Digimon: The Movie
Premier Date | October 6, 2000 |
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Director | Constituent films: Mamoru Hosoda Shigeyasu Yamauchi The Movie (voice direction): Jeff Nimoy Bob Buchholz |
Character Designer | Constituent films: Katsuhiro Nakatsuru[sic] Hisashi Nakayama Masahiro Aizawa |
Animation Director | Constituent films: Takaaki Yamashita Hisashi Nakayama Masahiro Aizawa |
Producer | Constituent films: Hiromi Seki The Movie: Terri-Lea O'Malley |
Composer | Udi Harpaz Amotz Plessner |
Duration | 82 minutes |
Home Release | February 6, 2001 |
Official Site | Official Fox Kids Website |
Digimon: The Movie is an American feature film that was produced by Saban Entertainment. It is an adaptation of footage from four Toei Anime Fair short films: Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!, Digimon Adventure 02: Vol. 1: Digimon Hurricane Landing!!, and Digimon Adventure 02: Vol. 2: Transcendent Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals.
In the process of becoming The Movie, the constituent films were extensively edited, cut, and rewritten. As a result, the plot and characterization of The Movie diverges significantly from the plots of the original films.
Characters[edit]
• Kari Kamiya (Yagami Hikari)
• Tai Kamiya (Yagami Taichi)
• Sora Takenouchi (Takenouchi Sora)
• Izzy Izumi (Izumi Kōshirō)
• Joe Kido (Kido Jo)
• Matt Ishida (Ishida Yamato)
• T.K. Takaishi (Takaishi Takeru)
• Mimi Tachikawa (Tachikawa Mimi)
• Davis Motomiya (Motomiya Daisuke)
• Yolei Inoue (Inoue Miyako)
• Cody Hida (Hida Iori)
• Yuuko Kamiya (Yagami Yuuko)
Baby | Gummymon, Kokomon (Chocomon), Kuramon, Tsumemon |
Child | Keramon, Terriermon |
Adult | Wendigomon (Wendimon), Gargomon (Galgomon) |
Armor | Rapidmon |
Perfect | Infermon, Antylamon (Andiramon) |
Ultimate | Diaboromon (Diablomon), Omnimon (Omegamon), Cherubimon (Vice), Seraphymon (Seraphimon), Magnadramon (Holydramon), Cherubimon (Virtue) |
Adult | Garurumon |
Perfect | WereGarurumon (Were Garurumon), MagnaAngemon (Holy Angemon) |
Summary[edit]
- The following is a plot summary of Digimon: The Movie's rewritten version of events. For plot summaries of the original versions of the constituent films, see their respective pages, linked below.
Framing Device[edit]
Kari Kamiya (Yagami Hikari), age eleven, looks back on three major encounters that she and her fellow DigiDestined (Chosen Children) have had with Digimon over the course of eight years. She introduces her fellow DigiDestined to her audience and provides running commentary on what is happening and how everything works.
Highton View Terrace, Japan - Eight Years Ago[edit]
- Main article: Digimon Adventure (Movie) § Summary
Act One[edit]
Late one night eight years ago, in Highton View Terrace (Hikarigaoka), Kari's brother, Tai Kamiya (Yagami Taichi) awakens to find her staring at the family computer. The computer monitor is flashing red with static, and an egg-like shape has appeared on its monitor and caught Kari's attention. The egg shape—a Digitama—emerges from the computer.
The next morning, their mother, Yuuko Kamiya (Yagami Yuuko), awakens Tai and asks him to look after Kari while she runs errands. Tai is convinced that the events from the night before were a strange dream, until he looks into Kari's bunk and sees that she is holding the Digitama.
At breakfast, Kari insists on clinging to the Digitama while she is seated at the table. When she reaches for her drink, the Digitama slips out of her lap and rolls itself away from her. Kari chases the Digitama around the house. It rolls back into the siblings' bedroom and, as they watch, hatches into a Botamon.
Botamon immediately attempts to attack Tai by latching onto his face, then runs and hides under their bed. Tai attempts to attack it with his goggles, scaring it into blasting him with bubbles. It then begins burbling bars from a song at Kari, who responds by playing the next bar on her whistle. As this continues, Botamon keeps blowing short blasts of bubbles, tickling Kari.
The two find that Botamon has a very large appetite, as Kari keeps feeding it. Tai is at a loss as to what it is or what to do with it, and Kari keeps rejecting his names for it. The phone rings; Tai answers, and is subjected to a tirade from Sora Takenouchi (Takenouchi Sora) about how she has just learned from Mimi Tachikawa (Tachikawa Mimi) that it was he who vomited in her hat without telling her. Her rant is cut off when the phone experiences a severe malfunction. When he returns to the bedroom, he finds that Botamon has digivolved (evolved) into Koromon.
Kari takes Miko's (Miiko) food bowl to give to Koromon. In gratitude, Koromon latches onto Kari and Tai's faces. While it is eating the food, Miko enters and attacks it. Koromon is terrified and attempts to run away, and when Tai attempts to intervene, Miko scratches him, then Koromon, before leaving with the food bowl.
Later that evening, when Yuuko comes home, Kari and Koromon begin talking to each other, to Tai's surprise, and she unsuccessfully attempts to teach Koromon their names. Out of gratitude, Koromon latches onto both of their faces again.
Act Two[edit]
Late that night, another wave of glitches impact electronic devices around Highton View Terrace, and children begin to notice. Kari wakes Tai because Koromon appears to be extremely ill. Before their eyes, Koromon digivolves again, into an enormous Agumon who shatters their bunk bed with its sheer size. Alerted by the sound, Yuuko comes and attempts to investigate while Tai holds the door shut to keep her from seeing Koromon. Koromon forces its way out the window and destroys it and, before Tai can do anything, leaps out of the apartment, with Kari riding it to "play horsey," and crushes a car. Tai runs out to chase them, against Yuuko's protests.
Koromon/Agumon and Kari explore the Highton View Terrace area. "Koromon," not knowing what it is doing and despite Kari's protests, causes some damage around the area: it smashes a vending machine, blows up a phone booth with its Pepper Flame (Baby Flame), nearly attacks a bus, and attempts to attack some aircraft lights in the sky. Kari notices that "Koromon" is no longer speaking. Meanwhile, Tai follows the trail of destruction that "Koromon" leaves behind.
Act Three[edit]
Another wave of electronic disturbances hits the area as "Koromon"/Agumon senses that something is coming. A massive Digitama appears in the sky above Highton View Terrace, then splits in half, releasing a Parrotmon, who descends onto a street. "Koromon" attempts to attack it, but its Pepper Flame shots miss or fail to harm it. Meanwhile, children gather at their balconies and windows to observe, including Sora, Mimi, and other children who know each other, including Matt Ishida (Ishida Yamato), T.K. Takaishi (Takaishi Takeru), Joe Kido (Kido Jo), and Izzy Izumi (Izumi Kōshirō).
Just as Tai arrives on the scene and rejoins Kari, Parrotmon retaliates with a Sonic Destroyer (Mjölnir Thunder) blast that shatters the bridge above "Koromon"/Agumon, Tai and Kari, dropping a pile of rubble onto Koromon. At this moment, another wave of electronic disturbances occurs, disrupting the apartment lights and Joe and Izzy's phone call. When the dust clears, it is revealed that "Koromon" has digivolved again, into a creature that introduces itself to the two as Greymon.
