Movie Stats:
Japanese Movie #2: "Revelation Lugia"
English Movie #2:  "The Power of One"
Japanese Release Date:  July 17th, 1999
American Release Date:  July 21st, 2000
Important Characters:  Gelardan (Lawrence III), Fleura (Melody), captain (Maren), Yodel (Carol)
Important Places:  Earthia Island (Shamouti Island), Mandarin Island (not mentioned)

"Do not disturb the God of Fire, the God of Thunder, or the God of Ice lest the heavens and the earth become angry and the world will head toward destruction. The God of the Sea will appear to save the world from destruction it will not be able to stop it. A great trainer will appear and be the only one capable of quelling the gods' wrath." After hearing this legend a Collector named Gelardan sets out in his flying fortress to capture the three Gods – Fire, Thunder, and Freezer – in order to draw out the God of the Sea, Lugia, and add it to his collection. As the Collector goes around catching the legendary Pokémon, Satoshi and his friends arrive at Earthia Island where they're told about a way to save the world from the coming destruction. After Satoshi and his friends free the two legendary bird Pokémon that Gelardan was able to catch the legendary Pokémon Lugia appears! The God of the Sea fights the other Pokémon while Satoshi goes around and gathers the last of the three treasures needed to bring the fighting to a close. The treasures are gathered, a special song is played, and the legendary birds return to their domains and the world is saved from danger.

---

Thoughts
Pokémon The First Movie "Mewtwo Strikes Back" has gotten a reputation for being one of the most heavily altered Pokémon dubs ever released. And while that reputation is very much deserved, its follow-up -- Pokémon The Movie 2000 -- is actually just as bad, if not worse.

I will be very clear; Revelation Lugia (the Japanese version) and The Power of One (the English version) are two completely different films. They may share most of the same visuals, sure, but that's pretty much where the similarities between the two end. When it comes to script rewrites, a standard episode of 4Kids' dub of the Pokémon TV series might have anywhere between 30% to 70% of its dialogue rewritten, depending on who's adapting the script that week. But with this movie? That number shoots up to 90%, maybe even 95%. Entire conversations get completely rewritten, others have important details removed / added, new plotlines are added / removed...the entire movie is just one rewrite after another.

The comparison you're about to read ended up being more or less a transcription of the entire movie. I tried to pare things down as best I could to make this at least somewhat readable but there are just too much changes for me to edit this down even further. I hope you like reading because this is going to be a long one.

Fire, Thunder, and Freezer all keep their Japanese voices.

Region One Cropping
So the United States had this problem in the late 1990s / early 2000s where many of the movies released on home video would only ever get "fullscreen" releases. "Fullscreen," back in those days, meant taking a 16:9 video and cropping it down to 4:3 in order to fill up the giant boxy TVs that were the standard at the time. People really hated the idea of black bars on the top and bottom of their screens, you see, and so what film companies would do is they'd simply lop off the left and right sides of the image in order to force a "full"-screen presentation.

Unfortunately, all eight of the 4Kids-era Pokémon movies fell into the "we will only release this in Fullscreen" category of release. And so for about a decade or so the only version of this movie 4Kids sold to fans in the U.S. was one that was cropped to 4:3.

The results of that cropping can be seen below. The original Japanese home video release is on the left while the North American DVD release is on the right; click on each image to see a larger version.

In scenes like this one, entire characters (in this case, Kenji) get cropped out completely.
The film was clearly composited with widescreen in mind, making the cropped-to-fullscreen versions virtually unintelligible.
Sometimes the people in charge of the home video release would realize how truly awful this looks and try to do a pan-and-scan to at least give viewers some taste of the full picture, but despite their best efforts they were never able to fit all three members of the trio's faces on the screen at the same time.
You can only barely see the two islands on the ends here in the cropped version.
Half of Kenji and all of Fleura get removed from the scene here.

It wasn't until 2009 -- nearly a decade after the movie was released! -- that fans in the U.S. could finally purchase this movie in a format that didn't crop out roughly 40% of the image. Thankfully modern day releases of this movie are in its original 16:9 ratio, but for a significant portion of this movie's life that was very much not the case.

Music Edit
The background music gets completely replaced for the second movie in a row.


The music replacement in the first movie hurt because 4Kids took a fantastic soundtrack and swapped it all out with music that was just kind of there, but the replacement in the second movie manages to somehow be even worse. A big part of this film is the music -- particularly, Fleura's / Lugia's song -- and so replacing that with similar (because it still has to match the animation, somewhat) but different music hurts the movie even more. Gelardan's chillingly cool theme music is replaced, all the thrilling action and battle music is replaced, everything -- including the 22 pieces that were never released on CD in Japan -- is just gone.

The only piece of music to survive the transition from the Japanese version to the English dub is the Rocket trio's motto theme. Literally everything else is scrapped entirely.

As to why the music gets replaced...well, it's the same crap as before. "We think our music is better, Shinji Miyazaki's music doesn't work for American audiences somehow, we love getting royalty money from overseas dubs, bla bla bla." And it's just terrible, y'know? I love all of Miyazaki's soundtracks, of course, but I felt like he did a particularly excellent job on this movie and so to see his work replaced with...whatever this is, it's just so heartbreaking.

To 4Kids' credit, they do at least allow there to be some scenes in this film where there's no background music playing at all, something they had been avoiding in their dub of the TV series. But even that small mercy is rare -- there are still plenty of times where 4Kids has music droning on in the background when there wasn't anything there originally, just because.

Dialogue Edit
As I alluded to earlier, the overwhelming majority of this comparison is going to be me talking about how 4Kids essentially rewrote the entire movie. The opening credits say The Power of One was "written by TAKESHI SHUDO" but that's extremely misleading; Mr. Shudo's script is nothing like what's presented in the English dub.


So the very first script edit I absolutely have to address is the prophecy, aka the very first line of dialogue in the film:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ジラルダン　「”火の神　雷の神　氷の神に触れるべからず。されば天地怒り世界 は破滅に向かう。海の神破滅を救わんと現れんされど世界の破滅を防ぐことならず。すぐれたる操り人現れ神々の怒り鎮めん限り”…私の望みは火の神でも雷の 神でも氷の神でもない。海の…神」	Gelardan:  "Disturb not the God of Fire, the God of Thunder, or the God of Ice lest the heavens and the earth become angry and the world heads toward destruction. The God of the Sea will appear to stop the destruction but will not succeed unless a great trainer appears to quell the gods' wrath.'...It's not the God of Fire or the God of Lightning or the God of Ice I'm after. It's the God...of the Sea."	Lawrence III:  "'Disturb not the harmony of fire, ice, or lightning lest these titans wreak destruction upon the world in which they clash. Though the waters' Great Guardian shall arise to quell the fighting, alone its song will fail, lest the earth turn to ash. O Chosen One. Into thine hands bring together all three, their treasures combined, tame the Beast of the Sea.' Now it...begins."

Alright, let's break this down:

• The "God of ___" naming from the original is replaced, at least implicitly, with "Titan of ___." While the English version of the legend itself doesn't actually call them by these names, various other characters throughout the rest of this film will refer to the God of Fire as the "Titan of Fire," the God of Lightning as the "Titan of Lightning," and the God of Ice as the "Titan of Ice." Now there are examples of the word "God" being used in G-rated American films in the past, and the phrase "Oh my God" can even be heard several times in one of the extras on the Pokémon The Movie 2000 DVD itself. But I imagine referring to Pokémon themselves as "gods" was probably seen as an unwise decision, especially with how hard the religious right was going after Pokémon at the time.
• The God of the Sea, meanwhile, is not referred to as the "Titan of the Sea," as one might expect, and is instead referred to as the "the waters' Great Guardian."
  
• "The earth turn to ash" part is added to the 4Kids version to force a connection between this ancient prophecy and the name of the movie's main protagonist. This connection, as we'll see again and again throughout the rest of this movie, does not exist in the Japanese original at all.
  
• The prophecy itself is about a sentence longer in English than it is in Japanese. Because of this, Gelardan has time to start talking to himself in the original ("It's not the God of Fire or the God of Lightning or the God of Ice I'm after. It's the God...of the Sea") but because of  how much longer the English version of the prophecy is that all gets reduced down to a simple "Now it...begins."
• That extra line in the English version packs in information about Lugia's song and the gathering of the three treasures that wasn't there in the original. It also gives a name to the underwater current, "the Beast of the Sea," that isn't in the original at all.

The next voice we hear belongs to Lawrence III's computer. Throughout the entire movie 4Kids decides to add this weird digital noise to the backing track that's not there originally.

Anyway, the computer provides a report:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
コンピューター　「綿密な調査の結果：火の神は幻のポケモンファイヤー。それも オレンジ諸島アーシア島周辺に生息するファイヤーの特殊な一種と考えられます。同じく雷の神はサンダー、氷の神はフリーザー。サンダー、フリーザーどちら もファイヤーと同じくアーシア島周辺に生息する特殊な一種である以外は考えられません。」	Computer:  "Analysis results: The God of Fire is the Mythical Pokémon "Fire." This Fire is also believed to be a special type that lives in the area around Earthia Island in the Orange Archipelago. Similarly, the God of Thunder is the Pokémon "Thunder," and the God of Ice is the Pokémon "Freezer." All signs point to Thunder and Freezer also being special types, like Fire, that inhabit the area around Earthia Island."	Computer:  "Analysis indicates that the 'Titan of Fire' referred to in the ancient inscription is the legendary Pokémon Moltres, believed to have originated in a remote region of the Orange Islands. The 'Titan of Lightning' is the Pokémon Zapdos...and Articuno is the 'Titan of Ice.' Historical documents confirm that the three legendary Pokémon are unique species found only in the vicinity of Shamouti Island."

To be clear, the legendary birds that appear in the Orange Islands are unique versions of the species we've seen pop up everywhere else in the Pokémon world. The English dub tells us they originated in the region but that's something they just made up; the three gods simply live in the area. The "historical documents" part from the dub is also a rewrite.

I also feel like the English version of the computer's dialogue here could have packed a bit more of a punch if 4Kids' version of the prophecy had also used the phrases "Titan of Fire," "Titan of Lightning," and "Titan of Ice." But it doesn't, and so what we get here is the computer just throwing these new terms at us out of nowhere.

