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Digimon: The Movie
Fox // PG // February 6, 2001
List Price: $24.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
"What better way to express friendship than to save your world?"
I'm not ashamed to admit it -- I'm a Digimon fan. Although my exposure to the series has pretty much been limited to Fox Kids' DVD collection of the first 13 episodes (which I've also reviewed), I enjoyed them enough that I thought about going to see the movie, which was making the rounds in the local second-run theater around the same time I received the first Digimon disc. Although I missed "Digimon: The Movie" theatrically, I anxiously awaited its inevitable arrival on video/DVD, though unfortunately, it turned out to not be worth the wait.
Preceding the feature is an Angela Anaconda short. For the uninitiated, "Angela Anaconda" is the creepily-animated tale of a young misfit with a peculiar manner of speaking. Angela constantly fantasizes about torturing her teacher and some of her classmates, notably the France-obsessed Nanette Manoir, who's a bit snotty, though hardly eeeevil. I didn't bother to jot down any actual dialogue, but expect four minutes of lines like this: "I'm going to watch Digimon on account of I watch it every day with my best friend, Gina Lash, smartest in the class, but the problem is that the first showing sold out, but I bought tickets in advance, so that problem is not a problem for me!" It seriously brings me to the verge of tears. A well-placed chapter stop keeps this from being too monstrous a pain. Of course, following that short is the agony of a hip-hop version of the classic Digimon theme song. I'm not sure how to best summarize the movie -- after watching it, all I'm left with is a digivolving virus that's fought repeatedly. Not particularly engaging, so I guess I'll babble forth about pretty much everything else.
The quality of the animation in "Digimon: The Movie" is rather poor, paling in comparison to its TV counterpart. Although the animation is much more fluid during action sequences than in the series, largely, characters are lacking in detail outside of the third and final segment, and the thickness of the lines used is wildly inconsistent. A friend of mine insists this is because part of the film was piecemealed from three Japanese Digimon movies, with haphazardly animated new scenes added in as filler. Colors often seem on the dull side, though perhaps that's only in comparison to the hyperkinetic hues of the series, and infrequently, shots are excessively soft. If I knew nothing of Digimon and someone handed me this disc, I'd have assumed it was from the mid-'80s, which is a severe disappointment. The pop-punk/ska heavy soundtrack doesn't fare much better, seeming grossly out of place, with not a single song well-suited to the accompanying scene. The dialogue and overall plot also aren't up to the standards of the show, and the teamwork so often seen in "Digimon" is nowhere to be found. Many of the original digidestined are given little more than cameos. As a fan, I wish I could say something a little more positive, but "Digimon: The Movie" is a disappointment on all fronts.
Video: Apparently a source of pride for Fox Kids, topping the list of 'bonus features' on the back of the case are those three hated words among DVDphiles, "pan and scan". Yes, "Digimon: The Movie" was hard-matted theatrically to 1.85:1, and this disc contains only a cropped version. The panning and scanning isn't even smooth; the image occassionally seems jittery, starting as early as flashback-Tai getting out of bed. For such a recent release, the amount of white specks on the print is surprising. I ranted earlier about the quality of the image, and I'm not sure what percentage of my complaints stem from the source material or if the authoring is to blame. Without reusing too many of the comments I made above, I'll sum it up by saying "not good".
Audio: "Digimon: The Movie" sounds better than it looks, athough that's admittedly hardly glowing praise. Along with English and Spanish captions/subtitles, "Digimon" can be experienced in Dolby Digital 5.1 (default) or Dolby Surround. The Angela Anaconda short is more or less in stereo, obviously not getting much of a remix for the big screen. The feature itself is, though not quite to that extent, similarly very front-heavy, with surrounds limited almost entirely to battle sequences, though, of course, those account for half of the film.
Supplements: Aside from the previously mentioned "pan and scan" version of the film (wheee!), the only extras are the video for the new-wave flavored Len tune "Kids of America" with animation so low-res and choppy that it looks like a blown-up Flash animation (and probably is), along with the theatrical trailer.
Conclusion: I can't offhand recall a single movie based on an animated television series that did its source material any justice. Look at what's out there -- G.I. Joe was already knee-deep in mediocrity after the mind-numbing "Rise, Serpentor! Rise!" five-parter, and the introduction of Cobra-La in the direct-to-video movie killed off what remaining interest I had. "Transformers: The Movie" took years of mythos and character development and tossed them out the window in the first few minutes, apparently preferring half-thought-out subplots that are never really fully explored. The movie that introduced She-Ra to the world, "The Secret of the Sword", though by far the least-worst of the ones I've mentioned, seemed like little more than a few episodes of the series on a larger screen. "Digimon: The Movie" follows in this proud tradition, content to suck some cash from its fan-base while offering little in return. "Digimon: The Movie" isn't a complete waste of time, but I wouldn't recommend this as anything more than a rental to anyone but the die-hard.