Greymon engages Parrotmon in a lengthy fight, in which the two smash cars and street infrastructure all around them. Eventually, Parrotmon throws Greymon aside and blasts it Sonic Destroyer again, knocking it out.
Kari is distraught, and she and Tai attempt to rouse Greymon, with no effect, as Parrotmon stalks closer to them. Kari tries blowing her whistle for Greymon again, but she is unable to make a sound with it as she is crying and out of breath. Tai sees this and is inspired, so he snatches the whistle from Kari, takes a deep breath, and blows it with all his might. The sound of the whistle reverberates all around the Highton View Terrace street and draws the attention of the onlooking children.
In response to the whistle, Greymon snaps back to life and, at Tai's command, unleashes another Nova Flame (Mega Flame) that consumes both it and Parrotmon. The two Digimon disappear.
As the sun begins to rise, Kari, saddened, cries out for Greymon over and over, imploring it to come back to her so they can keep "playing horsey."
Four Years Later[edit]
- Main article: Digimon Adventure: Our War Game! § Summary
Act One[edit]
Tai is on his father's computer, writing an apology email to Takenouchi Sora for an incident that occurred a few days prior.
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He realizes that he didn't mean to say "Love" and corrects it to "Front", but when Kari enters the room, it autocorrects back to "Love'. She tells him that she is about to leave for a birthday party, and he attempts to snatch the present she is bringing. Once he gives up, she reaches around and clicks to send the email, complete with the unwanted "Love" signoff, and Tai panics. As Kari leaves and Yuuko returns home from grocery shopping, Tai is notified that the email was rejected and could not be sent.
Meanwhile, Izzy is browsing the internet at home when he finds what he describes as "a computer virus on the internet." When he attempts to see its target, a webpage opens that reveals a Digi-Egg generating as people around the world look on. The Digi-Egg hatches, and sends Izzy an email consisting of only one word:
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Izzy rushes over to the Kamiya residence.
As Tai laments that Kari is getting cake at the birthday party, Yuuko volunteers to bake him a cake. At that moment, Izzy arrives at the Kamiya residence and tells him about the egg.
On Izzy's laptop, the two examine the hatched Digimon, Kuramon: a species of Digimon which the Digimon Analyzer has no information about, which they nickname "the jellyfish." Izzy shares with Tai information that an American contact of his, Willis (Wallace), sent him about it being "part Digimon, part virus." At that moment, it digivolves into Tsumemon and sends them an email (from the email address @@@@@@djm.factorymark.co.jp):
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It begins eating massive amounts of data from the internet, making computers and electronic systems everywhere go haywire. The disruptions that it causes make the television news.
Tai and Izzy rush to the study to use Tai's father's computer again (on the way, Izzy accepts a glass of a mysterious grotesque beverage from Yuuko). By the time they arrive, the Digimon has digivolved into its Rookie (Child) form, Keramon, and is now speaking. Gennai, Agumon and Tentomon contact Tai and Izzy, and the partner Digimon volunteer to enter the internet to track it down and destroy it, to repay the DigiDestined (DigiDestined) for saving the Digital World.
While Gennai initiates the process of transferring Agumon and Tentomon into the internet, Tai attempts to contact the other six DigiDestined to recruit them. However, none of them are available:
- Joe is taking his middle school entrance exam
- Matt and T.K. are visiting their grandmother; Tai gets her number and reaches her, but she hangs up on him by mistake
- Mimi is not home, and Tai gets her answering machine
- Tai succeeds in reaching Kari at the birthday party, but she declines to leave the party as she has "already volunteered to be sawed in half"
- Izzy reaches Sora's mother (Tai insists that he call instead), but when she tells Sora that "the Kamiya residence" is calling, Sora refuses to take the call and tells her mother to say that she is "not home"
Sora checks her emails, expecting an apology from Tai, but no new emails arrive.
Agumon and Tentomon arrive in the internet and, using Izzy's password, track down Keramon to a site where it is consuming data. It does not notice their entry, so they attack it while it is distracted. Their attacks have no apparent effect. Keramon sends Tai and Izzy another email:
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Agumon and Tentomon digivolve into their Champion (Adult) forms, Greymon and Kabuterimon. Just as Greymon hits it with his Nova Blast (Mega Flame), Keramon digivolves again, into Infermon. Izzy initially assumes that it is also Champion level, but Infermon proves to be completely invulnerable to Greymon and Kabuterimon's attacks, and its own Spider Shooter (Hell's Grenade) technique causes the two significant damage. Izzy realizes that he misjudged Infermon's level and that it is actually Ultimate (Perfect), having skipped a level. In response, Tai and Izzy have Greymon and Kabuterimon digivolve again (Super Evolve) to catch up, but Infermon attacks them with its Spider Shooter (Hell's Grenade) while they are still in the process of digivolving, causing them to de-digivolve (devolve) back into Agumon and Tentomon. Infermon flees the scene.
Act Two[edit]
Tai and Izzy begin receiving emails from children around the world who witnessed the fight, as well as a new email from Infermon:
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Izzy notices Infermon's email address—@@@@@@djm.ntt.co.jp/sys/switchboard—and realizes that it has gotten into the telephone system. Tai attempts to get ahold of the others again, but he is unable to reach them because their lines are busy. They soon learn why: Infermon is bringing the system down, also terminating their connection to the internet. Meanwhile, Matt attempts to call Tai back, but fails to get through because of Infermon.
Izzy runs home for reasons he does not immediately explain. Tai walks in on Yuuko watching a news bulletin talking about the problems with the phone system, and overhears it talking about the emergency voice mail system. Inspired, he uses it to get messages to the other DigiDestined. Sora receives Tai's message and comes to his apartment, but just as she is about to knock on the door, she decides against it due to her grudge against Tai, and walks away in a huff. When Tai tries sending Mimi a message, his mother overhears and shares with him a postcard from her that just arrived, revealing that she is out of the country for a holiday in Hawaii:
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Izzy returns to the apartment with a satellite uplink, which enables them to tap into military satellites to re-establish an internet connection. At Izzy's suggestion, Tai checks the emergency voicemail, and finds that Matt has left them a message. Tai and Izzy, and Matt and T.K., exchange messages to update the latter two on the situation and ask them to find a PC with an internet connection.
When the satellite internet connection is established, Tai and Izzy find that Infermon is gone. Infermon then emails them:
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Izzy notices that the email address has changed again, to @@@@@@djm.dot.gov.ny.us, and concludes that Infermon is now in the United States of America.
Matt and T.K. take a motorbike ride with Uncle Al (Shou) to find a computer with internet connectivity.
Meanwhile, Infermon begins causing havoc in the US. Its face appears on screens around the place. Izzy observes that it has eaten all of the data at John F. Kennedy Airport and is headed to affect the subway system, and decides to email Willis to warn him of Infermon's approach.
Matt and T.K. find an internet-enabled computer in a barbershop, and are permitted to use it. They contact Tai and Izzy via video chat. Izzy asks Tai if he can have his drink, and Tai is disgusted that he is still drinking them.
Act Three[edit]
Agumon and Tentomon return to the internet to track down Infermon, and are joined by Gabumon and Patamon. Izzy guides the four to Infermon's location. They find Infermon standing in the middle of the area, who instructs them not to interfere with its search for "the programmer." Matt accuses Infermon of teasing them, so he and Tai have Gabumon and Agumon Warp Digivolve (Warp Evolve) into their Mega (Ultimate) forms, MetalGarurumon (Metal Garurumon) and WarGreymon (War Greymon). Children all around the world are tuned into their computers, ready to watch the battle.