The next chunk of the movie is largely dialogue free so there aren't too many chances for 4Kids' writers to change anything. I mean, they still alter things wherever they can anyway, but in the interest of keeping this comparison down to a manageable level I'll focus mainly on the bigger changes. The next one of those occurs after Lawrence III captures Moltres:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ジラルダン 「私のコレクションがまた１つ増えた。神と呼ばれるファイヤー。次なるコレクションは神なるサンダーそしてフリーザー。だが…私の最高のコレクションは誰 も見たことのない海の底より現れる神…ルギア」	Gelardan:  "And that's one more added to the collection. A Fire known as a god. Next up will be a Thunder known as a god, as well as Freezer. However...the star of my collection will be one nobody's ever seen before, a god who appears from deep beneath the ocean...Lugia."	Lawrence III:  "Well I've taken the first piece without much difficulty. It's like a simple game of chess. Next I'll capture Zapdos, and Articuno soon after, and that will flush out the 'king.' And then...that's when the game is going to get interesting. 'Bring together all three. Their treasures combine tame the Beast of the Sea'...Lugia."

Here, we can see the part about Lugia being a Pokémon "nobody's ever seen before" (which, at this point in the franchise, at least, was still true) being cut out in favor of Lawrence III re-reciting the prophecy.

Side Note
The title screen is completely different between the two movies:


So why was this movie's title changed from "Revelation Lugia," the film's English title as provided by Japan, to the brand new "The Power of One" for the English language release? The book Pokémon Story has a neat little tidbit about this, in Masakazu Kubo's section on Page 457:

"The Power of One" For the U.S. release, Gail Tilden and Norman Grossfeld proposed centering the movie's promotion on its theme song, and so the film's title ended up not having any Pokémon names in it. The reason for this is because it'd be harder for them to get the song any radio play if it had a product name in it. But even now I think the name of the new Pokémon "Lugia" should have been worked into the title somewhere. Well, I guess it's easy to say this kind of thing now that all's said and done. 「パ ワーオブワン (Power of one)」 アメリカでは映画の宣伝を音楽をベースにしたプ ロモーションでおこないたいというゲイルさんとノーマンさんの提案から、映画のタイトルには登場するポケモン名を入れませんでした。商品名を入れた音楽は FM放送ではかかりづらいというのが理由です。しかし、僕は今でも「ルギア」という新ポケモン名をタイトルに入れるべきだったと思っています。まあ、終っ てしまえば何とでも言えるんですけどね。

I'm not really sure how effective this strategy was. "The Power of One" really only ended up being a moderate success for Ms. Summer, when all is said and done; it did fine, but it didn't even make it into the list of her Top 20 Billboard Hot 100 Hits.

But the bigger issue here is that "The Power of One" is a terrible title for this film. The theme of the Japanese version is co-existence and how everything is linked to one another, and yet the dub's title (and tagline "One person can make all the difference") is the complete opposite of all that. It's such a baffling choice; if there was ever a movie where "one person can make all the difference" doesn't apply, it's definitely this one.

Dialogue Edit
The narrator introduces us to our heroes:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ナレーション　「青い空、白い雲、そして広がる海。ここは南の海、オレンジ諸 島」	Narrator:  "The blue skies, white clouds, and expansive oceans. This is the southern ocean, the Orange Islands."	Narrator:  "Another perfect day in paradise. The weather: warm. The breezes: balmy. The water: calm and crystal clear. Even Pokémon Trainers deserve a break on a day like today, and as our heroes sail through the Orange Islands, Ash Ketchum dreams of his next big adventure. Little does he know it will be his greatest!"
(Long tracking shot of Pikachu, Kenji, and Kasumi before finally settling on Satoshi)
ナレーション　「ポケモンマスターを目指すサトシたちは島から島へと海の旅を続 けていた」	Narrator:  "Satoshi, who's working to become a Pokémon Master, continues his journey across the sea along with his friends as they hop from one island to the next."

It's kind of amazing how the English dub narration contains even less information than the Japanese original despite it being the more wordy of the two. Originally the narrator tells us where the Orange Islands are (they're in "the south," something the TV show's also been avoiding telling us for whatever reason) and that Satoshi's goal is to become a Pokémon Master.

Tracey suggests letting their Pokémon get some fresh air:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ケンジ　「この際だからポケモンたちも日光浴びさせるか」	Kenji:  "Now would be a great time to let our Pokémon out to get some of this sun, wouldn't you say?"	Tracey:  "Hey Ash, think we have time to give the Pokémon a little fresh air?"
船長　「いいんじゃない？隣の島に着くまで時間はあるよ。のんびりしてな」	Captain:  "Why not? We have plenty of time before we arrive at the next island. Take your time."	Maren:  "Sure Tracey. It'll take us about an hour to get to the next island. There's plenty of time."

The captain doesn't address Kenji by name in the Japanese version. She also doesn't specify the exact amount of time it'll take for them to get to the next island; she just gives a vague "we have time plenty of time."

Music Edit
The movie's opening theme is, predictably, changed from The Rivals!!, performed by Satoshi's voice actress Rica Matsumoto, to Pokémon World, performed by Youngstown featuring Nobody's Angel. And I know I totally used this line when talking about M2M and the first movie, but don't worry if you don't recognize those names "Youngstown" or "Nobody's Angel." Nobody knew who the hell they were back then, either.


Youngstown's previous credits up to this point include "I'll Be Your Everything (from Inspector Gadget)" (whose chorus includes the eyebrow raising lyric "We can do it automatic, I just call out Go Go Gadget") and...well, that seems to be about it! Nobody's Angel did "Let's Get Together" for the soundtrack to The Parent Trap and the song "If You Wanna Dance" and...well, that also seems to be all they were known for at this point.

I personally think that if they weren't going to do an English cover of The Rivals!! then the thing to do here would be to get Veronica Taylor to do a cover of Pokémon World instead. Wouldn't that have made this opening sequence that much more memorable? 4Kids obviously spent the overwhelming majority of its music budget getting the Queen of Disco to provide a song for their movie and so why not save a bit of money and get Veronica Taylor to do their opening theme song instead? She couldn't have cost more than Youngstown and Nobody's Angel...right?

Dialogue Edit
Once the storm's calmed down:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
船長　「ここまで来たか？」	Captain:  "So we ended up here, huh?"	Maren:  "We're way off course."
サトシ、カスミ、ケンジ　「えっ？」	Satoshi, Kasumi, Kenji:  "Eh?"	Ash, Misty, Tracey:  "Huh?"
船長　「アーシア島。オレンジ諸島の海の果て」	Captain:  "That's Earthia Island. We're way on the outskirts of the Orange Islands."	Maren:  "That's Shamouti. We're right in the middle of the Orange Islands."

Originally the captain says that Earthia Island is on the outskirts of the Orange Islands, not in the middle.

The Rocket trio spot Shamouti Island:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ムサシ　「島だわ」	Musashi:  "An island!"	Jessie:  "An island!"
コジロウ　「助かった」	Kojirou:  "We're saved!"	James:  "In a storm!"
ニャース　「いい感じニャ」	Nyarth:  "What a great feeling Nya~!"	Meowth:  "I've seen this movie!"
ムサシ　「ん？…でもないみたい」	Musashi:  "Hm? You may have spoken too soon..."	Jessie:  "Oh? Do we have... carp insurance?"
コジロウ　「え？」	Kojirou:  "Eh?"	Meowth:  "Huh?"
ムサシ　「結局いつもの」	Musashi:  "Looks like we're gonna have to use our other catchphrase instead..."	Jessie:  "We're about to be..."
ニャース　「やニャ感じ？」	Nyarth:  "This feels bad Nya?"	Meowth:  "Fillet of fish?"

Meowth's superhuman ability to release himself from the spell Mewtwo cast on everyone at the end of the first movie to break the fourth wall is, as you may have guessed, an invention of the 4Kids version.

Over in the Kanto Region, snow starts to fall:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ハナコ　「あら桜の花びら」	Hanako:  "Oh look, cherry blossom petals."	Delia:  "Oh my! It looks like snow!"
ハナコ、オーキド博士　「え？」	Hanako & Dr. Ookido:  "Huh?"	Professor Oak:  "Huh?"
ハナコ　「雪？季節は夏、夏に雪？」	Hanako:  "It's snow? It's summer now, and yet it's snowing?"	Delia:  "It...is snow. But...this is summer. How can it snow?"

Originally Hanako's first impression is that the falling white stuff look like cherry blossoms but soon decides that it's snow instead. The cherry blossom bit gets removed from the dub.

Our heroes land on Shamouti Island:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ヨーデル　「あらミッちゃんじゃん。」	Yodel:  "Oh, if it isn't Mi-cchan!"	Carol:  "Maren, how are you?"
サトシたち　「ん？」	Satoshi, Kasumi, & Kenji:  "Huh?"	Ash, Misty, & Tracey:  "Huh?"
ヨーデル　「久しぶり！」	Yodel:  "It's been a while!"	Carol:  "It's been a while."
船長　「あらまあヨッちゃんじゃん。何年ぶりだろう？」	Captain:  "Well if it isn't Yo-cchan! How many years has it been?"	Maren:  "Carol, I can't believe it. It's great to see you."
ヨーデル　「マンダリン島の分教場以来だから５年ぶりかな」	Yodel:  "We haven't seen each other since that school in Mandarin Island, so I'd say its been about five years..."	Carol:  "What are you doing back on Shamouti Island?"
船長　「でも何よその格好」	Captain:  "And what's up with that outfit?"	Maren:  "We got caught up in that storm and floated in. And it looks like we got here at the perfect time."
ヨーデル　「お祭りよ、お祭り。今日からこの島お祭りなわけ」	Yodel:  "Oh this? It's for the festival we're having! Today's the first day, you see."	Carol:  "You're right. The annual Legend Festival starts today."
船長　「相変わらずお祭りの巫女さん。ピーヒャラやっているわけ？」	Captain:  "Still the hard-working festival maiden, I see. So are you going to be playing the flute again?"	Maren:  "This is my favorite island holiday. Are you going to be the star of the show again?"
ヨーデル　「引退よ。私子供じゃないんだから。お祭り娘は妹に引き継いだわ。 えっと妹、妹…」	Yodel:  "Oh, I've retired from all that. I'm not a little kid anymore, after all. My little sister's going to be taking over as the festival girl. Now where is she..."	Carol:  "No, I'm too old to be the festival maiden anymore. So this year my little sister's going to take over for me...wonder where she could..."

