A live-action Pokemon movie

[Kitten Champion]

So, since we've started a conversation on the vague future of Wheel of Time's television adaptation, I felt the news that has been out and about for a little while that Nintendo's instigated a (secret?) bidding war over the live-action film rights to their Pokemon franchise should be raised. At the moment Legendary, Warner Brothers, and Sony are vying for the property and I doubt whichever finally gets them will be sitting on them for too long.

Which leads to a number of potentially interesting issues of how one goes about adapting the world of Pokemon to live action, both depicting Pokemon convincingly next to actual humans and in terms of a narrative that would... satisfy the fan-base.

I think the major issue I can foresee is the more realistic the setting is the harder it is to divorce the damage inflicted upon the Pokemon over the course of the battles. The hand-wave of - regardless of what damage a Pokemon has received all that will happen to them is they'll lay prone with exaggerated anime passed-out expressions - depends on comfortable use of cartoon-physics throughout, without which it could be pretty uncomfortable.

It's on my mind because I've been going through a lot of things Pokemon recently in response to my friends' bid to start a related table top game, part of this was going through Pokemon Origin which broadly provides a narrative for the original Pokemon Red/Blue and has a couple of scenes where the Pokemon are clearly in serious pain and it's kind of hard to watch without wincing because that interpretation of the world was far less relenting than the usual show.

Anyways, thoughts?

[Professor Gnoll]

I think it's a terrible idea. The pokemon would look startlingly ugly, the costumes would come off as ridiculous, and it probably just wouldn't work in general.
Now, a 3D animated movie...

[Ninja_Prawn]

it's kind of hard to watch without wincing because that interpretation of the world was far less relenting than the usual show.

Anyways, thoughts?

You know, I would watch a darker/edgier Pokemon film. Like the first part of this 'trailer'. There's a lot of dramatic potential there.

[Frozen_Feet]

Yes, I do agree Pokemon would have great potential for a horror or disaster movie.

Cloverfield: Tentacruel edition.

[Prime32]

What country would it even be set in?

[Traab]

Yeah im not sure how live action would work. This is very much so an anime style of show, and a kid version at that. Making it live action would turn a kids show into Deadpool: Cockfighting Edition. Way too much blood and violence and sentient animals getting badly hurt.

[BeerMug Paladin]

It would be amusing to me if the movie came with a checklist of all the pokemon, and some of them were cleverly hidden in the backgrounds of the various scenes. Gotta see 'em all!

[Aotrs Commander]

It would be amusing to me if the movie came with a checklist of all the pokemon, and some of them were cleverly hidden in the backgrounds of the various scenes. Gotta see 'em all!

You realise that nowadays, you'd have to basically have an average of a Pokémon every 7.5 seconds (in a 90-minute film) to do that...! (Not counting formes...)

[Ninja_Prawn]

You realise that nowadays, you'd have to basically have an average of a Pokémon every 7.5 seconds (in a 90-minute film) to do that...! (Not counting formes...)

Considering more than one can be one screen at a time, I don't think this would be that hard. Especially if you had a few sweeping wide-angle shots to establish scenes, used pokemon logos for shop signs, had some big three-on-three trainer battles... I'm sure it could be done.

[Lord Raziere]

*is a pokemon fan*

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.........

wrrryyyyyyyyyyy.........

live action anime stuff never ends well. that and if the plot of the movie is horrible.....ugh......I mean the pokemon movies, while their plots are basic, they always make sense and do their basic plot right....this is probably going to grimdark it, which is not a sure thing whether it will work or not, and then turn it into something ugly and slow, and bluuuuuuuuuugh.......

I'm expecting the worst, protect me, my Garcario avatar!

[Kantaki]

You realise that nowadays, you'd have to basically have an average of a Pokémon every 7.5 seconds (in a 90-minute film) to do that...! (Not counting formes...)

Eh, if you place some of them as statues and/or paintings (or something like that), in the background or during the credits it should work.

But seriously? A live-action pokémon movie? That doesn't sound like a very good idea. Sure, it could work, but I think it would be difficult to make it look "right".

[Kitten Champion]

What country would it even be set in?

They could invent one for the sake of the movie, they could use the one they deem most iconic, or they could use the one that last appeared in whatever the most recent iteration of the game is by the time of the movie's release for the sake of synergy across the brands.

Though the broader issue is how American is it going to be? Pokemon is pretty internationalized at this point and the anime-medium has generally worked in its favour by making the rather Japanese-inspiried universe still fit comfortably into various other cultural contexts, both in terms of the actual anime and the games' sprites over the various generations. Bringing actual people into this setting would be a really challenging creative decision, as you'll be making it out that the Poke-verse is now this... whatever that is.