Patamon attempts to digivolve as well, but before he can finish, Infermon digivolves into its own Mega form, Diaboromon (Diablomon), and squashes both Patamon and Tentomon with its Cable Crusher, taking them out of the fight. In retaliation, WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon press a fierce offensive against Diaboromon and are evenly matched. Meanwhile, Izzy runs to the bathroom to vomit from all of Yuuko's drinks.
WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon have Diaboromon pinned down and are charging their attacks to hit, but Matt notices that something is slowing them down, and their attacks miss Diaboromon entirely. In frustration, Tai shakes his computer's monitor, and the computer crashes entirely, cutting them off from the fight. Unbeknownst to Tai, WarGreymon has stopped moving.
When Izzy returns, he is enraged at the sight of the crashed computer, and accuses Tai of having caused it. The two bicker about it, and Izzy accuses Tai's attitude of being the reason that he and Sora are bickering. This stops Tai in his tracks, and he admits the reason that he and Sora are feuding over a hairclip that he had gotten as a birthday present, which she had interpreted as an insult to both her hair and her hat.
Once the computer is rebooted and Izzy re-establishes the connection, they log back in and find that in their absence, Diaboromon has overwhelmed and caused major damage to both WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon. Tai laments that he had not been there to help. Meanwhile, Izzy reads an especially disparaging email that they have received. Tai snaps at Izzy for reading them out loud at such an inappropriate moment, and Matt breaks up the fight.
Meanwhile, somewhere else, Diaboromon is holding a clock. To itself, it says, "Go back to the beginning."
Tai, Izzy, Matt and T.K. receive an email from Diaboromon:
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A ten-minute countdown appears on their screens, and behind it, an image of Diaboromon begins multiplying. Izzy learns that Diaboromon has compromised the Pentagon's computers and triggered the launch of two nuclear missiles: one targeted at Colorado, USA, where Willis lives, and the other targeted at Tai and Izzy in Odaiba. He concludes that if they defeat the real Diaboromon, the rest will all disappear.
Despite their injuries and, as Izzy notices, their processing speed being slown down by all of the incoming emails, WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon get to their feet and volunteer to stop Diaboromon. Izzy sends them the address, and sets to work trying to tell their audience to stop sending emails.
7:00 to go on the missile countdown. The timer, coincidentally, lines up with both the remaining cook time on Yuuko's cake and the time left in Joe's exam. WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon travel through the internet in pursuit of Diaboromon, while massive numbers of emails from children around the world—including Yolei Inoue (Inoue Miyako) and Ryo Akiyama (Akiyama Ryo)—pour into Izzy's inbox.
6:30 to go on the missile countdown. WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon arrive in an environment whose walls are swarming with countless Diaboromons. Izzy estimates that they number over a million. All of the Diaboromons begin bombarding WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon with their Web Wrecker (Catastrophe Cannon) attacks, easily overwhelming them. T.K. notices that something is not right with WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon's movement, which Izzy attributes to all of the incoming emails. Izzy attempts to communicate to all of their viewers that they must stop sending emails.
The Diaboromons stop firing, and the dust clears. WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon have stopped moving and are critically wounded.
5:00 to go on the missile countdown. Distraught, Tai reaches out to his computer screen, as if to reach WarGreymon, pleading that he be okay.
Yuuko enters the computer room and finds that Tai is gone. Izzy only offers her a jargon-heavy explanation of his current efforts.
Through their computer screens, Tai and Matt enter the internet and try to rouse WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon, promising that they will be there to fight with them. All of the supportive emails manifest around them, forming an egg-like cocoon, and WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon are empowered by Tai, Matt and the emails to digivolve together into a new Digimon: Omnimon (Omegamon).
1:50 to go on the missile countdown. The Diaboromons resume firing on Omnimon, but Omnimon deploys its Transcendent Sword (Grey Sword) and swings it to deflect their blasts back at them, wiping out a significant number of them. Omnimon finishes off the rest of the Diaboromon copies with several Supreme Cannon (Garuru Cannon) blasts.
1:00 to go on the missile countdown. When the dust clears, only one Diaboromon is left: the real one. Omnimon attempts to aim at it, but it is moving too fast for Omnimon's response time to track. Meanwhile, one of the missiles begins its descent; a military squad attempts to destroy it, but fails.
0:30 to go on the missile countdown. Taking Willis's advice to to slow down Diaboromon to heart, Izzy realizes that they can turn the same processing speed weakness that WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon had against Diaboromon. He redirects all of the children's emails to Diaboromon's email address, which immediately slows it to a crawl.
0:10 to go on the missile countdown. Omnimon finds Diaboromon and pounces upon it.
0:02 to go on the missile countdown. Diaboromon attempts to retaliate with Web Wrecker, but it is too slow. Omnimon plunges the Transcendent Sword into its head, stopping the countdown. Diaboromon's lifeless body splits in half and sloughs off the now-broken clock.
One of the missiles lands in Tokyo Bay. Tai returns to the apartment, and he and Izzy collapse over their balcony, needing to vomit, as they watch the missile sink into the bay. Yuuko's cake is ruined, to her frustration. Meanwhile, Sora finally receives Tai's apology email. She sees the love heart that he left in, and is amused.
In the aftermath of the battle, Diaboromon's virus manifests as a whirlwind in a flower field in Colorado, at a moment when Willis is playing with his partner Digimon (Gummymon) and Kokomon (Chocomon). While Willis and Terriermon's backs are turned, the whirlwind blows through and Kokomon disappears into it. The two look back and realize that Kokomon is gone.
Present Day[edit]
- Main article: Digimon Adventure 02: Vol. 1: Digimon Hurricane Landing!!/Vol. 2: Transcendent Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals § Summary
Act One[edit]
Four years later, T.K., Kari, and the three other members of their new DigiDestined team—Davis Motomiya (Motomiya Daisuke), Yolei Inoue (Inoue Miyako), and Cody Hida (Hida Iori)—are on vacation with their partner Digimon. Kari and T.K. are in New York City in the US, visiting Mimi, while Davis, Yolei and Cody are at a beach.
In New York City, T.K. and Kari get no internet connectivity on their laptop while they are trying to send emails to the others. Kari senses that something is amiss.
Elsewhere in New York City, as gusts of wind disturb the area around it, Kokomon (who is now in the form of Wendigomon (Wendimon)) appears before Willis. He breaks through a fence and moves as if to attack Willis. Terriermon (who has since digivolved into his Rookie form) moves in to attempt to defend Willis, but his attacks have no evident impact. T.K. and Kari follow the commotion follows her to the site of the fight between Terriermon and Kokomon. As they arrive at the scene of the battle, they witness Willis throwing himself between Terriermon and Kokomon and attempting to convince Kokomon to stop. Kokomon disappears into the wind again, saying only "Go back." T.K. tries to get Willis's attention, but Willis and Terriermon run away.
Patamon eavesdrops on a payphone call that Willis makes, and concluds that he is headed for Colorado.