Background information on the side characters in the movie? Pffft, why include any of that when you could just make up something from scratch instead?

We meet Melody:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
フルーラ　「何が妹よ。誰がお祭り娘よ。お姉さんの妹に生まれた私は不幸よ」	Fleura:  "What's all this about sisters and festival maidens? Y'know being your sister can be a real pain sometimes."	Melody:  "I'm right here. The only one not wearing some stupid costume! You'd think after a few centuries you'd have outgrown this dorky ritual!"
ヨーデル　「どうしたのよその格好。お祭りの衣装は？」	Yodel:  "Hey, why are you still dressed like that? Where are you festival clothes?"	Carol:  "It's our tradition...you should be honored to take part!"
フルーラ　「やーよ。そんなダサいの着たくないわ。どうせお祭りは夕方からで しょ」	Fleura:  "No way, I don't wanna wear that tacky thing. Besides, the festival's not 'til later tonight."	Melody:  "Don't worry, I'll play my role in the big 'legend.' I've only seen you do it like a zillion times!"
ヨーデル　「これだもん。あっ、これうちの妹フルーラ。これでも巫女さん。お祭 りの主役ってんだから時代は変わったわよ」	Yodel:  "What're we gonna do with her...sorry, this is my baby sister Fleura, and she's gonna be the maiden at this year's festival. A girl like her getting the starring role shows just how much times have changed."	Carol:  "Just be there! Well unfortunately that's my little sister. Her name is Melody. But don't get fooled...she's not always this adorable."

Literally none of this matches, does it? I'm always perplexed by wholesale rewrites like these because 1) they seem completely pointless, but also 2) because it seems like they'd require way, way more work than just translating the original dialogue as-is. Why go to the trouble of making up brand new dialogue -- dialogue that also has to match the animation, by the way -- when it seems like it'd be a zillion times easier to use the Japanese original as a baseline and then adjust to fit the lipflaps?

Sound Effects Edit
The sounds of the villagers' instruments -- drums and rain sticks and the like -- are muted throughout most of the scenes in which they appear in the dub. Other times the sounds they make are different from the sounds they make in the Japanese version.

Dialogue Edit
The old man tells Ash what he is:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
長老　「言い伝えにいわく "世界の破滅の時海の神現れすぐれたる操り人と共に神々の怒り鎮めん"。操り人…つまりトレーナー。あんたその操り人じゃ」	Elder:  "Legend has it that 'when the world faces destruction the God of the Sea will appear together with a great trainer to quell the gods' wrath.' A great trainer...in other words, a Pokémon Trainer. That would be you, young man."	Elder:  "The ancient legend fortells your arrival and only with you can the Guardian of the Waters vanquish the great titans of Fire, Ice, and Lightning. 'In your hands...oh Chosen One...in your hands rest the world and its fate!"
サトシ　「あっはあ」	Satoshi:  "Ah...um..."	Ash:  "It...does?"
長老　「あっ、堅くならんでよろしい。しきとりじゃ、しきとり」	Elder:  "Oh, don't stress about it. It's just some old tradition."	Elder:  "Heh, don't let it worry you kid...it's just for the tourists."

For a movie that goes out of its way to make sure we know Ash is The Chosen One it sure is weird to see the English dub actually remove dialogue in which we're told, very plainly, that Ash is the trainer mentioned in the legend.

Melody teases Misty:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
フルーラ　「あれ？あなた、妹さん？」	Fleura:  "Huh? Are you his sister?"	Melody:  "Are you his little sister?"
カスミ　「誰が？」	Kasumi:  "Who is?"	Misty:  "I am not."
フルーラ　「じゃあガールフレンド。そういう関係？」	Fleura:  "OK, so you're his girlfriend? Something like that."	Melody:  "Well, then...I guess you must be...his girlfriend."
カスミ　「誰が…」	Kasumi:  "Now wait just a minute..."	Misty:  "Ugh, gross."
フルーラ　「いいからいいから。でもこんなとこまでこんな子についてくるなんて あなた正直…いい趣味ね」	Fleura:  "Oh I'm just teasing. But y'know, to follow him all the way out here...I'd have to say you have pretty good taste."	Melody:  "Oh I don't think so. I'll be glad to play for him tonight at the legend banquet. Starts around 8:00. Oh and Misty...try not to get jealous."

And we were doing so good until we get to Melody's last line, which is a complete and total rewrite.

The dub will do these kind of rewrites throughout the rest of the movie. Fleura teases Kasumi a few times but it's a friendly kind of teasing. Melody, meanwhile, is a borderline jerk to Misty throughout the majority of the film.

Also, Melody's apparently part Psychic-Type or something because she has no reason to know Misty's name at this point in the movie. This same discrepancy, of course, does not exist in the Japanese version.

Time for the legend banquet:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
長老　「それはそれは」	Elder:  "Well ain't that something?"	Maren:  "And she says 'No, but I have Krabbys.'" (everyone laughs)
船長　「でしょう？」	Captain:  "Right?"	Elder:  (weird mumbly noises) "Haha...Krabbies."

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...this is supposed to be a joke about STIs, right? That whoever Maren's talking about her told her friend that she has pubic lice, right...? There can't possibly be any other explanation, can there?

We rejoin our heroes:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
サトシ　「でもさっきの女の子どこ行っちゃったのかな？」	Satoshi:  "I wonder where that girl from before went."	Ash:  "I can't wait to see what my part in the Legend ceremony is gonna be!"

I guess 4Kids didn't want to have Ash showing anything even resembling an interest in Melody and so they decided to have him be more interested in the ceremony instead.

Melody explains the plot of the movie to Ash. This is a bit long so I'll break it up:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
フルーラ　「"天地怒り世界は破滅に向かう時、海の神現れすぐれたる操り人と共 に神々の怒り鎮めん"　サトシ様、あなたが本当にすぐれた操り人なら私たちにその証拠を見せてください」	Fleura:  "When the heavens and the earth become angry and the world is headed toward destruction, the God of the Sea will appear together with a great trainer to quell the gods' wrath.' Satoshi-sama, if you really are the great trainer then prove it to us!"	Melody:  "Hear ye all! From the trio of islands ancient spheres shall you take, for between life and death all the difference you'll make. O Chosen One, you must climb to the shrine to right what is wrong, and the world will be healed by the guardian's song."
サトシ　「証拠って？」	Satoshi:  "Prove it?"	Ash:  "What do I do?"
フルーラ　「あっ私、フルーラ」	Fleura:  "Psst it's me, Fleura."	Melody:  "I just told you Ash."
サトシ　「ああ、それは分かってるけど。あの、その…」	Satoshi:  "I got that, but, um..."	Ash:  "Yeah, I heard all that stuff. But...what do I have to do?"
フルーラ　「あの、勘違いしないでね。これしきたり。毎年やってんの。適当に やっちゃって」	Fleura:  "Oh, it's not all that scary. We do this every year. Don't feel like you actually have to try or anything like that."	Melody:  "Oh it won't be very hard, Ash. Not for you. And besides almost all the Chosen Ones've come back alive."
ヨーデル　「フルーラ！」	Yodel:  "Fleura!"	Carol:  "Melody!"

Melody makes up a brand new poem (???) while Fleura simply repeats what the elder said on the shore earlier that day. Melody's joke about a ten-year-old's chances of dying is also a 4Kids original.

Melody continues:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
フルーラ　「証拠ったって難しいこっちゃないわ。沖にある３つの島から３つの宝 を持ってきて本島の祭壇に飾ること。そして私が神々にささげる笛を…(笛の音)…と吹いてそれでおしまい」	Fleura:  "'Proving it' isn't anything hard, either. Just go out to sea and gather the three treasures from three islands. Then bring them back here and put them on the altar. I play this song on the flute for the gods (plays flute) and then that's the end."	Melody:  "All you have to do is get these glass balls from three islands -- one from Fire Island, one from Ice Island, and one from Lightning Island. And you bring them to the shrine back here. And then I celebrate by playing this song (plays flute). Then it's over, O Chosen One."
サトシ　「宝っ てどこにあるの？」	Satoshi:  "And where are these treasures?"	Ash:  "Do I get to wear a cool costume?"
フルーラ　「それぞれの島のお社。(果物を食べる) 大丈夫。島まで船は出るしお社へは階段がついてる」	Fleura:  "They're on shrines on each of the islands. (takes a bite out of fruit) But don't worry, we have boats that take you to each of the islands, and we even have steps leading up to each of the shrines."	Melody:  "Sorry but it's just come as you are. (takes a bite out of fruit) Besides, you look perfect to me. The handsomest Chosen One in years."

Fleura's first line is more or less left intact but everything else is completely different. The Japanese version of Fleura's last line in particular has some great info about how "easy" this trial is supposed to be that really should have been left in the English dub but just isn't, for whatever reason.

Ash is ready to go:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
サトシ　「オーケー今すぐ行ってみよう」	Satoshi:  "OK! Let's head out right away!"	Ash:  "OK! Get me a boat and I'm ready!"
フルーラ　「急ぐことないわ。お祭りは明日まで。明日の朝だっていいのよ。のん びりやっちゃいなさいよ」	Fleura:  "There's no rush, the festival lasts until tomorrow. Relax! You can just leave in the morning."	Melody:  "Oh there's no hurry. You have all day tomorrow. Tonight's just for the party. Stay, have some fun!"
サトシ　「今日できることは今日やっておく。"善は急げ" ってね。それが俺の…いや、僕の主義なんだ」	Satoshi:  "Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today. They say 'there's no time like the present,' right? That's how a boy...no, a man like me lives his life."	Ash:  "Well some things are more important than fun. I'm Ash, the Chosen One! This is serious. I gotta be responsible."

Satoshi sounds like he's trying to impress Fleura with this last line here and so of course the English dub had to get rid of all that.

Ash's friends give their two cents:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
船長　「よーし気に入った」	Captain:  "That's the spirit!"	Maren:  "You know what?"
カスミ　「ん？」	Kasumi:  "Hm?"	Misty:  "Hm?"
船長　「まずは火の島へ。船は出してやるわ」	Captain:  "Let's head to the Island of Fire first. I'll get the boat ready."	Maren:  "I like your attitude! We can take my boat Ash!"
サトシ　「ありがとう。カスミも行くかい？」	Satoshi:  "Wow, thank you! Kasumi, you coming?"	Ash:  "Then let's go! You coming Misty?"
カスミ　「誰が？私あんたの妹でもガールフレンドでもボディガードでもないわ」	Kasumi:  "What're you asking me for? It's not like I'm your little sister or girlfriend or bodyguard or anything like that."	Misty:  "No thanks. If you want somebody to do whatever you want whenever you want you should find yourself a girlfriend!"

