at least, an AlternateUniverse counterpart).
** Golem is replaced by Drowzee during the opening battle between Raymond (the pirate trainer) and Ash, thus sidestepping the issue of Pikachu harming Ground-Types with Thunderbolt.
** The English dub is noticeably a more direct translation of the Japanese script in terms of the dialogue. As a result, several noticeable errors, like Team Rocket misnaming the Pokémon clones[[note]]Which, admittedly, some viewers just assumed was the Rockets being stupid like normal[[/note]], the one Trainer saying "Pidgeotto" instead of "Pidgeot," and the muddying of the central message of the movie from the original version of the movie's dub are fixed in this version. Unfortunately, they again cut the opening 10 minutes that shows Mewtwo's origins, but at least the rest of the film has a better dub now.
** The dub retains Shinji Miyazaki's score, which results in the climactic battle of the Pokémon clones VS the originals having more appropriate music as opposed to the "[[SoundtrackDissonance Brother, My Brother]]" song from the original.

** Fans who were disillusioned with the movie being a near-identical remake of the original had their interest piqued when the English dub was revealed to be a [[TruerToTheText more faithful translation]] of the thoughtful Japanese original than the CutAndPasteTranslation of the 1999 movie - along with Creator/DanGreen reprising his role from ''Anime/PokemonMewtwoReturns'' as Mewtwo and cementing himself as the definitive English voice for the character.

* ContestedSequel: This film [[ToughActToFollow comes after]] [[Anime/PokemonThePowerOfUs one of the best anime movies in the series]], as well as [[Film/PokemonDetectivePikachu a live-action movie]] that defied VideoGameMoviesSuck and is considered one of the best things to come out of the franchise, so many fans weren't too keen on the lack of originality of this one.

* BrokenBase: This film has split the base in half for (intentionally) being the least original movie in the series. Fans of the movie praise its animation and the high-quality, more faithful English dub that preserves many nuances lost in the 4Kids dub of ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie'', including retaining the Japanese soundtrack without replacing it with [[SoundtrackDissonance unfitting American pop songs]]. Detractors criticize that very same animation for its UncannyValley qualities and lambast the movie for [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks being an unimaginative remake of the original]], to the point that not even the English dub adjustments make it feel very different.

* UncannyValley: While the Pokémon look just fine, the human models look a bit [[https://66.media.tumblr.com/889281c0795e9a6256d0b00da85f63c7/tumblr_pno1myMFwC1sy5nnjo1_1280.pnj unsettling]], with inexpressive eyes that make them look more like living puppets.

** The English dub is noticeably a more direct translation of the Japanese script in terms of the dialogue. As a result, several noticeable errors, like Team Rocket misnaming the Pokémon clones[[note]]Which, admittedly, some viewers just assumed was the Rockets being stupid like normal[[/note]], the one Trainer saying "Pidgeotto" instead of "Pidgeot," and the muddying of the central message of the movie from the original version of the movie's dub are fixed in this version. Unfortunately, they cut the opening 10 minutes that shows Mewtwo's origins again, but at least the rest of the film has a better dub now.

* UncertainAudience: As summarized by Dogasu [[https://dogasu.bulbagarden.net/comparisons/movies/mov22.html in his review]] of the English dub the dubbers appeared to have trouble deciding who the English Dub is made for. Those who want a faithful recreation of the Japanese version will groan at the lines lifted from the [=4Kids=] dub and find the film's dub well below the standards of what's expected in 2019 thanks to needless rewrites and replacing vocal themes. At the same time those who enjoyed the original [=4Kids=] dub will be annoyed by the numerous changes to Mewtwo's character and how most of the cast retains the divisve voice actors that have been around since [=4Kids=] lost the license. Those who enjoy the dub claim that it represents a good enough middle ground between both, faithfully translating the intended message and characterization of the Japanese version but retaining some of the quips and quirks that fans loved about the 4Kids dub of the original.

* UncertainAudience: As summarized by Dogasu [[https://dogasu.bulbagarden.net/comparisons/movies/mov22.html in his review]] of the English dub the dubbers appeared to have trouble deciding who the film is made for. Those who want a faithful recreation of the Japanese version will groan at the lines lifted from the [=4Kids=] dub and find the film's dub well below the standards of what's expected in 2019 thanks to needless rewrites and replacing vocal themes. At the same time those who enjoyed the original [=4Kids=] dub will be annoyed by the numerous changes to Mewtwo's character and how most of the cast retains the divisve voice actors that have been around since [=4Kids=] lost the license. Those who enjoy the dub claim that it represents a good enough middle ground between both, faithfully translating the intended message and characterization of the Japanese version but retaining some of the quips and quirks that fans loved about the 4Kids dub of the original.