Kari sends an email to Davis to inform his group of Willis and to ask them to go to Colorado. Yolei arranges transit for the three. Through a combination of commercial flights and reliance on Yolei's numerous uncles in the US, they make it to the Colorado countryside. Meanwhile, Willis and Terriermon begin their journey back to Colorado, following Kokomon's instructions to "go back," walking through the summer heat.
T.K. and Kari take a passenger train headed for Colorado as well. During the ride, Kokomon appears before them outside the train and warns, "Don't interfere." Their D-3s react, and Kokomon disappears, but once everything returns to normal, they find that the train has been derailed.
While Davis's group contemplate their next step, a truck stops nearby. They board the truck and find Willis, who has evidently had the same idea as them. The three attempt to introduce themselves to Willis who, after DemiVeemon (Chibimon) points out that he also has a Digimon with him, they identify as the boy they are seeking.
They become acquainted during the truck ride and after the truck drops them off on a rural road. Willis calls a pizza truck to a payphone, exploiting their delivery service for the next leg of their journey. Cody and Yolei board the truck, but while Davis and Willis are bickering outside it, the driver inadvertently leaves them behind.
Act Two[edit]
Willis's Digivice starts reacting as gusts of wind kick up, and Kokomon appears. Davis and Chibimon immediately move to engage him. DemiVeemon digivolves into Veemon (V-mon) and, after a misguided glider tactic involving Terriermon and Davis results in the group crashing into a nearby billboard, then Armor Digivolves (Armor digivolves) into Flamedramon (Fladramon). Flamedramon initially fares well, but is soon overwhelmed and forced to de-digivolve, and Kokomon insists that they "Go back to the beginning," rejecting Willis's claim that that is already what he is doing. Terriermon digivolves into Gargomon (Galgomon) in the first time and fights Kokomon to a standstill, but Kokomon once again disappears into the wind, still telling them to "go back."
In order to get to to their destination, Davis volunteers alternative form of transport: Raidramon (Lighdramon). Davis, Willis and Terriermon climb aboard Raidramon, and ride him the rest of the way, attracting attention from some children who they pass on the way.
At their destination, Willis's old home, he and Davis reunite with Yolei and Cody, but find that T.K. and Kari still have not arrived. Cody, Davis and Yolei once again attempt to press Willis for answers about Kokomon, but he only cryptically says that the reason is that he "created him" and walks off. Later that night, Davis follows Willis out to a clearing, and Willis finally confesses everything: that Kokomon is his other partner Digimon, but that he has been corrupted by Diaboromon's virus which, since Diaboromon is the result of a misguided attempt to create a third partner Digimon for himself, is his fault. He thinks that Kokomon is trying to tell him what to do but the virus keeps stopping him, but that he believes that going back to the place where it all started is what Kokomon wants. Davis dubs this the "saddest story he has ever heard" and breaks down into tears, although he recovers very quickly when Willis tells him to "get over it."
Terriermon joins the two and insists on helping Willis deal with Kokomon, overcoming Willis's fears of him getting hurt. Davis also volunteers the services of his group to help.
Act Three[edit]
The next morning, Davis, Yolei, Cody and Willis gather at the flower field, where Kokomon appears before them. In a fit of madness, Kokomon ignores everything that Willis says and digivolves into Antylamon (Andiramon). Terriermon, Veemon, Hawkmon and Armadillomon (Armadimon) digivolve into Galgomon, Fladramon, Halsemon (Holsmon) and Digmon and engage Kokomon/Antylamon in a protracted battle. Kokomon is too fast for them and throws them all aside. Eventually, the partner digimon corner Kokomon on the surface of the late, but Kokomon disappears beneath the surface of the water.
The atmosphere around them becomes twisted and cold, and Kokomon emerges from the lake having digivolved into Cherubimon (Vice). Kokomon/Cherubimon unleashes a wave of "black snow" that reverts all of the partner Digimon back to their Rookie forms, and uses a gravitational power to suck them all in and juggle them, throwing them into the mountainside and disappearing into the water once Willis asks him to stop. Terriermon unsuccessfully attempts to protect Willis from Kokomon, and the Rookie-level partner Digimon assail Cherubimon, to little apparent effect.
Kokomon/Cherubimon sucks them in again and threatens to eat them, but they are saved by the intervention of Angemon and Angewomon, as T.K. and Kari arrive to reinforce the group. Angemon and Angewomon's holy attacks appear to inflict immense physical damage to Cherubimon, who disintegrates into a cloud of "black snow" that spreads around the environment and dyes the sky black, which Veemon attributes to the work of the virus.
Kokomon/Cherubimon reappears before them; Willis realizes that by "go back," Kokomon meant that he wanted to go back in time to before the virus attacked him. The DigiDestined begin to de-age, and Willis returns to his age and appearance four years prior, from the day that the virus first attacked Kokomon.
Angemon and Angewomon decide that in order to stop Kokomon/Cherubimon, they need to digivolve into their Mega forms in order to release the Golden Digi-Eggs (Digimentals of Miracles and Fate). They do so, becoming Seraphymon (Seraphimon) and Magnadramon (Holydramon) for the first time. As they planned, Cherubimon strikes them down and forces them to revert back to their base forms, but not before they release the Golden Digi-Eggs. The Digimentals descend into Davis and Willis's hands and, following Davis's instructions, the two activate them with the "Golden Armor Energize" command, causing Veemon and Terriermon to Golden Armor Digivolve into Magnamon and Rapidmon.
Magnamon and Rapidmon bombard Kokomon/Cherubimon with attacks, but their attacks have very little lasting effect. They come up with a plan to allow Cherubimon to swallow them so that they can get access to the virus inside.
Inside Kokomon/Cherubimon, an apparition of Kokomon as Wendigomon appears before Magnamon and Rapidmon, who gestures at himself and instructs them to "destroy" the virus. Deciding that it is "time to heal," Magnamon and Rapidmon attack with all their power. Outside, Magnamon and Rapidmon's internal attacks visibly take effect on Cherubimon, and he is overcome and transforms into Cherubimon (Virtue). Kokomon/Cherubimon thanks Willis for freeing him, and dissolves into light. As Willis cries, fearing that he has now lost both of his partner Digimon, Terriermon and Veemon glide back to the group, having survived Cherubimon's destruction. The sight of Terriermon brings a smile to Willis's face.
The group stands in silence in the flower field as Willis mourns Kokomon. Davis reminds him that Digimon do not actually die, and that someday, Kokomon will return to him.
Back in New York City, Davis, Yolei, Cody, T.K. and Kari say their farewells to Willis, who promises to someday visit them in Japan, but who in the meantime intends to keep traveling. He leaves the group with a parting kiss on the cheek each for Yolei and Kari, infuriating Davis.
Some time later, Willis is back on the road. While he is on the phone with his mother, Kokomon's Digitama appears in a nearby river. Willis and Terriermon excitedly run after it, and they are reunited with Kokomon who, after hatching, takes on his Wendigomon form again and dances, indicating to Willis that he has mellowed.