I don't know why they didn't just translate all this as-is? What was wrong with any of the dialogue in the original here?

Ash and Maren brave the storm:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
サトシ　「宝を持ってくるのが難しくない…難しいじゃん」	Satoshi:  "I thought she said this wasn't gonna be hard. Is this supposed to be easy?"	Ash:  "I hope the Legend Ceremony doesn't include...a funeral!"
(The storm rages on)
フルーラ　「難しくない？難しすぎるわ、こんな嵐は」	Fleura:  "This isn't easy. Going out in this storm...it's too hard."	Melody:  "This storm's bad...what if those two can't make it to the island?"

Both Satoshi and Fleura are referring to what the latter told the former back on the island, but since the English dub rewrote that whole speech I guess they decided to just make up their own lines here as well.

I'm also a bit surprised to see just how cavalier the English dub is willing to be about the topic of death in this movie. This is what, the third time or so the topic's been brought up so far? When in the TV series they do everything they can to avoid the topic altogether? I wonder what's with the sudden change of heart.

Melody and the other side characters go out into the storm to rescue Ash:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
フルーラ　「あらま。何なの？」	Fleura:  "Oh? Are you...?"	Melody:  "What are you coming for?"
カスミ　「私も行くわ。私、あいつの妹でもガールフレンドでもない。でも行く の」	Kasumi:  "I'm coming too. I'm not his younger sister or his girlfriend or anything like that, but I'm coming anyway."	Misty:  "To find Ash. And before you start saying it's because I secretly like him, don't. Cuz I don't!"
フルーラ　「どうして？あそっか、ここまでついてきたんだもんね」	Fleura:  "But why? Oh, I get it. It's because you've already followed him this far, right?"	Melody:  "Hey, chill out! You sure are sensitive about somebody who's not your boyfriend."
カスミ　「ついてきたんじゃない！私の行きたい所にあいつがいただけ」	Kasumi:  "I'm not following him! He just happens to be going to the same places I'm going."	Misty:  "He's not my boyfriend! He's a boy and he's a friend but he's not a boyfriend!"
ケンジ　「僕もそうです！」	Kenji:  "Same with me!"	Tracey:  "You talking about me?"

The Japanese version has Kasumi rehash what she's already said in the TV series about how she's not following Satoshi, actually, the two of them just happen to be headed in the same direction. The English dub does away with this in favor of sticking with the whole boyfriend / girlfriend thing.

Up in the skies, Lawrence III observes what effect his capture of Moltres has had:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ジラルダン　「今まで３つの力はバランスが取れていた。１つは私が取った。崩れ た部分を埋めに」	Gelardan:  "Balance had been kept among the three powers until now. But I took away one of the three. And so now the other two are rushing to fill that void."	Lawrence III:  "'Disturb not the harmony of Fire, Ice, and Lightning.' It seems there's been a shift...in the balance of power."
コンピューター　「サンダーらしく生命体、火の島へ移動中」	Computer:  "A lifeform thought to be Thunder is moving toward the Island of Fire."	Computer:  "Pokémon Zapdos detected."

Both of these lines have less information in the dub than the original did, which is odd because with the Computer, at least, there aren't any lip flaps to have to worry about.

I'd also like to point out that English dub viewers still haven't been told which of the three islands everyone's headed toward first since both mentions of "Fire Island" have been written out of the dub script.

Next up we get the scene of Dr. Ookido watching the news. The reporter's explanation of the phenomenon going on with the weather is actually pretty faithful to the original so I get to skip that part and go straight to this claim at the end:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
アナウンサー　「その異変の中心はオレンジ諸島近辺と見られています」	Announcer:  "This disturbance appears to be centered in the vicinity of the Orange Islands."	TV Reporter:  "The source of the disturbance appears to be centered at the north central region of the Orange Islands."

Earlier in the film Maren told us that Shamouti Island's "right in the middle of the Orange Islands" but now this reporter's saying it's in the "north central region"...? Is the weather phenomenon in this movie so bad it's actually causing a super hyper continental drift in the Orange Islands? Wow!

Melody's boat climbs the stairs, somehow:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
カスミ　「登ってく」	Kasumi:  "We're going up!"	Misty:  "Let's find Ash."
フルーラ　「それならそれでいいわ。だってこの上には…」	Fleura:  "That's perfect. We need to head up there anyway to get to..."	Melody:  "Yeah and if he needs any help...his girlfriend's here."
カスミ　「サトシ？」	Kasumi:  "Satoshi?"	Misty:  "But I'm not..."
フルーラ　「もともとサトシ君を助けに来たんだもん。行くんでしょ」	Fleura:  "Helping Satoshi-kun is the whole reason we came here, right? So let's go."	Melody:  "Well like you said, you are a girl and you are his friend. Isn't that right?"

The English dub really loves to bring up Misty being Ash's girlfriend every chance they've got, huh?

The Rocket trio recite their motto:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ニャース　「飛んで火に入るピカチュウニャ」	Nyarth:  "Like a Pikachu to a flame Nya."	Meowth:  "Guess who...Pikachu?"
ピカチュウ　「ピッ？」	Pikachu:  "Pi?"	Pikachu:  "Pika?"
サトシ　「ん…何だ？」	Satoshi:  "Hm? What the...?"	Ash:  "Was that...?"
ムサシ　「何だかんだと聞かれたら」	Musashi:  "If we're asked about this or that..."	Jessie:  "Prepare for more trouble than you've ever seen."
コジロウ　「答えてあげるが世の情け」	Kojirou:  "It's up to the world whether or not we answer."	James:  "And make it double, we're on the big screen!"
サトシ　 「答えなくても結構だ、ロケット団」	Satoshi:  "There's no need to answer, Rocket-Dan."	Ash:  "I'll have to catch this on video!"

I remember this interview, or a podcast, or a DVD commentary, or something where one of the people who work on the English dub of Pokémon revealed that their children (or other young relatives, maybe?) didn't like it whenever they had characters like Team Rocket break the fourth wall. These young fans, apparently, didn't like being reminded that yes, what we're watching right now is just a cartoon and none of this is real! So I imagine they probably didn't like this line much, either.

Also, for some reason the sound clip of Pikachu used in the dub is different here? Why is Pikachu, of all characters, getting dialogue edits in this thing?

Everyone reunites:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
フルーラ　「あっいた。ったくもう！こんな天気にここまで来るなんてあきれたも んだというか…あんたどういう神経してるわけ？」	Fleura:  "So there you are! I can't believe you came all the way here in this storm. You've got some nerve!"	Melody:  "Well I hope you're happy, Mr. Hero. If you'd just listen to me in the first place and stayed at the party like I told you to we wouldn't be stranded out here on this island."
カスミ　「いつものことなの。こんな子につきあっている私の苦労が分かるで しょ？」	Kasumi:  "He's always like this. Maybe now you see how just how hard it is for me to travel around with him."	Misty:  "Welcome to my world. I have to deal with his stubborn attitude every single day."
フルーラ　「分かってるわ。あなたがこの子を好きってことなんでしょ。要する に」	Fleura:  "I see. So what you're trying to say is look how much you like him, is that it?"	Melody:  "Oh you'll get used to it. It's just something you're going to need to work on when the two of you get married."
カスミ　「違うって！」	Kasumi:  "Wha...N...No!"	Misty:  "Take that back!"

The general idea is retained in the English dub (a rarity in this movie) but the actual dialogue itself is quite different.

The Rocket trio get involved:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ムサシ　「コラ、男女交際、好きだ嫌いだでガキんちょがもめるな！10年早い」	Musashi:  "Hey now, it's a bit premature for you brats to be worrying about things like romance or who you like and don't like."	Jessie:  "Listen to me, kid. When you get involved with the opposite sex you're only asking for trouble."
コジロウ　「僕たちお兄さんお姉さん5年遅い」	Kojirou:  "While it's a bit post-mature for the two of us."	James:  "Yes and that's the kind of trouble...I stay out of."
ニャース　「どっちにしろおミャ―らはラブラブとは無縁だニャ」	Nyarth:  "In any case the idea of a 'love life' is foreign to you two　Nya."	Meowth:  "You's two don't need the opposite sex cause you got each other."
ムサシ　「何ですって？」	Musashi:  "What did you say!?"	Jessie:  "What does that mean!?"
コジロウ　「何だと？」	Kojirou:  "Say that again!"	James:  "Not funny!"

First of all, everything here gets completely rewritten. 4Kids is clearly going full in on their "James is a confirmed bachelor if you know what I mean wink wink nudge nudge" interpretation of the character by this point, while Meowth is implying that Jessie and James are both the same gender, or maybe he's saying they're non-binary...? I have no idea, actually!

But this is also the part of the movie that so many fans use as "proof" to the claim that the Rocket duo is 25 years old. I did an extensive write-up on this section of the movie over in the Rumor Guide so I encourage you to check that out if you want to read more about whether or not that's true.

The next part of the movie where Ash and his friends meet with Zapdos is fairly OK, script wise. There are a few tiny changes here and there (Moltres' name is brought up a lot more often in the dub than it is in the original) but nothing too major.

Once Lawrence III re-enters the movie, however:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
コンピューター　「現在サンダーの電気を吸収しています」	Computer:  "Currently absorbing Thunder's electrical energy."	Computer:  "Absorbing Zapdos' electrical energy."
ジラルダン　「ポケモンの電力。生命の力が生み出す人工の美」	Gelardan:  "Electricity from a Pokémon. An artificial beauty created by the power of life."	Lawrence III:  "Drained of its power...Zapdos will be too weak to resist capture."

I guess Gelardan's appreciation of a Pokémon's power was considered too abstract for 4Kids' audience so his line got rewritten to the more straightforward one we get in the English dub.

The computer notices some stowaways:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
コンピューター　「申し訳ありません」	Computer:  "Apologies sir."	Computer:  "Code Blue Three."
ジラルダン　「ん？」	Gelardan:  "Hm?"	Lawrence III:  "Hm?"
コンピューター　「サンダー捕獲の際におまけがついてきました」	Computer:  "When Thunder was captured something extra was picked up as well."	Computer:  "When capturing Zapdos we collected something...more."
ジラルダン　「おまけ？」	Gelardan:  "Extra?"	Lawrence III:  "More?"

