Japanese Title: Revival of the Ancient Digimon!!
Note: This movie is very much a Non-Serial Movie, as none of the events that take place have any effect on the main plot. While the movie aired between episode 14 and episode 15, it can’t be placed there for certain continuity reasons (see Non-Serial Movie below).
This movie was dubbed when Disney, having bought the rights to the Digimon anime dubbing from Saban, decided to finally have this movie dubbed (along with the three other movies that, at the time, had been released in Japan but remained undubbed). It finally premiered alongside the other two movies on Toon Disney's Jetix block in October 2005, three years after its original Japanese release.
As Takuya, Kouji, Izumi, Junpei, Tomoki, Bokomon, and Neemon ride a Trailmon through the desert, and when they decide to go find an oasis, Takuya and Kouji get into a little argument over Kouji’s inability to lighten up. The Trailmon suddenly runs into another dimension, with a bunch of Digimon around them fighting each other. They end up approaching what Bokomon identifies as the “Wandering Island”note , an island that moves between gaps in the Digital World’s dimension, and the group is sent flying onto it.
Takuya, Junpei, and Tomoki are woken up by a bunch of native Digimon, among them a Kotemon. They soon find a giant aircraft, and while Junpei looks for Izumi, he ends up chased by another. Takuya sees a statue of a large bird Digimon and Kotemon identifies it as Ornismon, the island’s guardian deity. Bokomon and Neemon point out a nearby mural, which depicts AncientGreymon and AncientGarurumon, two of the original Legendary Warriors and the ancestors of Takuya and Kouji’s Spirits. Bokomon delivers some bad news: nobody who’s ever found their way onto the Wandering Island has ever been able to return to the Digital World.
Before they can react to this, a bunch of Beast-type Digimon suddenly start attacking, performing a suicide attack when the Human-types hold their ground. The Beast-type Digimon’s leader Hippogriffomon appears and the Human-types chase him, but they’re held back by their leader, Darcmon, a pacifist who tries to get them to stop fighting. The Human-type army, lead by lieutenant Dionhyumon, charges forward anyway, and Darcmon laments the destruction.
Kouji and Izumi find themselves treated by a Bearmon, and when Kouji asks if there’s a battle going on, they’re interrupted by the attacking Human-type army. Bearmon’s older brother, Grizzmonnote , leads the Beast-type army as lieutenant, trying start a fight against Dinohyumon. Dinohyumon demands that Hippogriffomon show his face, but is forced to flee when the Beast-types use a cannon to wipe out the Human-type army. Hippogriffomon appears, saying that the only way for there to be justice is to destroy the Human clan.
Takuya’s group finally meets up with Kouji and Izumi, and they get in a fight over whether the Human or the Beast Digimon are evil. Takuya and Kouji’s fight begins to get physical before Bearmon and Kotemon tell them to stop and begin to cry, quickly joined by the other Digimon. Izumi asks Bearmon and Kotemon how they get along despite being from the Beast and Human-type clans, and they respond that they’re friends, asking the kids to keep it a secret from everyone.
Bearmon and Kotemon lead the group to an ancient ruin with a mural depicting Ornismon, and the Digimon pray to Ornismon to stop all the fighting. Bokomon finds some writing on the wall, but is unable to read it as it’s missing some parts. The only thing he can make out is that “DigiCode will awaken the wings of the Sea Bird”.
Outside the ruins, the kids wonder what it means, and Takuya believes that figure it out may stop the fighting. They’re caught by the Beast and Human armies, and as the Digimon plead them to stop, Takuya and Kouji can’t take it anymore and spirit evolve to Agnimon and Garmmon respectively to stop the fight. They succeed in halting the battle, but Dinohyumon and Grizzmon separate Kotemon and Bearmon, scolding for playing around with Digimon from the other clan. The kids watch in disgust as Kotemon and Bearmon are pulled apart, and Tomoki finds a piece of the ruins’ wall, finding something written on it.