Gallery[edit]
Promo[edit]
Credits[edit]
- See also:
Position | Name |
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Fox Kids | |
A Saban Entertainment/Toei Animation Company Production | |
Original Concept and Character Design by | Akiyoshi Hongo |
Animation Directors | Takaaki Yamashita Hisashi Nakayama Masahiro Aizawa |
Sound Design by | Johnnie Valentino |
Music Supervisors | Ron Kenan & Andrew R. Muson |
Digimon Theme Song Written by | Shuki Levy & Paul Gordon |
Music by | Udi Harpaz & Amotz Plessner |
Edited by | Douglas Purgason Gary A. Friedman |
Voice Direction by | Jeff Nimoy & Bob Buchholz |
Adaptation and Screenplay by | Bob Buchholz & Jeff Nimoy |
Produced by | Terri-Lei O'Malley |
Executives in Charge of Production | Eric S. Rollman Dana C. Booton |
Director of Studio Operations | Katie Thorpe |
Production Manager | Kimberly S. Moran |
Production Coordinator | Tina D. Wantig |
Script Coordinator | Gwenn Morreale |
Executive in Charge of Post Production | Clive H. Mizumoto |
VP of Post Production Operations | Dan LaBorico |
Post Production Supervisor | Nathan Rotmensz |
Post Production Coordinator | Dave "Chewie" Guerrie |
Director of Sound Operations | Xavier Garcia |
Sound Supervisor | Robert R. Rutledge |
Re-Recording Mixer | Mark Ettel |
Supervising Sound Effects Editor | Johnnie Valentino |
Sound Effects Editors | Philip A. Raves Chuck O'Steen |
Voice Casting Director | Paul Di Franco |
Voice Casting Assistant | Justin Seldman |
ADR Supervisor | Michael Garcia |
ADR Recordists | Kevin Newson Bryan Stewart |
ADR Editors | David Barr John Garcia Brian Lang |
Foley | Robert R. Rutledge Kalea L. Morton Susan B. Lewis |
Audio Assistants | B.C. Celello Adrian Guillen |
Orchestra Conducted by | Udi Harpaz |
Orchestrations by | Edgardo Simone Ayala Asheroye |
Score Performed by | Tel Aviv Symphony Orchestra |
Music Mixed at | Cinema Factory |
Recording Engineers | Israel David Eitan Shamy |
Music Engineers | Mon Agranat Casey Stone |
Music Editors | Liz Magro Jim Wheeler Mark Ryan Mike Rubino |
Assistant Music Engineers | John Sperger Jim Dijulio Tim Gosselin Al Lay |
Music Clearance | Teri Nelson Catherine Farley |
Music Assistants | Juiana Bolden George Kennedy Dusty Rabbin Roy Tomer |
Executive in Charge of Technical Services | Michael Kadenacy |
Director of Technical Services | Kristine Bamattre |
CGI Producer | Kent Butterworth |
CGI Production Manager | Omar McClinton |
CGI Technician | Ed Galvan Jr. |
CGI Assistant Technician | Ed Schimara |
CGI Coordinators | Stacey L. Eilertsen James Kent Jr. Julia Douglas |
Compositor | John R. McConnell |
CGI Animators | Daryl Bartley Patrick Perez Chris Norpchen Jack Cheng |
CGI Production Assistants | Joshua Mandel Adam Kahn Patrick Ying |
Post Production Services Provided by | Level 3 Post Digital Image |
Level 3 Post Consultants | Deanna Schub-Migdal Melissa Cao |
Negative Cutting Provided by | Ultra Film Services Inc. |
Lab Services Provided by | CFI Image Lab Deluxe |
Production Assistance Provided by | Aaron Blutman / Trimana |
Special Thanks to | Remo, Inc. Drum Workshop Inc. Vic Firth Inc. JBL Professional Dean Markley Strings Sabian Cymbals Paul Reed Smith Guitars Ernie Ball/ Music Man National Reso-Phonic Guitars, Inc. Deakon Roads Guitars Taylor Guitars Washburn International E-MU / Ensoniq Cory Care Products |
JAPANESE PRODUCTION | |
Executive Producers | Tan Taikawa Teruo Tamamura (Shueisha) Tsutomu Tomari Yasushi Mitsui Makoto Shibazaki [sic] Makoto Yamashina Makoto Toriyama |
Directors | Mamoru Hosoda Shigeyasu Yamauchi |
Scenario | Reiko Yoshida |
Producer | Hiromi Seki |
Assistant Directors | Tetsuya Sato Tatsuya Nagamine Yuriko Kado Masafumi Tanaka |
Assistant Producers | Michiyo Arihara Hiroyuki Sakurada |
Production Managers | Akihiko Yamaguchi Yoichi Takanashi Kojiro Sumi Toshitsugu Baba Takuya Shibata Kojiro Kuroki Kiyohito Yoshida |
Animation Directors | Shigeki Kohara Kazuto Nakazawa Yasuhiro Aoki Takafumi Hashimoto Hideki Kakita Toshiyuki Kanno Manaka Takahashi Yoshihiko Umagoe |
Animation Director Assistants | Shigeru Kimijima Jun Matsumoto Shuichi Kaneko Hiroyuki Kanbe Tatsuo Yamada Yasunari Nitta Nobutaka Ito Satoru Minowa |
Character design | Katsuhiro Nakatsuru [sic] Hisashi Nakayama Masahiro Aizawa |
Key Animators | Keisuke Masunaga Tadashi Sakazaki Hisashi Nakayama Hiroyuki Okuno Mashiro[sic] Shimanuki Atsushi Matsumoto Kazuya Komai Michio Fukuda Tsutomu Suzuki Noriyuki Takeuchi Hideki Hamasu Takeo Ide Masahiro Aizawa Mikio Odagawa Fumihide Sai Masafumi Ishihama Tatsufumi Tamagawa Kentaro Kawasaki Soichiro Matsuda Shingo Ishikawa Akietsu Hane Takafumi Hashimoto Kenhchi Konishi Shiori Iekeda Aika Takahashi Nobutaka Ito Nobuhiro Masuda Masahiro Ando Masahiko Okura Yasuhiro Namatame Keiko Yamamoto Takahiro Tanaka Takehiro Koichi Usami Yasuhiro Irie Kozue Komatsu Tomomi Ouchi Soichi Nakayama Tatsuya Oishi Kazunori Iwakura Shinya Hasegawa Koichi Arai Takashi Maruyama Yumiko Ishii Kumiko Sakai Hiroyuki Horiuchi Takamitsu Kondo Kaori Komori Yasutoshi Tanba Hiroshi Kamishina Eiji Yasuhiko Shuji Sakamoto Ei Inoue Katsuhiro Nakatsuru [sic] Keiichi Sasajima Ito Yoshiyuki Hisashi Saito Hideki Hashimoto Jun Nakai Fumitoshi Oizaki Katsumi Ishizuka Haruo Tonosaki Tadashi Abiru Koji Watanabe Hidenori Inoue Satoshi Nishimura Munenori Nawa Hidenori Fukuoka Shuichiro Matsuda Yukako Tsuzuki Eisaku Inoue Naoto Hosoda Makoto Matsuo Yoshitaka Yajima Kanta Kamei Masahiro Kurio Masayuki Sato Hiromi Kato Takenori Tsukuma Nobuaki Nagano Kaoru Ozawa Tadayoshi Yamamuro Toshie Kaneko Shinobu Tagashira Yoshiyuki Yamakawa Kenji Yokoyama Sawako Yamamoto Hideki Ito Shigeo Matoba Fumitomo Kisaki Yoichi Mitsui Akira Kano Hiroki Kanno Keiji Ishihara Miki Yoshikawa Hiroko Kazui Ritsuko Watanabe Tsutomu Kikuchi Tomihiko Okubo Shinji Takeuchi Toshinari Yamashita Ken Otsuka Masahiko Matsuyama Tomoaki Kado Noriaki Tetsura Shuji Ono Hitoshi Saiku Kosho Kitanohara Hiroyuki Takahashi Misuyoshi Yoneda Akiko Ikeda Mariko Ueno |