I'm not sure what "Code Blue Three" is supposed to be (Google wasn't any help) but whatever it is, just know that in the original the computer was simply apologizing to Gelardan.

I also kind of love how, in the English dub, Lawrence III's computer makes that overly dramatic pause between the words "something" and "more," because this means someone had to have programmed it to deliver this line in such a campy way. I wonder who could have done such a thing. Was it Lawrence III himself? Or did he outsource this to some sassy intern with a flair for the dramatic?

Lawrence III meets our heroes:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ジラルダン　「招待状もなしにここに来たのは君たちが始めてだ。いかがかな？火 の神ファイヤー、雷の神サンダー。私の新しいコレクションだ」	Gelardan:  "I have to say, you're the first ones to come here without an invitation. So what do you think? Fire, the God of Fire, and Thunder, the God of Lightning. They're the newest additions to my collection."	Lawrence III:  "Well this certainly is a pleasure...though an unexpected one. What do you think? Moltres, the Bird of Fire, and Zapdos, the Bird of Lightning. Of course without Articuno it's not a complete set but..."
カスミ　「ちょっとおじさん！ポケモンをゲットするならなぜモンスターボールに 入れておかないの？これじゃさらし者だわ」	Kasumi:  "Hold up old man! If you wanted to get these Pokémon then why didn't you just use Monster Balls? Doing it this way is just criminal!"	Misty:  "That's disgusting! The way you talk it's like Pokémon are just things to collect like dolls or stamps. What kind of Trainer are you!?"
ジラルダン　 「私はポケモントレーナーではない。私はコレクターなのだ。」	Gelardan:  "Oh but you see I'm not a Pokémon Trainer. I am merely a Collector."	Lawrence III:  "I'm afraid I'm not a Trainer, young lady. I am merely...a Collector."

The removal of talk about Monster Balls is the main event here. I guess 4Kids didn't want their movie to have too many video game terms or other passing references to the TV series they wouldn't have had a chance to explain?

But also, if you're a young person reading this and are wondering if Misty's reference to "collecting stamps" made any more sense in the year 2000 than it does today then the answer is no, no it did not. That particular line was just as dated back then as it is now.

Lawrence III continues:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ジラルダン　「実物をこの眼で見れてこそコレクションと言える。見るがいい、私 のコレクションを」	Gelardan:  "I wouldn't consider these to be a part of my collection unless I could actually see them with my own eyes. Now you are free to look around..."	Lawrence III:  "I began my collection with a Mew card and...now I have all this. Legendary Pokémon have always been my passion."
(Our heroes are released from their cage)
ジラルダン　「ただし手を触れるなよ。それがエチケットだ」	Gelardan:  "...just don't touch anything. That's just standard etiquette."	Lawrence III:  "And soon my collection itself will be legendary!"

I'm sure 4Kids changed that first line to try to explain the Mew card thing at the end which is, admittedly, a bit out of nowhere. Screenplay writer Takeshi Shudo stated in his blog that the Mew card thing was a leftover from an earlier version of the movie and that not explaining it was one of the parts of the script where he messed up.

Originally, Gelardan implies that closing the legendary birds up in Monster Balls wouldn't allow him to display them properly because what's the point of having a collection if you can't actually see it?

Finally, Gelardan actually invites his stowaways to have a look around his airship as he releases them from their cage. In the English dub, however, Lawrence III just kind of releases our heroes without any explanation whatsoever.

Dialogue Edit / Cut (17 seconds)
Next up is (sigh) Professor Oak's explanation of what's going on. It's a total rewrite and includes some cut footage.

The first part goes like this:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
オーキド博士　「アーシア島には火の神と雷の神と氷の神が住んでいるという伝説 がある。これを科学的に分析すれば…氷の神と呼ばれる何かの力が海を凍らせれば火の神と呼ばれる何かが氷を溶かし。それが海の底に海流を生み出すんじゃ な」	Dr. Ookido:  "Legend has it that Earthia Island is home to the God of Fire, the God of Lightning, and the God of Ice. So let's break this down scientifically...if this so-called God of Ice uses whatever power it has to freeze the water, then the so-called God of Fire may also use whatever power it has to melt that ice. This creates a water current that feeds into the ocean, you see."	Professor Oak:  "Near Shamouti lie the islands of Fire, Ice, and Lightning home to the legendary birds Moltres, Articuno, and Zapdos. I fear that they are somehow involved. Ancient writings from many different cultures name this area, specifically the islands of Fire and Ice, as the cradle of the ocean -- the source, if you will, of all the waters of the world. This has been disputed by scientists for centuries. But it does make some poetic sense when you consider what forms when combining Fire and Ice."
レポーター　「はあ…海の底に海流が？」	TV Reporter:  "So...there's a water current at the bottom of the sea?"	TV Reporter:  "And...what about the island of Lightning, Professor?"

Watching the scenes in this movie two times back-to-back for this comparison -- first in Japanese, then in English -- is a wild experience due to how different the dialogue is between the two. But doing that with this scene in particular is something else altogether. In the original, the scene is animated around Dr. Ookido's explanation and so the images and the audio match up perfectly. With the English audio, however, there's pretty much no connection whatsoever between what Professor Oak is saying and what he's drawing, making the whole thing look like he's just mindlessly doodling away in his sketchbook. on live TV!

Anyway, everything Professor Oak says about "ancient writings from many different cultures" and "disputed by scientists for centuries" are all inventions of the 4Kids dub.

As the explanation continues we get a large 18 second cut. First, let's go over the dialogue:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
オーキド博士　「さらに攪拌された海水に雷の神の電気が作用して生物の元である タンパク質を作り出す」	Dr. Ookido:  "And if you add electricity from the God of Lightning to this swirling sea water then you get protein, the origin of life."	Professor Oak:  "Well, imagine if an imbalance of power occurred between Lightning, Ice, and Fire. Here's potentially how the underwater current has formed. If the balance between the powers of Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres were somehow disrupted,
レポーター　「はあ…だからどうだって言うんです？」	TV Reporter:  "So...what does that all mean?"	Cut (18 seconds)
オーキド博士　「どうもこうもつまり、３つの神のバランスの妙が深層海流を緩や かに流しもしこの星の生命を生み出しもしたんじゃ。深層海流の中心地は生命の誕生の地、	Dr. Ookido:  "To put it another way, any disturbance in the balance among the three gods could slow down the flow of the deep sea currents and then cause the birth of something new on this planet. The center of the deep sea current could become the birthplace of all life,
す べての生命のふるさとと言える。異変の原因は３つの力の関係が何らかの形でバランスを崩したからじゃ」	where all living things come from. And so the cause of all these weather anomalies is that the balance kept by those three powers has somehow been disrupted."	it's conceivable that a powerful underwater current, this churning Beast of the Sea, could in fact emerge from this region and ultimately flood the entire planet."

4Kids also cut out 17 seconds' worth of footage from this segment, for some reason. Here are screenshots of the cut footage:


Again, why not just translate the dialogue as-is?

Dialogue Edit
The reporters ask Delia who she is:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
レポーター　「で、あなたは？」	Reporter:  "And you are?"	Reporter:  "And...who are you?"
ママ　「オレンジ諸島に私の息子がいるんです。おっちょこちょいで無鉄砲。調子 に乗って何をしでかすか分かりません。危ないったらありゃしないでしょ？」	Mom:  "My son is in the Orange Islands right now. He's a clumsy and reckless boy, and he gets so carried away sometimes I have no idea what he's up to. But he wouldn't be doing anything dangerous, right?"	Delia:  "My son and his friends are traveling in the Orange Islands, and if things get as bad as Professor Oak says I may never see my boy again. And Ash is the whole world...to me."

In the original Satoshi's mom is trying to convince herself her son couldn't possibly be mixed up in all the craziness that's going on right now, while Ash's mom appears to be a lot more pessimistic.

Slowking speaks up, again:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ヤドキング　「んっ　困ったな」	Yadoking:  "Hmm... things're gettin' bad"	Slowking:  "I could use pants."

Not even close!

I also wonder what dub-only fans think of Slowking in this movie. I think most are able to work out that it's mainly just here to promote the upcoming Pokémon Gold & Silver video games, but why can it speak human language, randomly? There isn't a clear in-universe explanation for this, but the real world reason Yadoking can speak is probably just to give Masatoshi Hamada someone to voice in this movie. Mr. Hamada is one of the guest celebrities brought in to do voices for this movie and so I assume Yadoking was granted the power of speech just so that Mr. Hamada could have something to do on whatever afternoon he was in the studio. The English dub doesn't do the same thing (they just get Pokémon regular Nathan Price to take on the role) and so the reasons why this Pokémon can talk aren't quite as obvious.

Our heroes look on at the frozen ocean below:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ムサシ　「あらま南の海がまっちろけ」	Musashi:  "Wow, the southern sea is completely frozen over."	Jessie:  "Well this sure beats an in-flight movie."

The dub's crusade against referring to the Orange Islands as being in the south continues!

Melody then recites the prophecy to everyone, prompting this reaction from the Rocket trio:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
フルーラ　「伝説が現実になったんだわ」	Fleura:  "The ancient legend is coming true."	Melody:  "What if the ancient legend is coming true?"
コジロウ　「世界がなくなりゃ盗むポケモンもいなくなる」	Kojirou:  "If the world ends there won't be any Pokémon left for us to steal."	James:  "It if it is true all intelligent life will be destroyed."
ムサシ　「私たち…」	Musashi:  "So then what would happen..."	Jessie:  "That's right."
コジロウ　「どうなんだ？」	Kojirou:  "...to us?"	James:  "And I'll be..."
ニャース　「失業ニャ」	Nyarth:  "We'll be out of a job Nya."	Meowth:  "You will be fine."

Why have the Rocket trio be worried about what the legend coming true means for the three of them when you can just have them needlessly insult each other instead?

As our heroes try to free Moltres and Zapdos the Rocket trio steps in:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ムサシ　「ええいこうなりゃ私たちもいくよ。コジロウ、マタドガス」	Musashi:  "Alright, might as well pitch in. Kojirou, bring out Matadogas."	Jessie:  "Well if things are gonna start to get ugly...we might as well try Weezing!"
コジロウ　「おう」	Kojirou:  "Right!"	James:  "Right! Go!"