[Legato Endless]

What country would it even be set in?

Whatever stylized metropolitan area Game Freak wants to spotlight this time. Why change what works? Frankly that alone might be worth the price of admission, as seeing an urban fantasy reimagining could be a nice alteration to the...less than stellar fantasy cinematic exploits of late.

The only real hurtle is whether you can stylize the Mons to make them remain cute and slightly believable.

*is a pokemon fan*

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.........

wrrryyyyyyyyyyy.........

live action anime stuff never ends well.

Old Boy says Hi. City Hunter isn't too shabby either.

I think the major issue I can foresee is the more realistic the setting is the harder it is to divorce the damage inflicted upon the Pokemon over the course of the battles. The hand-wave of - regardless of what damage a Pokemon has received all that will happen to them is they'll lay prone with exaggerated anime passed-out expressions - depends on comfortable use of cartoon-physics throughout, without which it could be pretty uncomfortable.

I doubt we'll actually get a more realistic setting. Bloodless carnage will be the order of the day; audiences are so used to hyper-stylized fighting as it is. Either a Super Sentai-eque everyone is fine and things just aren't lethal or so overtly choreographed the possibility drops out of the audience's mind. Yeah, commentators here might notice and cringe, but I doubt the average viewer will.

[Noldo]

Without knowing any Pokemon lore, could they go with the easy and lazy "it is a game/simulation" approach in order to avoid bloody fight?

Just make the creatures avatars/programs and you can have the handlers going all in in fight without concerning yourself with carnage to the creatures?

[Kantaki]

Without knowing any Pokemon lore, could they go with the easy and lazy "it is a game/simulation" approach in order to avoid bloody fight?

Just make the creatures avatars/programs and you can have the handlers going all in in fight without concerning yourself with carnage to the creatures?

That would be Digimon.

[Yuki Akuma]

Without knowing any Pokemon lore, could they go with the easy and lazy "it is a game/simulation" approach in order to avoid bloody fight?

Just make the creatures avatars/programs and you can have the handlers going all in in fight without concerning yourself with carnage to the creatures?

Most of the focus of Pokemon, narratively, is the emotional bond between a trainer and his Pokemon. So, unless they were sentient programs, it wouldn't really feel very 'Pokemon'. And... if they were sentient programs, well, we get right back to the 'problem' of making feeling creatures fight each other for fun.

That would be Digimon.

No it wouldn't.

It would be Megaman NT.

[Kitten Champion]

Without knowing any Pokemon lore, could they go with the easy and lazy "it is a game/simulation" approach in order to avoid bloody fight?

Just make the creatures avatars/programs and you can have the handlers going all in in fight without concerning yourself with carnage to the creatures?

A large part of the appeal of the franchise is the Pokemon are a part of their world, that they form much of its ecology and are living, breathing creatures with their own unique traits and personalities that humans can raise and form lasting emotional bonds with. It's a central theme for much of the franchise's narratives, both in the anime and within the games, and they try various ways of incorporating it into the game's mechanics and features as well.

It's rather Miyazaki-esque in its approach to Nature, of which the Pokemon are typically symbolic of.

Plus, I can't see people who are at all invested in the franchise wanting a live-action movie that comes down to simply watching people play a more elaborate version of the game.

[Kantaki]

No it wouldn't.

It would be Megaman NT.

Yeah okay, I shouldn't just post the first thing that comes mind.

Of course Digimon are just as much partners to their humans as Pokémon. I just thought about it because they are simulations (or started as such) in some parts of the franchise. And because it is a bit deadlier than Pokémon.

But don't the main characters in Megaman NT have a strong bond with their A.I.s too? Or am I thinking about something else?

[Ninja_Prawn]

Plus, I can't see people who are at all invested in the franchise wanting a live-action movie that comes down to simply watching people play a more elaborate version of the game.

You'd think that, but then again, Twitch Plays Pokemon has nearly 71 million views.

If I were writing/directing it, I would avoid 'virtual' Pokemon. It would be too much of a break from the canon for me.

[Legato Endless]

You'd think that, but then again, Twitch Plays Pokemon has nearly 71 million views.

If I were writing/directing it, I would avoid 'virtual' Pokemon. It would be too much of a break from the canon for me.

The psychological fantasy thriller of a wandering boy who sees demons, slave to the million voices in his head practically writes itself.