Between Animators | Atsuko Ueno Maki Yamada Chiori Matsuda Takashi Ajiri Kyoko Sato Etsuko Shinohara Rika Kanetaka Yukari Kitahara Tomoko Hirano Yuko Shimohira Manami Yoshikawa Kiyomi Ishiwatari Miki Shimane Rie Kawai Kenji Ota Hisashi Mawatari Ken Ebe Atsushi Yamamoto Masaya Yamagishi Mami Ishikawa Issei Hasegawa Takuya Wakita Hitoshi Takio Akiko Yamawaki Kimiko Yashiro Mihoko Kobayashi Mihoko Tomita Yukitoshi Yamaguchi Akiko Akiyama Mikio Tsuchiya Haruki Miura Mayumi Nishida Katsunori Kaneko Yoshitomo Miura |
Ending Illustration* | Yasuo Otsuko |
Inspectors | Takehiro Maeda Keichi Funada Naota Tanaka Yoko Ohori Masae Motohashi Keiko Yoshizawa Aiko Seguchi Ayumu Ota |
Animation Checkers | Maki Yamada Mihoko Tomita |
Background Directors | Ken Tokushige Seiki Tamura Takao Sawada Shinzo Gyo[sic] |
Background Managers | Hiroshi Takahisa Reiko Kitayama |
Backgrounds | Ken Tokushige Chieko Nakamura Tsuneo Ozeki Seiki Tamura Mitsuo Yoshino Chihoko Nakamura Makoto Suwada Kumiko Fukuzawa Michiyo Kawasaki Masato Ito Nobuharu Ito Goki Nakamura Dai Ota Yuka Hirama Satoko Shinohara Tomoko Aomi Kayo Kojio Yugo Hanamtasu Eiko Sawada Keiko Ueno Shinji Ito Masazumi Matsumiya Liu Ji Nian Sumio Ozeki Hirokuni Goto Yoshiro Kajiwara Toshihiro Kohama Toshiyuki Tokuda Masao Ichiya Akemi Ito Hiroyuki Hasegawa Hiroshi Kanno |
Color Indication | Yasue Itasaka |
Xerograph | Sachiko Torimoto |
Trace | Yoko Ohori |
Painting Managers | Mitsuo Ogino Katsuhiko Doi |
Painters | Keiko Yoshizawa Masae Motohashi Yasuko Sugano Shinichi Tominaga Yukimi Tominaga Tomoko Toki Terumi Narita Miki Tamura Makiko Kawabata Yuko Ota |
Camera | Shigeru Ando Toshiharu Takei Tamio Hosoda Masatoshi Fukui Masaru Sakanishi Yoshiyuki Tashiro Yumiko Kajiwara Tetsuya Numako Yoshitada Ishii |
Special Effects | Nao Ota Nobuhiro Shimokawa Hidenori Toyama Ken Hoshino Chiaki Hirao Norio Katsuoka Masayuki Kochi Tadashi Ota |
Computer Graphics Producer | Toyokazu Hattori |
Computer Graphics Assistant Producer | Takeshi Hyomi |
Computer Graphics Technical Director | Nobuhiro Morita |
Computer Graphics Camera Directors | Motoki Takahashi Takeshi Koyano |
Computer Graphics Background Director | Mitsuo Yoshino |
Computer Graphics Animators | Hidefumi Inohara Hironori Kasano Takeshi Hyomi Naoki Miyahara Toshio Watanabe Kentaro Kawasaki |
Computer Graphics Camera | Satoru Nakatoku Masatoshi Fukui Yoshiyuki Tashiro Shigeru Ando Yumiko Kajiwara Takeshi Koyano Takumi Warao Toshiharu Takei Masaru Sakanishi Tetsuya Numako Yoshitada Ishii |
Computer Graphics Painters | Tomoko Totsuka Kiyomi Fujihashi Kumiko Matsuyama Masayo Ida Megumi Hayashi Noritaka Akiyama Takako Mimuro Oriko Muramoto Yoko Ohori Aiko Seguchi Masae Motohashi Junko Furuya Masako Yamauchi Michiyo Sato Kuniko Murata Sachiko Torimoto Yaeko Kanai Takao Kyonuma Emi Hayashi Fumie Hayashi Mariko Shibata Asami Hoshikawa Kazuya Otani Mayumi Oikawa Maki Kokubo Yoko Suzuki Nami Tsuyuki Hiroko Kimura Noriko Omura Kanako Nishida Masanobu Saito Naoki Ishikawa Mami Hoshikawa Shoko Iura Shinobu Ohata Momo Uchidav Ushio Fujita Koji Shinra Yukiko Tokunaga Toshimitsu Himeno Takayuki Yashiki Hirokazu Nagaoka |
Computer Graphics Cooperated Production |
CSK IMAGE CRAFT CO., LTD |
CGI | Toshiaki Katada |
Register | Minori Katada Mamiko Ogawa |
Prints By DELUXE® | |
DOLBY DIGITAL | |
Motion Picture Association of America No. 37774 | |
©1999-2000 TOEI ANIMATION CO., LTD. © 2000 Fox Family Properties, Inc., Fox Kids Europe Properties Sarl Luxembourg, Zurich Branch, and Fox Kids International Programming, A.V.V. All Rights Reserved. | |
The characters and incidents portrayed and the names herein are fictitious, and any similarity to the name, character or history of any persona, living or dead, or any actual event is entirely coincidental. | |
This motion picture is protected pursuant to the provisions of the laws of the United States of America and other countries. Unauthorized duplication, distribution or exhibition may result in civil liability and criminal prosecution. | |
Released by Twentieth Century Fox |
Character(s) | Voice Actor |
---|---|
Kari/Young Kari (Yagami Hikari) | Lara Jill Miller |
Young Tai/Tai (Yagami Taichi) | Joshua Seth |
Red Greymon (Greymon from Part 1) | Bob Papenbrook |
Parrotmon | David Lodge |
Tai's Mom (Yagami Yuuko) | Dorothy Elias-Fahn |
Miko (Miiko)/ Big Agumon (Agumon from Part 1)/ Gargomon (Galgomon) |
Michael Sorich |
Botamon | Peggy O'Neal |
Sora (Takenouchi Sora)/ Male Student |
Colleen O'Shaughnessey |
Koromon/ Kuramon |
Brianne Siddall |
Truck Driver 1/ Tentomon/ Phone Voice 1/ Kabuterimon/ MegaKabuterimon (Atlur Kabuterimon)/ Floyd the Barber/ Barney/ Cabbie/ Kid 3 |
Jeff Nimoy |
Truck Driver 2/ Male Customer/ Phone Voice 2/ Voice Mail Operator/ Uncle Al/Andy (Shou)/ Squad Leader |
Bob Buchholz |
Mimi (Tachikawa Mimi)/ Cody (Hida Iori)/ Matt's Grandma (Kinu) |
Philece Sampler |
Izzy (Izumi Kōshirō)/ Terriermon (Gummymon) |
Mona Marshall |
Joe (Kido Jo)/ Greymon |
Michael Lindsay |
Matt (Ishida Yamato) | Michael Reisz |
Young TK (Takaishi Takeru, age 8)/ Little Girl 1/ Party Girl 1/ Little Kokomon (Chocomon) |
Wendee Lee |
Boy 1/ Sora's Mom (Takenouchi Toshiko)/ Operator/ Kid 2 |
Elizabeth Rice |
Boy 2/ Palmon/ Aunt Bea (Yasuko)/ Lady Truck Driver/ Kid 1 |
Anna Garduno |
Twin Boy 1/ Computer Voice 2/ Professor/ Hawkmon/ Halsemon (Holsmon) |
Neil Kaplan |
TK (Takaishi Takeru, age 11) | Doug Erholtz |
Birthday Girl (Hori Senri)/ Grocery Girl/ Biyomon (Piyomon)/ Yolei (Inoue Miyako) |
Tifanie Christun |
Newsman | Ralph Garman |
Keramon/ Infermon/ Diaboromon (Diablomon)/ Kokomon (Chocomon) |
Paul St. Peter |
Agumon/ Digmon |
Tom Fahn |
Gennai | Michael Reynolds |
Gabumon/ MetalGarurumon (Metal Garurumon)/ Omnimon (shared) (Omegamon) |
Kirk Thornton |
Patamon | Laura Summer |
Gomamon | R. Martin Klein |
Gatomon (Tailmon)/ Recorded Operator/ Angewomon/ Magnadramon (Holydramon) |
Edie Mirman |
Computer Voice 1/ Poromon/ Flamedramon (Fladramon)/ Raidramon (Lighdramon)/ Magnamon |
Steven Jay Blum |
MetalGreymon (Metal Greymon) | Joseph Pilato |
WarGreymon (War Greymon)/ Omnimon (shared) (Omegamon)/ Rapidmon |
Lex Lang |