This is like the second insult in less than 60 seconds. Why is the Rocket trio being so mean to each other all of a sudden?

Cut - 14 seconds
When Satoshi tries to rescue Fire from its barrier prison, he calls Lizardon, Pikachu, and Zenigame to help. In the English version the three Pokémon attack and, after a short while, an explosion occurs that manages to free the beast. What dub viewers miss out on is Kenji explaining why said explosion takes place.

The following fourteen second sequence, as well as all the dialogue that goes along with it, gets removed from the dub:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ケンジ　「みずでっぽうに10まんボルト。水は 電気分解で水素と酸素…H2とO…そこにかえんほうしゃとくれば…うわっ　みんな　伏せ ろ！」	Kenji:  "Water Gun and Thunderbolt. The water is broken down by the electricity into hydrogen and oxygen...H2 and O...and if you add Flamethrower to that...EVERYBODY GET DOWN!!"	Cut (14 seconds)

If 4Kids was worried Kenji's dialogue was too "smart" or "dangerous" or whatever, then why didn't they just rewrite it? I mean, they've already trampled on the entire rest of this movie's script; what difference is one more rewrite going to make?

According to Bulbapedia, the ani-manga for this movie left the scene intact with the following dialogue: "The water and electricity blasts are creating two gases, hydrogen and oxygen. If those two gases come into contact with Charizard's fire, there's going to be an (explosion)." So there's that.

Dialogue Edit
We get a few blissful minutes without any changes to the script (though that's only because there is no dialogue to change) before we get this gem from the Rocket trio after their escape from Lawrence III's airship:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ムサシ　「あららあいつら…」	Musashi:  "Oh my, those three..."	Jessie:  "I'd hate to get burned by their fire."
コジロウ　「完全に怒ってる」	Kojirou:  "...are absolutely furious."	James:  "I'd hate to get zapped by their lightning."
ニャース　「こんニャ時は…知らんぷり！」	Nyarth:  "In times like this, the best thing to do...is act like you can't see it Nya!"	Meowth:  "I'd hate to get hit by...their droppings!"

The Rocket trio being justifiably terrified of the three gods engaged in a dramatic battle above them gets changed to them worrying about being shit on!

The Motion Picture Association decided to give this movie a "G" rating, by the way.

As Lugia's pillar of water carries our heroes to safety:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
フルーラ　「この音！」	Fleura:  "This sound, it's...!"	Melody:  "What's that sound?"

This is a great example of a performance completely altering the meaning of a line. Originally Fleura says "This sound, it's..." and the way her voice actor delivers the line makes it sound like she's actually heard this music before. Melody, on the other hand, seems to have never encountered this song in her life despite it being pretty much the same one she's been practicing since the movie started.

Elsewhere, we find out Lawrence III survived his plane crash, somehow:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ジラるダン　「海の神ルギア。あれが私の望んでいたもの。私はあのルギアが…欲 しい」	Gelardan:  "The God of the Sea, Lugia. That's what I was after. I have to have...that Lugia."	Lawrence III:  "Finally, my prize. It's magnificent. The Beast of the Sea will soon belong...to me."

So is the Beast of the Sea meant to be Lugia? Or the underwater current? Is it both...?

Ash meets Slowking:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ヤドキング　「お宝、あそこへ」	Yadoking:  "Treasures...put there."	Slowking:  "Take the treasure...and put it there."
サトシ　「お宝？」	Satoshi:  "Treasures?"	Ash:  "You can talk!?"

The Japanese version never acknowledges that it's unusual for Yadoking to be able to talk, something the 4Kids dub just couldn't let slide, apparently. I'm kinda with them on that, making this one of the very few dialogue changes in this movie I'm actually OK with.

After Satoshi puts the two treasures he had collected so far onto the altar:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ヤドキング　「ふたつ？」	Yadoking:  "Only two?"	Slowking:  "So, you're Ash."
サトシ　「いっ！」	Satoshi:  "Ee!"	Ash:  "Ee!"
ヤドキング　「１つ足りない」	Yadoking:  "Missing one."	Slowking:  "You're one treasure short."
サトシ　「足りないって何が何なの？」	Satoshi:  "What do you mean missing?"	Ash:  "Yeah I know but...how'd you know my name?"

What's great about the English version of this is that Slowking never actually answers Ash's question! Why does Slowking know Ash's name? We'll never find out!

The adults in the helicopter have a conversation:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ママ　「こんな危ない所にいるんですか、うちのサトシは。しょうがない子ね」	Mom:  "Is my Satoshi really out in a dangerous place like this? That's just like him."	Delia:  "What're Ash and his friends doing out in this terrible weather!? I'm worried about them!"
オーキド博士　「危ないのはわしらもじゃ」	Dr. Ookido:  "We're the ones in danger here!"	Professor Oak:  "Save a little worry for us!"
ウチキド博士　「いえ、危ないのはこの世界のすべてです。それを一番知っている のはポケモンたち」	Dr. Uchikido:  "No, the whole world's the one in danger. And the ones who understand that the most are the Pokémon."	Professor Ivy:  "The fate of our planet is what we should really be worried about. And the Pokémon know that better than any of us."
(a fire beam tears a path through the icy water)
ウチキド博士　「彼らには何もできないかもしれない。でも彼らは何かをせずには いられない」	Dr. Uchikido:  "They may not be able to do anything to stop any of this, but they also can't just sit around and so nothing."	(no dialogue)

By this point in the movie I think Professor Ivy is maybe the only character left who hasn't had her dialogue completely rewritten yet, but don't worry! 4Kids will fix this by removing her last line during this exchange for absolutely no reason whatsoever!

Now let's look at The Power of One:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ヤドキング　「困ったな。”すぐれたる操り人現れ神々の怒り鎮めん限り”」	Yadoking:  "Things're gettin' bad...'will not succeed unless a great trainer appears to quell the gods' wrath' "	Slowking:  "There's only one hope. Only the Chosen One can bring together the treasures to help the water's great guardian..."
フルーラ　「”すぐれたる操り人”？」	Fleura:  "Great...trainer?"	Melody:  "But the legend says its song will fail."
ヤドキング　「２つの宝を手にした」	Yadoking:  "You there. Already got two treasures."	Slowking:  "...And thus the earth shall turn to ash."
フルーラ　「すぐれたる操り人がこの世界を救う？」	Fleura:  "The great trainer will...save the world?"	Melody:  "But how are we ever going to find the Chosen One if we don't even know where to look?"
カスミ　「ちょっとそれって…やだサトシ？」	Kasumi:  "Wait a minute...oh no! You don't mean Satoshi!?"	Misty:  "It's right in the legend. 'The earth shall turn to Ash.' "
ケンジ　「今んとこそういうことだね」	Kenji:  "It sure does seem that way."	Tracey:  "Ash, it's talking about you!"
サトシ　「俺？この俺？」	Satoshi:  "M-Me? You mean me!?"	Ash:  "I'm the...Chosen One?"

The English dub decides to have Ash be the Chosen One because of a pun buried in an ancient legend while the Japanese version makes it clear that pretty much anyone could have been the Chosen One as long as they have a pulse and also manage to gather the three treasures.

But wait, there's more!

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
サトシ　「あ…ん…ちょっ、ちょっと待ってよ。俺、ポケモンマスターになりた い。でも世界を救うなんて…」	Satoshi:  "Whoa wait a minute. I want to become a Pokémon Master but saving the world...that's a whole other story"	Ash:  "W-wait a minute...training Pokémon's tough enough, but saving the world is way too hard!"
カスミ　「ガラじゃないこと分かってる」	Kasumi:  "I know it's not what you expected..."	Misty:  "I know it doesn't sound easy, Ash..."
ケンジ　「だけど言い伝えに今のところぴったりなのはサトシだけ」	Kenji:  "But at this point the only one who matches the legend so closely is you, Satoshi."	Tracey:  "But you're the only one who matches the legend perfectly. What do you say?"
サトシ　「でもこのお祭りでやることって難しくないって…」	Satoshi:  "But...at the festival you said this wasn't supposed to be anything difficult."	Ash:  "Well right now I wish my mom had named me Bob instead of Ash."
フルーラ　「簡単なはずだったんだもん。ごめん、こんなことに巻き込んじゃっ て」	Fleura:  "It wasn't supposed to be...I'm sorry I dragged you into all this."	Melody:  "Ash this whole thing is my fault. I...I never should've dragged you into this."
サトシ　「巻き込まれたわけじゃないけど」	Satoshi:  "It's not your fault..."	Ash:  "Well I guess I gotta go along with that."

Here's a life tip, Ash: If someone says "this is all my fault" the socially polite thing to do isn't to full-on agree with them without even a hint of empathy in your voice.

But yeah, this whole thing is quite different. The Japanese version includes a reference to a line said during the festival in the first half of the movie (a line that got rewritten in the dub, of course) and a complete lack of any corny "Bob" comment.

This is also the second time Satoshi has mentioned wanting to be a "Pokémon Master" in this movie, and it's also the second time 4Kids writes it out of the film.

After Lugia's revived:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ルギア　「火の神、雷の神、氷の神の持つ宝が海の笛と調和した時彼らの怒りは解 ける。それを成し遂げるのはすぐれたる操り人。人間でなければならない」	Lugia:  "The fury of the God of Fire, God of Lightning, and God of Ice will only melt away once their treasures are harmonized by the Sea Flute. The one who can accomplish this is the great trainer. And they must be a human."	Lugia:  "When the treasures of Fire, Ice, and Lightning are aligned, my song shall harmonize with their powers and tame the beasts both above and below the sea. But this can come to pass only with the help of the Chosen One..."
サトシ　「人間の代表が俺ってこと？」	Satoshi:  "So you're saying I'm representing all humans?"	Ash:  "But what can I do that somebody else can't?"
ルギア　「お前は２つの宝を手に入れた。残るは氷の宝」	Lugia:  "You already have two of the treasures. The only one left is the Ice Treasure."	Lugia:  "Only in the hands of the true Chosen One will the Ice Sphere glow like the others, its power awakened."

The English dub, which usually goes to great lengths to over-explain everything, really could have handled this whole underwater current thing a lot better. They create this whole "Beast of the Sea" name to refer to the underwater current, but then they're also been uncharacteristically vague about it and so a lot of fans interpret "Beast of the Sea" as a reference to Lugia itself, not the undersea current. And so you get a line like this where Lugia's talking about "tam(ing) the beast both above and below the sea" and it's not unreasonable to think that it's using the word "beasts" to refer to Pokémon and only Pokémon.

