Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

georgehogg I am a fan of Pokemon, and I can literally say that this is the absolute worst TV adaptation of Pokemon I have seen! It is the very definition of style over substance, as the animation is very good, yet the story is absolutely horrifically told! The plot is basically I did this I did that I did this I did that Oh no it's a problem I did this I did that I did this I did that. Charmander evolved I caught this Pokemon I caught that Pokemon I beat this gaudy I beat that guy I did a bunch of other stuff that I will now awkwardly sum up in 30 seconds, of which could have actually been fleshed out properly and featured in the series. I know it's a mini-series, but why is it even a mini series? Why not just make it an actual show that consists of more that 4 episodes, as the game it's based on is so over plotted, that there is literally no way you can tell a good story in 4 twenty minute long episodes. I was dry hyped for this series, as I do not care for the currently running show and are daily praying for it to end, so I was hoping this could replace it with something fresh, but I guess that would have required actual EFFORT. It's shocking how little they cared. At least the actual series tries to make good characters (and fails, but that's irrelevant). Origins is just a bunch of one-dimensional characters that stay the same from point a to b. I was majorly let down, but if you like it then that's fine, watch it. I don't care.

Ben Scribner I'd like to think of myself as an Animation connoisseur, and this is definitely a work of art. I've loved the game ever since I was a kid, but that being aside the animation in this series is astounding. Let's be honest, the regular Pokémon show is a lot of things, but animation is not a strong point. The characters are static and choppy. And even in the intense scenes they don't quite give you the level of excitement it should deserve. But this show is different. The camera moves with the Pokémon in battle. The Pokémon have weight, they move around believably. They move, bend, stretch, you can see tension in their muscles. I found myself being really drawn in. You just got excited! It made Pokémon so much more real to me, which in any animation is a good thing. Seeing Charizard like that makes me fall in love with Pokémon all over again. Here's a spoiler: look forward to that last scene with Mewtwo. It's AMAZING!I also loved the little changes they made, like giving Pokemon real animal sounding cries instead of just saying their name. The only thing stopping me from putting a 10 on it was story. I loved the story, but it still felt like a regular Pokémon story sometimes. I loved how they kept it with the game though!They gotta make more like this!

Emphinix The very first time I played Pokemon I was about 13 years old and the first game I played was Pokemon Blue, then I played the Special Pikachu Edition which was a tribute to the anime, but had little in common with it. The character of Red is very similar to his gaming counterpart, but he is not as stupid and idiotic as Ash is in the anime. Blue is similar in the games as well, but he doesn't have that jackass personality as Gary Oak in the anime, and has no cheerleaders cheering him on.At first I thought that it was gonna be as boring as the anime. Truth is, the anime WAS boring after Johto Journeys and Ash has barely won any tournaments except for one in the anime. An interesting thing in this mini-series is that the Pokemon don't talk unlike in the anime when Pikachu says "Pika pika".The Team Rocket of this short is faithful to the team in the games and have absolutely nothing to do with the two bumbling morons from the anime. Professor Oak sounds a lot better than in the anime as well. Most battles were awesome especially the one at the end which I will NOT mention. That is for all of you to see, not for me to tell.This is EXACTLY what the anime should have been like, because unlike Ash, Red was more determined and smarter. For old Pokemon fans, this is the BEST thing to see.

MechaWingZero I'll admit, I may be biased because I don't like the Pokemon anime in the least. However, the Pokemon Red Version was my first GameBoy game ever. I was only 7-8 years old, and I remember being very confused as to why the plot line for the show was so different from the game. I later got the Pokemon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition game, which was marketed as having some touches that were intended to be more faithful to the show, but in reality, even the Yellow version has only little in common with the anime show.(And yes, I do regard Pokemon Yellow as one of the greatest hand-held games of all time, with only two minor drawbacks. The first of these being the inclusion of the way-weird Jesse and James, and the second being that Pikachu's cry was altered to saying its name rather than the original cry that Pikachu has in Pokemon Red and Blue. I do very much like the other changes, such as improved artwork and the interaction with Pikachu.) When I grew out of liking the show in a few years, my parents were kind of confused why I still played the games so much and never seemed to move past them. Little did they realize that comparing the Pokemon Games to the show is like comparing apples and oranges.(And frankly, I really don't even like the word "Pokemon" as a title for the games and I wish the games were just called "Pocket Monsters," come on, that's not so hard to say. Partly because it's just a better sounding name in my opinion, but also partly because the games should be very distinguished from what aired on Kids WB on February 13th, 1999. And just in case you didn't know, yes, the games came before the television show. You probably already knew that if you're reading this review though.) The Pokemon Origins TV Special is Pokemon Red and Green (Blue in the USA) adapted into an anime. The differences in plot are only minor and are probably only even there in the interest of making everything fit into four short episodes. Interestingly, each of the four episodes has a different director, and they all do a very good job. *Very Minor Spoiler Alert!* There also happens to be an ode to the newest generation towards the end.*End of Very Minor Spoiler*Red is a likable enthusiastic protagonist (very unlike Ash) and seems to be a good representation of the eleven-year-old Pokemon league champion that we all remember, albeit now he finally talks. Green (the Rival) is very similar to how he was games, but maybe just a hair less obnoxious (which isn't saying much, but he doesn't say "Smell ya later").The animation is top notch, the recreation of the towns and settings from the GameBoy games is superb, and they even went above and beyond with the cool intro sequences of a GameBoy selection screen, the HP bars as Pokemon are battling, and the fact that the Pokemon don't say their names out loud as their cry, but instead make noises like they do in the games. All of these things are to be commended. You are really given a sense of how different the characters and worlds of Red and "Ash" truly are.The only depressing thing that keeps this from getting a perfect 10/10 score is the fact that it's only a television special, and not a full on anime series. Although this special does a fantastic job of summarizing the plot in four twenty-five minute episodes, this time constraint means they have to skip over a lot of parts of the games that would have been so fun to see. At the beginning of the second, third and fourth episodes, we see a brief summary of these events that those of us who grew up on the games are familiar with. Merely stating that such things happened just isn't quite enough, I would've loved to see these things played out, especially if it had been done with an equal amount of skill as the parts they did elaborate on. And worst of all, this results in there having to be a few minor plot changes from the games to make it fit the time block as I mentioned earlier.But I won't let that stop me from being delighted. Who knows? This is the first review on IMDb, but maybe this will catch on. Could we possibly be treated to a similar special about the generation II games (Gold and Silver)? That would be fantastic! In conclusion, may Red be known as the Pokemon League Champion, NOT Ash!