Young Willis/Willis (Wallace) | Bob Glouberman |
Davis (Motomiya Daisuke) | Brian Donovan |
Upamon/ Angemon/ Seraphymon (Seraphimon) |
Dave Mallow |
Veemon (V-mon)/ DemiVeemon (Chibimon)/ Pizza Guy |
Derek Stephen Prince |
Armadillomon (Armadimon) | Robert Axelrod |
Soundtrack[edit]
- Main article: Digimon: The Movie soundtrack
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Soundtrack album available on Maverick Records |
Production[edit]
- See also:
The Digimon: The Movie project was allegedly initiated by 20th Century Fox—a sister company to the Fox Broadcasting Company, whose Fox Kids channel was at the time airing "Digimon: Digital Monsters", Saban Entertainment's English dub of Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02. In the wake of the significant success that Warner Bros. had seen distributing 4Kids Entertainment's English-dubbed versions of the Pokémon anime feature films Mewtwo Strikes Back and Revelation-Lugia (dubbed as "The Power of One"), Fox desired a similarly successful Digimon feature film. However, at that time, Toei Animation had not produced any such Digimon feature films for Fox to work with (and would not do so until Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna, 20 years later). To compensate for this, Fox opted to have the extant Toei Anime Fair short films recut into a single feature-length film:[1]
- The Digimon Adventure short film was adapted into Part 1 ("Highton View Terrace, Japan - Eight Years Ago") of The Movie.
- Digimon Adventure: Our War Game! was adapted into Part 2 ("Eight Years Later").
- Digimon Adventure 02: Vol. 1: Digimon Hurricane Landing!! and Vol. 2: Transcendent Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals were adapted into Part 3 ("Present Day").
The Movie was produced on an estimated budget of USD $5 million.[2]
As with the bulk of the Saban dubs of Adventure and 02, Jeff Nimoy and Bob Buchholz (as independent contractors through their joint venture production company, Spliced Bread Productions) wrote the English screenplay and performed voice direction duties for The Movie; Nimoy did the bulk of the directorial work, while Buchholz focused on writing and story editing. During the process, they were beholden to executive review and critique; feedback to submitted script drafts frequently requested that they "make it funnier."[3]
According to Nimoy, he submitted a first cut of The Movie which was comprised only of Digimon Adventure and Our War Game!, of which he was quite proud. He has described this cut as being largely identical to the final cut of The Movie, sans any footage or content from Digimon Hurricane Landing!! and Transcendent Evolution!!; at the time, he had personally conceived of Digimon Hurricane Landing!! and Transcendent Evolution! as instead being someday used by Saban Entertainment as a separate television special or direct-to-DVD release. However, after the submission of this cut, executives subsequently mandated—over his objections—that they also integrate Digimon Hurricane Landing!! and Transcendent Evolution!! into the production. As a result, Nimoy and Buchholz were left to to, in Nimoy's words, "make it all make sense."[3]
One major change made to Nimoy's first cut that resulted from this mandate was the insertion of Willis (Wallace) into The Movie's version of Our War Game!, as well as reciprocal attempts to write Diaboromon (Diablomon) into the plot of The Movie's version of Digimon Hurricane Landing!! and Transcendent Evolution!! Another was the direction of the narration: prior to this decision, Tai Kamiya (Yagami Taichi) had held the role of narrator, but the heavy cutting and rewrites that The Movie performed on Digimon Hurricane Landing!! and Transcendent Evolution!! resulted in him being entirely absent from The Movie's "Present Day" part, so to compensate, the narrator role was instead given to Kari Kamiya (Yagami Hikari), who remained present in all three parts of The Movie.[3]
Nimoy would later state that he wished they had "left his first cut alone," and that he viewed the mandate to work Digimon Hurricane Landing!! and Transcendent Evolution! into The Movie as especially detrimental to the structure of the final cut, citing the insertion of Willis into its version of Our War Game! in particular as "crammed in" and "[bogging] down" the final cut.[3]
Nimoy has cited the decisions made during production of The Movie, among other subsequent differences of opinion and clashes of personality with his colleagues, as factors in the eventual departure of himself, Buchholz and Spliced Bread Productions from Saban's Digimon dub production near the end of the dubbing of Adventure 02. Nimoy eventually returned to regularly writing for and performing in Digimon dubs in 2005, as a freelancer on commission by Studiopolis, after The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of the Digimon anime dub license, while Buchholz's only subsequent work on the franchise was as the announcer and English voice director of Digimon Battle Chronicle.[3]
The extent of the edits and rewrites to the films that comprised The Movie was such that in 2000, before The Movie's release, the resulting dissimilarity to the original films was used by the Screen Actors Guild as grounds for a legal action against Saban Entertainment. SAG argued that The Movie no longer constituted a "dub" under the terms of their dubbing agreement with Saban due to the "significant" extent of its "revisions, reformatting, additions, deletions and modifications." Saban had intended to pay the English voice cast (who were members of SAG) under the terms of the dubbing agreement, under which they were not owed residuals for subsequent television broadcasts or home media releases of the dubs; SAG argued that that if The Movie no longer constituted a dub under the dubbing agreement's own terms, then the cast were entitled to remuneration commensurate with a non-dub production, in which case they would be owed residuals, and on this basis sought said residuals from Saban.[4] The outcome of this action is unknown.