Also, in the Japanese version Lugia states that it's a requirement that the great trainer be a human, something that never gets brought up in the English version at all.

Ash decides to be a hero:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
サトシ　「俺ってお調子もんだからね。カスミ、ケンジ、フルーラさん」	Satoshi:  "I guess it's time for me to get carried away again, huh?  Kasumi... Kenji... Fleura-san..."	Ash:  "I'll do whatever it takes to get that third treasure. But what if I mess up? What if...I...?"
カスミ　「サトシ…」	Kasumi:  "Satoshi..."	Misty:  "You can do it."
フルーラ　「サトシ君」	Fleura:  "Satoshi-kun..."	Melody:  "We know you can."
サトシ　「世界を救いに行くぜ！行ってやろうじゃんか」	Satoshi:  "Alright then, let's go save the world! Let's do it!"	Ash:  "Yeah you're right I CAN do it! I'm the Chosen One!"

Wow Ash's turnaround is really fast in the dub, huh? "Oh no I'm riddled with doubt oh wait nevermind just kidding I can do it now." Um, OK?.

A few steps into the snow later:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
サトシ　「んぐっ…とは…うっ…言ったもの…うわああっ」	Satoshi:  "Oof...easier said...urgh...than done...waa!"	Ash:  "Right now I feel more like the Frozen One!"
(falls into the snow)
サトシ　 「うぅ　ハア　先は長すぎる」	Satoshi:  "Oof...ah...I've got a long way to go."	Ash:  "Maybe they got the wrong Ash."

There are a few aspects of this "job" that I don't super enjoy, and one of those things is having people scream at me whenever I point out that the funny little joke they all enjoyed when they were like five years old or whatever wasn't actually there in the original. Because generally, people don't want to hear that! 4Kids' rewrite here is actually perfectly fine -- in either version the main character of the movie is expressing the difficulty of actually carrying out that brave proclamation he made just one scene prior -- but that doesn't change the fact that what's said in the English dub of this film is a complete rewrite. Whether or not that actually matters is all up to you.

Next, Team Rocket to the rescue!

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ムサシ　「何だかんだと聞かれたら」	Musashi:  "If we're asked about this or that"	Jessie:  "If that kid thinks we're here for trouble..."
コジロウ　「答えてあげるが世の情け」	Kojirou:  "It's up to the world whether or not we answer"	James:  "We're certainly going to burst his bubble!"
ムサシ　「世界の破壊を防ぐため」	Musashi:  "To prevent the world from being destroyed"	Jessie:  "Instead of causing tribulation..."
コジロウ　「世界の平和を守るため」	Kojirou:  "To protect the peace of the world"	James:  "We've undergone a transformation!"
ムサシ　「愛と真実の悪を貫く」	Musashi:  "To carry out the evils of love and truth"	Jessie:  "Though it's way outside our usual range..."
コジロウ　「ラブリーチャーミーな敵役」	Kojirou:  "We, the lovely and charming villains"	James:  "We're going to do something nice for a change!"
ムサシ　「ムサシ」	Musashi:  "Musashi"	Jessie:  "Jessie!"
コジロウ　「コジロウ」	Kojirou:  "Kojirou"	James:  "James!"
ムサシ　「銀河を駆けるロケット団の2人には…」	Musashi:  "The Rocket-Dan who holds up the galaxy are the two of us"	Jessie:  "Up til now, Team Rocket's been quite unscrupulous!"
コジロウ　「ホワイトホール白い明日が待ってるぜ」	Kojirou:  "A white hole - a white tomorrow is waiting"	James:  "Being good guys for once would be super-dupulous!"
ニャース　「あっニャ―んてニャ」	Nyarth:  "Ah, what they said Nya~"	Meowth:  "That's ri-ight!"

Originally the Rocket-Dan just perform the regular version of their motto.

Ash wonders what's with the change of heart:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
サトシ　「どうして？」	Satoshi:  "But why?"	Ash:  "You wanna help!?"
ムサシ　「世界の危機はみんなの危機」	Musashi:  "A crisis to the planet is a crisis to us all!"	James:  "Of course!"
		Jessie:  "We don't want the world destroyed!"
コジロウ　「世界が潰れる瀬戸際に」	Kojirou:  "The world is on the brink of collapse!"	James:  "Even if we survived..."
ムサシ　「悪も正義もありゃしない」	Musashi:  "So who cares about things like 'good' or 'evil' right now?"	Jessie:  "There'd be no one left to steal from!"
コジロウ　「目指すは１つ」	Kojirou:  "There's only one thing we're focused on."	James:  "We'd be out of work!!"
ムサシ　「世界の平和、楽しく盗める泥棒世界」	Musashi:  "And that's restoring the world to a peaceful one where thieves can steal to their hearts' content!"	Jessie:  "Come to think of it...when was the last time we had a vacation?"
ニャース　「な～んて言ってニャいで！目指すは氷の島ニャ」	Nyarth:  "That's nyot it Nya! Right now we're focused on the Island of Ice Nya."	Meowth:  "We'll be on a permanent vacation if we don't get to that island. Let's do it!"

This dub dialogue would have been a fairly decent rendering of the conversation the trio had back on Lawrence III's airship if 4Kids had decided to actually translate it. But here? Here it's just another rewrite.

After a lengthy dialogue free action sequence (the only mercy afforded to me in this monster of a comparison) we get to the part where the Rocket trio realize they're dragging Lugia down:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ムサシ　「うわあ！私たちってもしかして…」	Musashi:  "Uwa! Could it be the three of us are..."	Jessie:  "We're slowing Lugia down, the three of us are too heavy!"
コジロウ　「足手まとい？」	Kojirou:  "Holding them back?"	James:  "Let's try Weight Watchers!"
ムサシ　「文字どおり！」	Musashi:  "You said it!"	Jessie:  "It's too late for that!"
ニャース　「んニャ文字どおりじゃなくて見たとおりニャ」	Nyarth:  "It's nyot just a figure of speech, we're literally holding them back Nya."	Meowth:  "I heard it's never too late if you really stick to the program!"

This is maybe the one line in the movie 4Kids actually had to rewrite. Originally there's a play on words here, where Musashi and Kojirou ask if they're ashite-matoi (足手まとい) which literally translates to "we're grabbing onto their hands and legs and making them drag us around" but is more often translated to just "we're slowing them down." Musashi and Nyarth have fun with this by talking about how they're literally grabbing onto Lugia's legs and making it drag them around.

The Weight Watchers line 4Kids came up with instead? Meh. It's a reference that's managed to stand the test of time so I guess it has that going for it.

The Rocket trio lets go:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ムサシ　「ここは足手まといはやめるかね」	Musashi:  "I think it's about time we stop holding them back."	Jessie:  "If we don't let go they may not make it back!"
コジロウ　「世界の平和を守るため」	Kojirou:  "To protect the peace of the world."	James:  "Let's protect the world from devastation!"
ニャース　「さらば宇宙よ」	Nyarth:  "Farewell, universe!"	Meowth:  "Guess we gotta let go."
ムサシ　「白い明日が」	Musashi:  "A white tomorrow..."	Jessie:  "Are you guys ready?"
コジロウ　「待ってるぜ」	Kojirou:  "...is waiting for us."	James:  "Let's do it!"
ニャース　「ニャ～んてニャ」	Nyarth:  "What they said Nya."	(no dialogue)
(The trio lets go)
サトシ　「ロケット団！」	Satoshi:  "Rocket-Dan!"	Ash:  "What're you doing?"
ムサシたち　「あんたが主役～！」	Rocket-Dan:  "You're the hero now~!"	Team Rocket:  "Team Rocket's blasting off for goooooood!"

As you can see the Japanese version has the trio incorporate their motto a bit more than they do in the English dub.

Their final line here is also completely rewritten.

The trio falls to their d-words:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ムサシ　「下は海だね」	Musashi:  "We're falling toward the ocean."	Jessie:  "Think we did the right thing?"
コジロウ　「でも今は凍ってるよ、氷の海」	Kojirou:  "But it's frozen solid right now... a real sea of ice."	James:  "I know we did the right thing, Jessie. And it feels great."
ニャース　「痛いだろうニャ」	Nyarth:  "Looks like it'll hurt Nya."	Meowth:  "Well this is it, then."
ムサシ　「痛いどころか…」	Musashi:  "It won't just hurt..."	Jessie:  "Let's not say 'goodbye!'"
コジロウ　「死んじゃうよ」	Kojirou:  "It'll kill us!"	James:  "Let's just say..."
ニャース　 「ニャんと」	Nyarth:  "Wait what Nyow?"	Meowth:  "'We're gonna die'."

I would maybe understand this rewrite if the English dub of this movie had been sticking to the "don't say the words 'die' or 'kill'" rule they always follow for the TV show, but since that's apparently not an issue here (Meowth literally says "we're gonna die") I don't know what this change was for.

Ash gets over the Rocket trio's sacrifice real quick:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
サトシ　「すごいね。ホントにポケモンなの？」	Satoshi:  "You're amazing! And you're really a Pokémon?"	Ash:  "Lugia! Why're all those Pokémon down there?"
ルギア　「そう。この星にみんなと一緒に住んでいるポケモン」	Lugia:  "Yes. I'm a Pokémon, and I live on this planet along with everyone else."	Lugia:  "Because they feel like they must be here in case they are needed."

Ash's observation here will be brought up in the very next line so I don't know why 4Kids had to put it here instead.

Speaking of the very next lines:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
サトシ　「でもどうしてこんなことに」	Satoshi:  "But why are they gathering around like that?"	Ash:  "But what could they do to help?"
ルギア　「一緒に住んでいるから壊してはいけない」	Lugia:  "Because they all live together they can't allow their worlds to fall apart."	Lugia:  "They are not sure, and that is why they are here."
サトシ　「何を？」	Satoshi:  "Worlds?"	Ash:  "What do you mean?"
ルギア　「相手の世界。お前にはお前、私には私。それぞれの世界がある」	Lugia:  "Each other's worlds. You have your own world, and I have mine. In fact, we all have our own world we want to protect."	Lugia:  "That just one Pokémon could help the world would be worth the journey for thousands of them any day. But this day the one that can make all the difference...is you."
サトシ　「うん」	Satoshi:  "Mm."	Ash:  "Mm."
ピカチュウ　「ピカチュウ」	Pikachu:  "Pikachu."	Pikachu:  "Pikachu."