At a plaza, Darcmon makes a speech, saying that although she would rather have the Human Digimon be peaceful, she can’t tolerate the violence anymore and commands them to fight. Dinohyumon asks Takuya if he’ll fight along with the Human clan, and Takuya, having made a plan with the others, says he’ll consider joining as AncientGreymon’s descendant. At the Beast clan’s meeting place, Hippogriffomon preaches a message of getting revenge on the Humans, and Grizzmon asks Kouji if he’ll evolve to Garmmon and fight alongside the Beasts as a descendant of AncientGarurumon. Kouji is about to refuse when Junpei appears and signals to him to go along with it, and Kouji says that he’ll fight with the Beast clan as he goes off to prepare for battle with Grizzmon.
Izumi, Junpei, and Tomoki sneak Kotemon and Bearmon to the ruins, where they have a happy reunion. Tomoki works on reassembling the missing parts of the ruins’ writing, hoping to find a way to stop the fighting, but when they finish assembling it and Bokomon is about to read it, the rumbling of the battle destroys it again and Bokomon is only able to make out “hatred” before it crumbles.
As the battle continues, Takuya and Kouji watch the destruction around them and, unable to take it, spirit evolve to Vritramon and Wolfmon to stop the fighting. The warriors stare in surprise, but Darcmon urges them to keep fighting while Hippogriffomon is mysteriously missing.
Tomoki reassembles the writing and Bokomon is finally able to read it in its full form: “hatred and bloodstained DigiCode will awaken the wings of the Sea Bird, leading to my revival”. Bokomon realizes that Ornismon isn’t a guardian deity of peace, and that his revival could lead to bad news. Junpei points out a marking on the wall, which has the same shape as Darcmon’s staff and Hippogriffomon’s necklace, and, finding it suspicious that the leaders of the two opposing sides have the same item, Izumi and Junpei go off to alert Takuya and Kouji while the rest stay behind to finish the mural. While Wolfmon and Vritramon struggle to keep themselves intact during the battle, Junpei and Izumi catch Darcmon running off and transforming into Hippogriffomon, and they realize that both leaders are in fact the same person.
As they have a hard time getting through the battle to Takuya and Kouji, Izumi and Junpei spirit evolve to Fairymon and Blitzmon, and create a spectacle large enough to bring the battle to a grinding halt. They reveal that Darcmon and Hippogriffomon are the same person in disguise and that the battle is staged in order to release Ornismon. With his deception revealed, Hippogriffomon slide evolves to Darcmon and raises her staff to the sky, causing the DigiEggs of the battle’s casualties to fly to the sky.
Darcmon tells her story: long ago, she ended up on the island and found some underground ruins, which had the prophecy of Ornismon’s revival and depicted how AncientGreymon and AncientGarurumon sealed him away. Darcmon decided to unseal Ornismon in the hopes of taking over the Digital World, and thus started the entire war just so she could collected the DigiCode of the deceased. She releases the code into the sky, causing the areas around the island to fall apart, and, seeing this, Tomoki spirit evolves to Chakmon to keep the destruction from reaching them. Ornismon emerges, and Chakmon joins up with Fairymon and Blitzmon to hold him off.
Darcmon hops onto Ornismon in order to start her conquest and changes into her true form, Murmukusmon. Bokomon identifies him as having the ability to transform into any other Digimon, and said that Murmukusmon was once sent into exile for his malice towards the Digital World. Wolfmon, Vritramon, Fairymon, Blitzmon, and Chakmon attack Murmukusmon and Ornismon, while the armies try to evacuate everyone.
Kotemon prays to AncientGreymon and AncientGarurumon to stop the fighting, despite the others saying that it’s useless since the two Digimon disappeared ages ago. The mural of AncientGreymon and AncientGarurumon begins to glow, and when Murmukusmon and Ornismon barges in, Kotemon throws himself into the attack to stop him. As everyone watches Kotemon’s DigiEgg fall to the ground, his voice pleads with everyone that they’re friends, and when Bearmon screams for him, AncientGreymon and AncientGarurumon appear.
Vritramon, Wolfmon, Blitzmon, Fairymon, and Chakmon charge against Murmukusmon and Ornismon, and Vritramon slide evolves to Agnimon and defeats Murmukusmon. AncientGreymon and AncientGarurumon, in turn, rise up and destroy Ornismon before disappearing.