I'm not ashamed to admit it -- I'm a Digimon fan. Although my exposure to the series has pretty much been limited to Fox Kids' DVD collection of the first 13 episodes (which I've also reviewed), I enjoyed them enough that I thought about going to see the movie, which was making the rounds in the local second-run theater around the same time I received the first Digimon disc. Although I missed "Digimon: The Movie" theatrically, I anxiously awaited its inevitable arrival on video/DVD, though unfortunately, it turned out to not be worth the wait.
Preceding the feature is an Angela Anaconda short. For the uninitiated, "Angela Anaconda" is the creepily-animated tale of a young misfit with a peculiar manner of speaking. Angela constantly fantasizes about torturing her teacher and some of her classmates, notably the France-obsessed Nanette Manoir, who's a bit snotty, though hardly eeeevil. I didn't bother to jot down any actual dialogue, but expect four minutes of lines like this: "I'm going to watch Digimon on account of I watch it every day with my best friend, Gina Lash, smartest in the class, but the problem is that the first showing sold out, but I bought tickets in advance, so that problem is not a problem for me!" It seriously brings me to the verge of tears. A well-placed chapter stop keeps this from being too monstrous a pain. Of course, following that short is the agony of a hip-hop version of the classic Digimon theme song. I'm not sure how to best summarize the movie -- after watching it, all I'm left with is a digivolving virus that's fought repeatedly. Not particularly engaging, so I guess I'll babble forth about pretty much everything else.
The quality of the animation in "Digimon: The Movie" is rather poor, paling in comparison to its TV counterpart. Although the animation is much more fluid during action sequences than in the series, largely, characters are lacking in detail outside of the third and final segment, and the thickness of the lines used is wildly inconsistent. A friend of mine insists this is because part of the film was piecemealed from three Japanese Digimon movies, with haphazardly animated new scenes added in as filler. Colors often seem on the dull side, though perhaps that's only in comparison to the hyperkinetic hues of the series, and infrequently, shots are excessively soft. If I knew nothing of Digimon and someone handed me this disc, I'd have assumed it was from the mid-'80s, which is a severe disappointment. The pop-punk/ska heavy soundtrack doesn't fare much better, seeming grossly out of place, with not a single song well-suited to the accompanying scene. The dialogue and overall plot also aren't up to the standards of the show, and the teamwork so often seen in "Digimon" is nowhere to be found. Many of the original digidestined are given little more than cameos. As a fan, I wish I could say something a little more positive, but "Digimon: The Movie" is a disappointment on all fronts.
Video: Apparently a source of pride for Fox Kids, topping the list of 'bonus features' on the back of the case are those three hated words among DVDphiles, "pan and scan". Yes, "Digimon: The Movie" was hard-matted theatrically to 1.85:1, and this disc contains only a cropped version. The panning and scanning isn't even smooth; the image occassionally seems jittery, starting as early as flashback-Tai getting out of bed. For such a recent release, the amount of white specks on the print is surprising. I ranted earlier about the quality of the image, and I'm not sure what percentage of my complaints stem from the source material or if the authoring is to blame. Without reusing too many of the comments I made above, I'll sum it up by saying "not good".
Audio: "Digimon: The Movie" sounds better than it looks, athough that's admittedly hardly glowing praise. Along with English and Spanish captions/subtitles, "Digimon" can be experienced in Dolby Digital 5.1 (default) or Dolby Surround. The Angela Anaconda short is more or less in stereo, obviously not getting much of a remix for the big screen. The feature itself is, though not quite to that extent, similarly very front-heavy, with surrounds limited almost entirely to battle sequences, though, of course, those account for half of the film.
Supplements: Aside from the previously mentioned "pan and scan" version of the film (wheee!), the only extras are the video for the new-wave flavored Len tune "Kids of America" with animation so low-res and choppy that it looks like a blown-up Flash animation (and probably is), along with the theatrical trailer.
Conclusion: I can't offhand recall a single movie based on an animated television series that did its source material any justice. Look at what's out there -- G.I. Joe was already knee-deep in mediocrity after the mind-numbing "Rise, Serpentor! Rise!" five-parter, and the introduction of Cobra-La in the direct-to-video movie killed off what remaining interest I had. "Transformers: The Movie" took years of mythos and character development and tossed them out the window in the first few minutes, apparently preferring half-thought-out subplots that are never really fully explored. The movie that introduced She-Ra to the world, "The Secret of the Sword", though by far the least-worst of the ones I've mentioned, seemed like little more than a few episodes of the series on a larger screen. "Digimon: The Movie" follows in this proud tradition, content to suck some cash from its fan-base while offering little in return. "Digimon: The Movie" isn't a complete waste of time, but I wouldn't recommend this as anything more than a rental to anyone but the die-hard.
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