In last week’s “Don’t buy it: Pokémon 2000 aims to inspire another spending spree,” the film reviewer Mark Slutsky makes some rather ridiculous remarks about Pokémon. Being a rare adult Pokémon fan, I was rather insulted by his asinine comments about the film being “consumer oriented.” I found that Mr. Slutsky did not watch the movie while paying more than a rudimentary amount of attention to the plot. To properly criticize a movie based on a TV show, you have to watch the show for a few episodes, starting from the beginning. While it is true that most Pokémon can only say their names, there are exceptions to the “speaking rule.” For example, see Team Rocket’s Meowth in every episode after the first; Ghastly in the episode entitled “The Ghost of Maiden’s Peak;” and Slowking in P2K. Also, the movie should be reviewed as a movie, not just a kids’ movie. Many of the plots in Pokémon are too complex for children to understand (e.g. “Pikachu’s Goodbye,” Pokémon: The Movie) Pokémon is about friendship, not selling video games, toys and other merchandise. If adults would give the show a chance with an open mind, they would probably understand this.
—Anonymous