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Digimon: The Movie
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
| name = Digimon: The Movie
| image = digimonthemovie.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director =
| producer =
| screenplay =
| based_on =
| starring =
| music =
| cinematography = Shigeru Ando
| editing =
| studio =
| distributor = 20th Century Fox
| released =
| runtime = 88 minutes
| country =
| language = English
| budget = $5 million
| gross = $16.6 million
}}
'Digimon: The Movie' is a 2000 American-Japanese animated film adaptation, produced by Saban Entertainment and distributed by 20th Century Fox as part of the 'Digimon' franchise. The film used footage from the short films 'Digimon Adventure' (1999), 'Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!' (2000), and 'Digimon Adventure 02: Digimon Hurricane Landing!! / Transcendent Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals' (2000).
'Digimon: The Movie' had cut more than 40 minutes of scenes from the individual Japanese films to save time and introduced several changes in tone, dialogue, and plot. Owing to the number of changes made, it is considered an original work by the press. Upon release, the film received generally negative reviews from critics. Despite this, the film was a box office success, grossing over $16 million worldwide against a production budget of $5 million.
Plot
'Angela Anaconda' short
Angela Anaconda and her friends line up to watch 'Digimon: The Movie', but Nannette and her friends cut in line and Mrs. Brinks blocks her view in the screen. Angela imagines herself Digivolving into Angelamon to defeat Mrs. Brinks and Nannette, before the audience all realize they are in the wrong theater and leave.
Eight Years Ago
Tai and Kari Kamiya find a Digi-egg that appears from their computer, which hatches and Digivolves into Agumon. Agumon wanders into the night with Kari as Tai pursues them. The neighborhood watches as a Parrotmon hatches from a second Digi-egg in the sky. When Parrotmon attacks Tai and Kari, Agumon protects them by digivolving to Greymon. When Greymon is knocked out, Tai reawakens him with Kari's whistle and he defeats Parrotmon, but, following the battle, they both disappear. Those who witnessed this would later become the DigiDestined, children chosen to protect the Digital and real worlds.
Four Years Later
An infected Digi-egg appears on the Internet and hatches into a Digimon who devours computer code, causing chaos to the world's computer systems. Izzy and Tai are warned by Gennai and a boy from Colorado called Willis, who tells them to find a way to slow the Digimon down. Their Digimon, Agumon and Tentomon, enter the internet but are no match for the newly-Digivolved Infermon. Tai tries to recruit backup, but can only reach Matt and T.K., whose Digimon are also defeated by Infermon's final form, Diaboromon.
Diaboromon duplicates himself and infects the Pentagon's computers, launching nuclear missiles at Colorado and the DigiDestined's neighborhood which will impact in ten minutes. After WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon are defeated by the multitude of Diaboromon, Tai and Matt become digital and enter their computers. Through the collective power of everyone watching, WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon are revived and DNA Digivolve into Omnimon. Omnimon destroys the Diaboromon copies and Izzy, realizing that e-mails being sent in from people around the world watching on their computers have been slowing their Digimon down, redirects them to the original Diaboromon to freeze him in place long enough for Omnimon to destroy him. The missiles are disabled, but the same virus that created Diaboromon tracks down Willis and corrupts his Digimon, Kokomon.
Present Day
While visiting Mimi Tachikawa in New York City, T.K. and Kari witness a battle between Willis, Terriermon, and a corrupted Kokomon who tells Willis to "go back". Willis returns home to Colorado, followed by T.K. and Kari, who informs Davis, Yolei and Cody to meet them there.Davis, Yolei and Cody hitch-hike to Colorado, where they meet Willis and Terriermon on the way. Willis reveals his history with Diaboromon and that the same virus has infected Kokomon. Willis vows that he must confront Kokomon himself, but Terriermon and Davis offer him support and solidarity. In the final battle with Kokomon's Mega form, the DigiDestined are overpowered until Kari, T.K., Angemon and Angewomon intervene. Angewomon and Angemon release Golden Digi-Eggs to Davis and Willis, allowing Veemon and Terriermon to Golden Armor Digivolve to Magnamon and Rapidmon. Kokomon de-ages all the DigiDestined, and they realize that "go back" meant to go back in time to when the virus first attacked. The two Golden Digimon are swallowed by Kokomon and destroy the virus from within, killing Kokomon in the process. After bidding the DigiDestined farewell, Willis and Terriermon find Kokomon's Digi-egg on a beach.
Voice cast
Development
Background
Toei Animation had animation fairs every spring and summer with featurettes showcasing their current animated titles. The first 'Digimon' short film was 'Digimon Adventure', directed by Mamoru Hosoda in his directorial debut and released on March 6, 1999 for the Toei Animation Spring 1999 Animation Fair. The film grossed .
The second short film, 'Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!' was originally released on March 4, 2000 for the Toei Animation Spring 2000 Animation Fair and later served as the inspiration for director Mamoru Hosoda's 2009 film 'Summer Wars'. The film grossed . The film's ending theme song is by AiM.
was released on July 8, 2000 for the Toei Animation Summer 2000 Animation Fair. It was directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi. The film was screened in two parts, with 'Ojamajo Doremi #: The Movie' screening in between. The film grossed . The film's ending theme song is by AiM.