* UncertainAudience: As summarized by Dogasu [[https://dogasu.bulbagarden.net/comparisons/movies/mov22.html in his review]] of the English dub the dubber has trouble deciding who the film is made for. Those who want a faithful recreation of the Japanese version will groan at the lines lifted from the [=4Kids=] dub and find the film's dub well below the standards of what's expected in 2019 thanks to needless rewrites and replacing vocal themes. At the same time those who enjoyed the original [=4Kids=] dub will be annoyed by the numerous changes to Mewtwo's character and how most of the cast retains the divisve voice actors that have been around since [=4Kids=] lost the license. Those who enjoy the dub claim that it represents a good enough middle ground between both, faithfully translating the intended message and characterization of the Japanese version but retaining some of the quips and quirks that fans loved about the 4Kids dub of the original.

* UncertainAudience: As summarized by Dogasu [[https://dogasu.bulbagarden.net/comparisons/movies/mov22.html in his review]] of the English dub the dubber has trouble deciding who the film is made for. Those who want a faithful recreation of the Japanese version will groan at the lines lifted from the [=4Kids=] dub and find the film's dub well below the standards of what's expected in 2019 thanks to needless rewrites and replacing vocal themes. At the same time those who enjoyed the original [=4Kids=] dub will be annoyed by the numerous changes to Mewtwo's character and how most of the cast retains the divisve voice actors that have been around since [=4Kids=] lost the license

* UncertainAudience: As summarized by Dogasu [[https://dogasu.bulbagarden.net/comparisons/movies/mov22.html in his review]] of the English dub the dubber has trouble deciding who the film is made for. Those who want a faithful recreation of the Japanese Version will groan at the lines lifted from the 4kids dub and find the film's dub well below the standards of what's expected in 2019 thanks to needless rewrites and replacing vocal themes. At the same time those who enjoyed the original 4kids dub will be annoyed by the numerous changes to Mewtwo's character and how most of the cast retains the divisve Voice Actors that have been around since 4kids lost the license

** Many fans were upset when it was revealed that the voice cast from the Pokemon 4Kids dub won't be reprising their roles as the main cast in this movie's English dub like they did in the original movie. What also puzzled fans is that the movie's dub had no trouble with bringing in voice actors that did voice work in the Pokemon 4Kids dub like Creator/DanGreen and Creator/LisaOrtiz, and ''Anime/YuGiOhTheDarkSideOfDimensions'' didn't have trouble with bringing back the voice cast from the ''Anime/YuGiOh'' 4Kids dub. This was likely due to contractual obligations, as ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' never switched English dub casts in the US. In the end, this movie's English dub done by TPCI got a lot of praise in its own right, although some fans of the 4Kids dub found it to be less entertaining without the original voice cast.

%% Don't add Base-Breaking Character or Broken Base until six months after the work's release.
* ContestedSequel: [[ToughActToFollow Coming after]] [[Anime/PokemonThePowerOfUs one of the best anime movies in the series]], as well as [[Film/PokemonDetectivePikachu a live-action movie]] that defied VideoGameMoviesSuck and is considered one of the best things to come out of the franchise, ''Evolution'' has split the base in half for (intentionally) being the ''least'' original movie in the series. Fans of the movie praise its animation and the high-quality, more faithful English dub that preserves many nuances lost in the 4Kids dub of ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie'', while detractors criticize that very same animation for its UncannyValley qualities and lambast the movie for [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks being an unimaginative remake of the original]], to the point that not even the English dub adjustments make it feel very different.

** The English dub is noticeably a more direct translation of the Japanese script in terms of the dialogue. As a result, several noticeable errors, like Team Rocket misnaming the Pokémon clones[[note]]Which, admittedly, some viewers just assumed was the Rockets being stupid like normal[[/note]], the one trainer saying "Pigeotto" instead of "Pigeot," and the muddying of the central message of the movie from the original version of the movie's dub are fixed in this version. Unfortunately, they cut the opening 10 minutes that shows Mewtwo's origins again, but at least the rest of the film has a better dub now.