Peace returns to the island, and Takuya and Kouji attribute their success to AncientGreymon, AncientGarurumon, and the Digimon children who only wanted the fighting to end. Bokomon arrives with Neemon and reveals that the island has actually landed in the normal Digital World, no longer needing to wander around. Over the credits, the DigiEggs of the fallen emerge from the water around the island, and Bearmon looks at a painted mural of everyone alongside Dinohyumon and Grizzmon. Kotemon, having finally been reborn, shares a reunion with Bearmon while his image is added to the mural.
Tropes
- Alternate Character Reading: The Japanese title of the movie reads "Revival of the Ancient Digimon", but the furigana over "Ancient Digimon" reads "Ornismon".
- Back from the Dead: Kotemon is shown revived in the credits, which didn't make it into the dub.
- Bears Are Bad News: Subverted with Grizzmon, who doesn't threaten the kids, but does hate the humanoid Digimon. Bearmon is also one of the younger Digimon who befriend the kids.
- Bloodless Carnage: It's a war between two different tribes of Digimon, but the worst that happens to anyone that's not an antagonist is being turned into a DigiEgg, which Digimon can easily recover from.
- Breath Weapon: The only attack that Ornismon uses. Murmukusmon also fires a purple energy blast from his mouth at one point.
- Children Are Innocent: Bearmon, Kotemon, and the various Fresh-level Digimon are all responsible for truly ending the fighting by summoning AncientGreymon and AncientGarurumon, simply because they wanted to be friends and have their respective villages stop fighting each other.
- Civil War: The movie's conflict is one instigated by Murmukusmon disguising himself as a Darcmon and a Hippogriffmon in order to revive Ornismon to take over the Digimon World. Nobody bar Murmukusmon himself seems to know what they're really fighting for until the chosen children expose him.
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: A lot of the panoramic island scenes and battle vehicles use CGI.
- Feathered Fiend: Ornismon takes the form of a giant demonic bird, and is prophesied to awaken because of hate and bloodshed to wreck havoc.
- Forbidden Friendship: Kotemon and Bearmon are friends despite respectively belonging to the human and beast factions, which are at war. Because of this, they're also the only ones trying to put a stop to the fighting.
- Hates Being Touched: Kouji's "don't touch me" comes up again for the first time since the TV series's second episode, though this time it's meant to show his disgust at the ongoing war.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Kotemon takes one of Ornismon's attacks to keep it from hitting Bearmon and the others and gets reverted to a Digi-Egg as a result.
- Improbable Infant Survival: Kotemon gets blasted by Ornismon, which turns him into a Digi Egg, but he comes back during the credits alive and well.
- Noodle Incident: We never find out how the kids, Bokomon, and Neemon end up riding a Trailmon through the desert.
- Non-Serial Movie: In the main series, by the time both Takuya and Kouji have their Beast Spirits and everyone else has access to their own Human Spirits, Bokomon's retrieved Seraphimon's egg and the kids are occupied with heading to the Rose Morning Star. Attempting to place the movie in the timeline after that results in requiring an explanation for several key characters' absences. Thus, this movie can't fit in continuity at all.
- Running Both Sides: Darcmon and Hippogriffomon, the two faction leaders, are different forms used by Murmukusmon.
- Say My Name: In a particularly sad part of the movie, Bearmon and Kotemon call out for one another while they're being forced back to their respective villages and are banned from playing with one another again. Bearmon also lets out one of these when Kotemon is turned into a DigiEgg.
- Skyward Scream: After Kotemon is turned into a DigiEgg, Bearmon lets out one of these combined with Say My Name. It ends up being what they need to finally summon the spirits of AncientGreymon and AncientGarurumon.
- Theme Music Withholding: In the English version, the Digimon Frontier theme isn't heard until the credits. This is likely due to the song's use in the previous three movies Disney had just dubbed, since Disney didn't have the rights to "Digimon are the Champions" for them.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Bokomon states that Murmukusmon is a shapeshifter.