Writing
After the first two 'Pokmon' films, Fox wanted to replicate its success by having a theatrical feature for 'Digimon' as well. The only films produced for 'Digimon' at that time were 'Digimon Adventure' (1999), 'Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!' (2000), and 'Digimon Adventure 02: Part I: Digimon Hurricane Touchdown!!/Part II: Supreme Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals' (2000), which were all seasonal featurette films. As the three films were respectively 20, 40, and 60 minutes long, footage was condensed to fit 85 minutes. 'Digimon Adventure' was used as basis for the "Eight Years Ago" sequence, 'Our War Game!' in the "Four Years Later" sequence, and 'Digimon Hurricane Touchdown!! / Supreme Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals' in the "Present Day" sequence.
The last film included in the compilation, 'Digimon Hurricane Touchdown!! / Supreme Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals' was heavily cut, including a subplot featuring the older DigiDestined being captured and de-aged by Wendigomon, because Saban Entertainment lacked funding to produce a full two-hour movie. Alongside of that, "culturally awkward" Japanese elements are removed, and many North American jokes were written into the script. Prior to the release of 'Digimon: The Movie', the film led to a dispute between Saban Entertainment and the Screen Actors Guild. The Screen Actors Guild negotiated for actors contracted under them to be paid residuals over home video and subsequent television broadcasts, as they felt 'Digimon: The Movie' was considered an original work due to the dialogue deviating from the original script.
Writer Jeff Nimoy wanted to use the first two films in 'Digimon: The Movie' and release the third film separately as a television movie, but the idea was overruled and Fox insisted on having the third film in order to promote 'Digimon Adventure 02'. In order to connect the stories of the different movies together, Nimoy and Bob Buchholz rewrote 'Digimon Hurricane Touchdown!! / Supreme Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals' to include Willis being involved in Diaboromon's creation. Nimoy had been disappointed with this decision, and it was one of the factors that led him and Buchholz into leaving the writing team near the end of 'Digimon Adventure 02's run in North America. Originally, Nimoy had Tai narrate the movie, but as Tai did not make an appearance in the third part of the movie, he changed it to Kari. An early version of the official website listed Willis' name as his name in the Japanese version, Wallace, until it was changed to "Willis" in the final version. The film's theme song is the "Digi Rap", a remix of the theme song from the English version of 'Digimon Adventure'. The track is performed by Josh Debear under the name "M.C. Pea Pod" and Paul Gordon.
The 'Angela Anaconda' short at the beginning of the film was later re-released as an episode in the television series titled "Good Seats" on January 15, 2001, with all dialogue mentioning 'Digimon' removed.
Marketing and distribution
Taco Bell promoted 'Digimon: The Movie' the summer before the film's release via a summer partnership with the franchise from July 13, 2000 to September 9, 2000. Participating restaurants offered toys and other collectibles with purchase of their kids' meals. When the film debuted in domestic theaters, a limited edition "Digi Battle" trading card was given out with every admission, with a total of 12 cards obtainable.On March 20, 2019, The Walt Disney Company acquired the distribution rights to 'Digimon: The Movie' as part of their acquisition of 21st Century Fox (which reunited 20th Century Fox with the Fox Kids/Saban Entertainment library).
Reception
Box office
'Digimon: The Movie' opened at #5 in the box office (being shown in 1,825 theaters) and earned $4,233,304 on the opening weekend. The film's run ended on December 3, 2000 at #56 drawing in a weekend gross of $19,665 grossing a total of $9,631,153 domestically. The movie also drew in $1,567,641 in the UK after its release on February 16, 2001 and $2,200,656 in Germany the same year. It earned a total of $16,643,191, making it a minor box office success compared to its budget of $5 million.The international success of 'Digimon: The Movie' led Toshio Suzuki to contact Mamoru Hosoda to direct 'Howl's Moving Castle', though he later left the production due to creative differences.
Critical reception
The film received generally negative reviews by critics. According to the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 24% of critics have given the movie a positive review based on 41 reviews, with an average rating of 4/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "'Digimon' is better than 'Pokemon', but it's still a predictable movie with mediocre animation." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 20 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Lawrence van Gelder of 'The New York Times' describes the film as "noisy and ill-conceived", as it focused too much on "morphing monsters" and too little on "storytelling talent" and animation. Liam Lacey of 'The Globe and Mail' gave the film two stars, noting that the "scenes alternate between kitschy cuteness and spectacular violence, with only a nod toward plot, character development, and motivation". Paul Trandahl from 'Common Sense Media' gave the movie three stars, complimenting the film's visuals, but cited criticism in its lack of emotional attachment towards the characters and the plot alienating parents and newcomers.At the 2000 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, the film won the award for "Worst Achievement in Animation". However; the magazine 'Animage' conducted a list of the "Top 100" anime productions in January 2001, and 'Digimon: The Movie' placed 88th on list.
Soundtrack
'Music from the Motion Picture Digimon: The Movie' is the original motion picture soundtrack for the film, 'Digimon: The Movie', released September 19, 2000 on Maverick Records on CD and compact cassette. The film score was composed by Shuki Levy, Udi Harpaz and Amotz Plessner, and was performed by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.'Digimon: The Movie' end credits
See also
* Digimon
* Digimon Adventure
* Digimon Adventure 02
* Digimon Adventure tri.
* List of Digimon films
Notes
References
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