* UncertainAudience: [[As summarized by Dogasu https://dogasu.bulbagarden.net/comparisons/movies/mov22.html]] in his review of the English dub the dubber has trouble deciding who the film is made for. Those who want a faithful recreation of the Japanese Version will groan at the lines lifted from the 4kids dub and find the film's dub well below the standards of what's expected in 2019 thanks to needless rewrites and replacing vocal themes. At the same time those who enjoyed the original 4kids dub will be annoyed by the numerous changes to Mewtwo's character and how most of the cast retains the divisve Voice Actors that have been around since 4kids lost the license

** While Creator/IkueOtani has always been phenomenal with her performance as Pikachu, [[spoiler: Her performance during when Pikachu is [[DeathWail crying over Ash's death]] is just ''devastating'', as this is one of the few times where Pikachu expresses more than just its typical "Pika" lines, and it really is devastating for fans that never have seen Pikachu this distressed.]]
* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: The main complaint of the film is that it's a near-identical remake, just as an AllCGICartoon. Barring a few touch-ups, the Japanese version neither adds nor fixes anything from the original. Despite the improved English dubs leading to a more coherent final product, the movie has a 40% rating on Website/RottenTomatoes,[[note]]which, to be fair, is higher than the original's English dub and most other ''Pokémon'' movies except ''[[Anime/PokemonThePowerOfUs The Power of Us]]'' and ''[[Film/PokemonDetectivePikachu Detective Pikachu]]''[[/note]] with this trope being the main criticism of the film.

* TearJerker: [[spoiler:Pikachu trying and failing to revive Ash near the end is perhaps ''worse'' to handle in this version compared to the original. If you thought the tears were sad enough, good luck even attempting to keep your eyes dry when you hear Pikachu's [[DeathWail wails of despair]].]]

** The film omits the Amber sequence used in almost every version of the first film. This is disliked because it leaves no explanation for how [[spoiler:tears bring Ash back]] and because Mewtwo still references Amber.

* TaintedByThePreview: The film's first full trailer confirms it as a scene-by-scene CG remake of the original film. This upset many fans who were expecting the film to either have a new/updated story or take place in the ''Anime/PokemonIChooseYou'' continuity. The CG on the human characters has also been met with a rather unimpressed reaction from fans.

* SugarWiki/SuperlativeDubbing: The English dub uses a new script, faithfully based on the Japanese original and retaining its score while harkening back to the nostalgic (if contested) original dub on multiple occasions. Much like with ''Anime/DragonBallKai'' and ''Anime/YuGiOhTheDarkSideOfDimensions'', it lives up to the standards of modern anime dubs and provides for a different viewing experience from the first movie's dub - justifying the movie's existence more than the Japanese original, for which the script remains largely the same. A handful of 4Kids voice actors, most notably Creator/DanGreen as Mewtwo itself, reprise their roles (though from Mewtwo Returns).

** The dub retains Shinji Miyazaki's score, which results in the climactic battle of the Pokémon clones VS the originals having more appropriate music as opposed to the "Brother, My Brother" song from the original.

* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: The main complaint of the film is that it's a near-identical remake, just as an AllCGICartoon. Barring a few touch-ups, the Japanese version neither adds nor fixes anything from the original. Despite the improved English dubs leading to a more coherent final product, the movie has a 40% rating on Website/RottenTomatoes,[[note]]which, to be fair, is higher than the original's English dub and most other ''Pokémon'' movies except Anime/PokemonThePowerOfUs and Film/PokemonDetectivePikachu[[/note]] with this trope being the main criticism of the film.

* SugarWiki/SuperlativeDubbing: The English dub uses a new script, faithfully based on the Japanese original and retaining its score while harkening back to the nostalgic (if contested) original dub on multiple occasions. Much like with ''Anime/DragonBallKai'' and ''Anime/YuGiOhTheDarkSideOfDimensions'', it lives up to the standards of modern anime dubs and provides for a different viewing experience from the first movie's dub - justifying the movie's existence more than the Japanese original, for which the script remains largely the same. A handful [=4Kids=] voice actors, most notably Creator/DanGreen as Mewtwo itself, reprise their roles (though from Mewtwo Returns).

** The English dub is noticeably a more direct translation of the Japanese script in terms of the dialogue. As a result, several noticeable errors, like Team Rocket misnaming the Pokémon clones, the one trainer saying "Pigeotto" instead of "Pigeot," and the muddying of the central message of the movie from the original version of the movie's dub are fixed in this version. Unfortunately, they cut the opening 10 minutes that shows Mewtwo's origins again, but at least the rest of the film has a better dub now.