Doesn't the English version of this movie sound like one of those fanfics where the author inserts themselves in as the main character, and all the rest of the characters can't stop talking about how great they are? Ash is so great and Ash is going to save the world and Ash is so handsome and smart and funny isn't Ash the greatest!?

Anyway, the Japanese version gets a bit abstract and so 4Kids decided to go with something a bit more straightforward.

Lawrence III makes one last attempt at adding to his collection:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ジラルダン　「すばらしい。あれこそ私のコレクションにふさわしい」	Gelardan:  "Amazing. I simply must have it for my collection."	Lawrence III:  "Soon, Lugia, you will be mine and my destiny will be fulfilled at last."

Oh, so Lawrence III is fulfilling some destiny now? How come this is literally the first and only time we're hearing of this?

Kasumi rushes out to save Satoshi from drowning:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
(no dialogue)	(no dialogue)	Melody:  "Here...take this."
カスミ 　「え？」	Kasumi:  "Huh?"	Misty:  "Huh?"
フルーラ　「これ持ってて。私、サトシ君を」	Fleura:  "Here, take this. I'm going after Satoshi."	Melody:  "Legend or not...Ash can't do this alone."
カスミ 　「ううん。これはあなたの笛、あなたの役目」	Kasumi:  "Mm-mm. This is your flute, your duty."	Misty:  "Mm-mm. You'll have to play Lugia's song. I'll go look for him.
フルーラ　「え?」	Fleura:  "Huh?"	(no dialogue)
カスミ　「あいつは私の厄介者。ねえ。」	Kasumi:  "And Satoshi's my pain in the neck. Right?"	Misty:  "And Ash is never really along 'cause he's got...me."

Random dialogue rearrangements aside, the thing to point out here is how the Japanese version isn't quite as shippy with its dialogue here as the English version is.

After Ash is revived he brings the treasure up to the shrine where he's greeted by Melody and Slowking:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ヤドキング　「すぐれたる操り人」	Yadoking:  "Great trainer."	Slowking:  "Have you brought the final treasure, Ash?"
サトシ　「これでいいんだよな？」	Satoshi:  "This is what we need, right?"	Ash:  "Here it is Slowking."
ヤドキング　「３目の宝」	Yadoking:  "Third treasure. There"	Slowking:  "You must be the one to place it!"

Satoshi doesn't know Yadoking's name, and Yadoking doesn't know Satoshi's name, and yet Ash and Slowking seem to know each other quite well!

Next up is that long, long sequence where Melody's flute fixes everything. This part is great because, again, there's no dialogue for 4Kids to rewrite. Well, I mean, the new music doesn't quite fit the animation, and 4Kids does add in a bunch of laughing and gasping and Pokémon cries that weren't there in the original, and so they still found a way to change even dialogue-less scenes. But it's still a nice break, I suppose.

Oh, and also now's as good a time as any to bring up how Melody's theme in the dub is basically a note-for-note copy of the main theme to the 1981 slasher film The Burning (check the 20 second mark). So, LOL.


We're at the home stretch now! Lugia bids farewell to our heroes:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ルギア　「私が幻であることを願う。それがこの星にとって幸せなことなら」	Lugia:  "I wish for everyone to think of me as a dream, a mere illusion. That is, if that's what makes this planet happy."	Lugia:  "The Beast of the Sea has been tamed. The fate of the world could not have been in better hands."

Maybe 4Kids thought Lugia's final request here was too reminiscent of Mewtwo's actions at the end of the first movie? That's the only reason I can think of for changing this.

Next, Delia sees her child:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ママ　「サトシ！見てたわよ！なんて危ないことするの」	Mom:  "Satoshi, I saw everything! What are you doing such dangerous stuff for!?"	Delia:  "All right, start talking! You are in big trouble Mister!"
カスミ　「でもサトシはこの世界を救ったんですよ」	Kasumi:  "But Satoshi saved the world!"	Misty:  "But...Mrs. Ketchum, Ash just helped save the whole world!"
ママ　「それが何なの？あなたはまだ子供なんだからむちゃはダメ！世界を救う？ 命懸けですること？サトシがいなくなったらサトシの世界はもうないの。私の息子はもういないの。あなたがいるから世界があるの。サトシ、あなたはこの世界 で何をしたかったの？」	Mom:  "So what? You're still just a kid so you can't be so reckless. What's this about 'Saving the world?' or 'risking your life?'  Satoshi, if something were to ever happen to you then your world would no longer exist. And then my son...would no longer exist. My world exists because you exist, you understand? So tell me, what is it you want to do in this world?"	Delia:  "Oh he did, did he!? Well I could've lost my whole world!
		Ash:  "Huh?"
		Delia:  "Every day I worry about you and wonder if you're all right. I know I can't stop you...from doing the things you need to do. I just can't help missing you all the time. You're a Pokémon Trainer, and that's just how it is. But next time, could you try to save the world just a little closer to home?"
サトシ　「俺はポケモンマスターに…」	Satoshi:  "I want to become a Pokémon Master..."	Ash:  "I guess I...could give it a try."
ママ　「だったらむちゃせずにそれを目指しなさい」	Mom:  "Well then focus on doing that. Just try not to be so reckless, OK?"	Delia:  "And remember, every day...you're my hero."
サトシ　「だよね」	Satoshi:  "I can do that."	Ash:  "Thanks mom."

I have to say that I'm slightly amazed that they didn't have Delia bring up Ash's underwear in this scene.

Also, the phrase "Pokémon Master" is still forbidden, I see.

Lawrence III's final scene:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ジラルダン　「...」	(no dialogue)	Lawrence III:  "How it all began...and how I'll begin...again.

Look, I can absolutely understand the dub's desire to at least attempt to explain this out-of-place Mew card scene and so I'm willing to cut them a little bit of slack here. But yeah, there was no dialogue in the Japanese version of this scene.

The Rocket trio crawl to dry land:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ムサシ　「ハア…助かったわよ」	Musashi:  "(pants)...We're safe now."	Jessie:  "Who'd believe it?"
コジロウ　「はあ我らは不滅だ～い」	Kojirou:  "We can never die~"	James:  "For once we were heroes!"
ニャース　「まだまだやるニャ」	Nyarth:  "We've still got some fight in us Nya."	Meowth:  "Too bad nobody saw us."
ヤドキング　 「...」	(no dialogue)	Slowking:  "Guess again~"

Kojirou's "We can never die~" line from the Japanese version is kind of iconic and so seeing it replaced here is kind of a bummer.

The Rocket trio meets Slowking:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ムサシ　「…で、あんた誰？」	Musashi:  "And who are you?"	Jessie:  "What...did you...say?"
ヤドキング　「困ったことになりかけて何ともならずによかった。」	Yadoking:  "Many bad things happened, but everything worked out."	Slowking:  "Lots of people saw what you did out there...and all of them are watching you right now."

The second Yadoking turned its head directly toward the camera you just know 4Kids' staff was chomping at the bit to figure out how they can break the fourth wall yet again. It's almost a compulsion at this point!

The final lines of the movie!

 

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ムサシ　「ああ確かに何ともならずに…」	Musashi:  "Yeah, I guess everything did work out in the end."	Jessie:  "Oh...then I guess the bad guys..."
コジロウ　「何だか…」	Kojirou:  "Somehow..."	James:  "Are finally..."
ニャース　「とっても…」	Nyarth:  "It makes me want to shout..."	Meowth:  "Good guys!"
ロケット団　「いい感じ～！」	Rocket-Dan:  "What a great feeling~~~~!"	Jessie:  "So then we're not bad!"
		James:  "That's good!"
		Meowth:  "What if the Boss finds out?"
		James:  "That's bad!"
		Jessie:  "We'll start our own Team."
		James:  "That's good!"
		Meowth:  "But we got no money."
		James:  "That's bad!"
		Jessie:  "Then we'll just steal some!"
		James:  "That's good! Or is that bad? Oh~"

I mean, if you're going to shamelessly rip off a comedy bit you can do a whole lot worse than one of the good seasons of The Simpsons, y'know?

But I do have one question. Why is this the way 4Kids chose to end the follow-up to the biggest motion picture they've ever had? Ending a big summer action film with a Simpsons joke is just weird, y'all. Just...just...why!?

Music Edit
The Japanese version of the movie ends with the song toi et moi by pop superstar Namie Amuro. Now there's actually a lot of backstory about this song -- how it was sort of a last minute replacement kind of thrust onto production by a famous music producer, how writer Takeshi Shudo absolutely hated it, how Namie Amuro herself doesn't seem too jazzed about it, etc. -- so for those of you interested check out this write-up I did a few years ago.


For the English dub this one song gets replaced by three. The first one is "The Power of One" by Donna Summer in what is easily the most high profile artist the dub had ever gotten -- and will ever get -- in its life. It also happens to be a pretty good song in its own right; it sounds like an actual real song and not a "Pokémon dub song," if that makes any sense.

If 4Kids had played the full version of "The Power of One" (it comes in at about four minutes long) and then called it a day then that would've been great, but that's not what ended up happening. Instead, 4Kids shortens Ms. Summer's song (blasphemous behavior, if you ask me!) so they could squeeze in two other songs from their soundtrack instead. First up is Weird Al Yankovic's atrocious "Polkamon" song, which not only doesn't fit in with this movie in any way whatsoever but also provides viewers with this unnecessary jumpscare when we abruptly go from Donna Summer belting her heart out to...that. The other song played during the sequence is Westlife's less atrocious but still pretty forgettable "Flying Without Wings."

---

And this concludes the second Pokémon movie. As I mentioned at the beginning of the comparison the English dub of this movie is just as bad -- if not worse, in many ways -- than the English dub of the first movie. But because the first movie is...well, the first movie, the fact that Mewtwo Strikes Back! is completely rewritten from the ground up is going to be a bigger deal than the fact that The Power of One is also rewritten from the ground up.

One small mercy is that Mewtwo Strikes Back! eventually got a much, much more faithful dub in the form of Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution, but unfortunately the same cannot be said for this one. So if you want to watch a version of this movie that actually resembles the one released in Japan then I'm afraid fansubs are, unfortunately, still the only option available to those in the West. I sincerely hope that changes one day.

Return to episode comparisons

Mini-Movie "Pikachu's Rescue Adventure"