The final cut of The Movie infamously cut an entire main plotline from Digimon Hurricane Landing!! and Transcendent Evolution!! in which Chocomon was abducting and de-aging the elder six Adventure Chosen Children in his efforts to find Wallace (see below). However, the promotional blurb for The Movie (which remained unchanged on home media boxes long after its premiere) still reads in part, "[...] [when] a wayward Digimon kidnaps the Digidestined[sic]," potentially suggesting that the plotline may, at some point, have been intended to be retained in The Movie; when and why the cut occurred is currently unconfirmed.
The character section on Fox Kids' official website for The Movie lists Wallace as "Wallace," his original Japanese name, potentially indicating that at some point, there were no plans to rename him "Willis," as he was known in the final cut.[5]
In both its theatrical and contemporary home media releases—but not in the upcoming "Digimon The Movies Collection 1" Blu-ray release[6]—The Movie opens with a four-minute short for the Canadian cartoon series Angela Anaconda, in which the main cast attempt to watch The Movie in theaters. This short later aired independently of The Movie as a televised episode of Angela Anaconda, under the title "Good Seats," albeit with all dialog references to the Digimon franchise and its terminology removed and replaced with the fictitious "Mega Giants" franchise.
Edits[edit]
- Main articles:
In an attempt to turn three disparate films which, other than recurring characters, have no connection to each other into a single narrative, Digimon: The Movie implements an extensive number of edits, cuts, recuts and rewrites to the constituent films, radically changing their plot and characterization. Of the films, Digimon Hurricane Landing!! and Transcendent Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals are the most severely affected by these alterations; one estimate places the amount of footage that The Movie cut from them at 49%.[7]
Significant and/or overarching changes made in the service of The Movie are as follows. For more detailed analyses of changes made by The Movie to each individual part, see the Edits sections on the respective pages of the original films.
- The standard changes made by Saban Entertainment in seasons 1 and 2 of "Digimon: Digital Monsters," their dubs of Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02, apply to The Movie, including:
- Significantly longer-winded dialog, frequent addition of previously nonexistent jokes, and frequent addition of previously nonexistent dialog over what were originally moments of silence. (In the case of the latter, Kari Kamiya's (Yagami Hikari) narration is the most frequent culprit of this in The Movie.)
- Recharacterization of characters due to dialog changes; the habit of adding jokes tends to make the dub versions of the characters much snarkier and ruder than their Japanese counteparts.
- Total replacement of the original score with Saban's music direction. In the case of The Movie, both recycled tracks from the Saban dubs of Adventure and Adventure 02 and licensed US pop songs are used.
- Playing the designated digivolution (evolution) insert song, the Saban "Digimon Theme," in almost every single instance of an allied Digimon doing so, regardless of whether the original version did so or whether it fits the tone of a scene.
- Frequent, albeit not comprehensive, edits of on-screen Japanese text into English; most notably, all of the emails exchanged in Part 2 (Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!).
- Substantial amounts of voiced dialog are added for Digimon who either do not speak at all, or barely speak, in the original films, namely Omnimon (Omegamon), Diaboromon (Diablomon), and Kokomon's (Chocomon) Cherubimon forms.
- None of the original versions of the constituent films have active narration throughout; the closest that any of them come is a framing device in the beginning and end of the Digimon Adventure short film, in which Yagami Taichi (specifically, his eleven-year-old self from the Adventure television series), reflects on the film's events. In The Movie, Kari provides narration throughout the film, often irreverent in tone and often explaining in detail what is happening or about to happen.
- The title cards for the three parts of The Movie distort the timeline in which its constituent films originally occurred.
Based on cues from both the original films and the two televised anime series, the timeline of the original films is as follows:- Supplementary interview materials for the Adventure series establish that the Adventure short film is set in the spring of 1995. The 1995 year is indirectly affirmed on-screen by the Adventure episode "Mammon, the Great Clash in Hikarigaoka!" (set in early August 1999, says the events of the film occurred four years prior) and Transcendent Evolution!! (set in the summer of 2002, estimates that the events of the film occurred seven years prior).
- A calendar in the background of Our War Game! itself, and dialog in the subsequent Adventure 02 episode "Shurimon's Hurricane", establish that Our War Game! is set in March 2000, in the springtime. A minor visual gag in Our War Game! may or may not more specifically date the events of the film to March 4, 2000.
- A combination of dates given in Adventure 02 and information on Toei Animation's official websites' documentation of the two films dates Digimon Hurricane Landing!! and Transcendent Evolution!! to the summer of 2002.
- Therefore, the total elapsed time across the four films in their original incarnations is approximately seven years.
- In contrast, The Movie's title cards establish a total timeline of eight years, with the parts each being evenly set four years apart from each other. No years are ever explicitly identified. The March calendar from Our War Game! can still be seen in The Movie, but a line of dialog in The Movie's version of Our War Game!—in which Taichi's original remarks on Kido Jo's whereabouts are rewritten to have Tai instead claim that "[Joe (Jo) is] the only kid I know who volunteers for summer school!"—may suggest that it is intended to be summer instead in this version of events.
- The Movie also significantly reduces the time since Willis (Wallace) lost Kokomon. In Transcendent Evolution!!, Wallace tells Motomiya Daisuke that Chocomon disappeared seven years prior (by Daisuke's estimation, around the same time as Taichi's first encounter with a Digimon, i.e. the events of the Adventure short film in 1995). In The Movie, since Kokomon's disappearance was caused by Diaboromon's virus shortly after its defeat by Omnimon, only four years have passed; the footage in the disappearance scene is unmodified, creating a disparity between Willis's age and appearance in each (going from appearing 4 years old to appearing to be a preteen in just four years).
- Cuts and rewrites result in the creation of some new characters, and the removal of others, for The Movie:
- Taichi and Hikari's father, Yagami Susumu, is totally cut from Part 1 (the Digimon Adventure short film).
- Shou, a minor supporting character in Our War Game!, is rewritten and split into two characters for the purpose of Part 2: "Uncle Al," who takes Matt Ishida (Ishida Yamato) and T.K. Takaishi (Takaishi Takeru) into town on his motorbike; and "Andy," an unrelated barbershop patron. Both characters are still voiced by the same actor, Bob Buchholz.
- Part 2 dubs over shots of the missile beginning its descent—which, in Our War Game!, were originally dialog-less—to add dialog from a newly created character, a military squad leader who has tried and failed to destroy said missile.
- In Part 3, two characters who assist Davis's (Daisuke) group in their transit to Colorado, who are never given any established identities in Digimon Hurricane Landing!!, are identified as American uncles of Yolei Inoue (Inoue Miyako); the pilot of the private flight they take, in particular, is named "Uncle Fred." During their first scene in the Colorado countryside, new dialog is also written to have Yolei claim that a third uncle of hers, who owns horses, lives in the area. None of these uncles have any basis in the original films, and were presumably added so that the children wouldn’t be riding with strangers.
- The central plotline of Digimon Hurricane Landing!! and Transcendent Evolution!!, in which Chocomon abducts the Chosen Children, is entirely removed from The Movie. As a result, all footage depicting Taichi, Yamato, Jo, Izumi Kōshirō, Takenouchi Sora and Tachikawa Mimi past the opening credits/opening montage is entirely cut, and none of them have any lines in Part 3. The excising of this plotline has significant repercussions on what remains of the plot—ranging from the motivations of Kokomon, to Kari's impetus for calling Davis (Daisuke)'s group of DigiDestined (Chosen Children) to the US—and is a major cause of the cutting of significant amounts of footage from the two original films.
- The Movie's versions of Our War Game!, Digimon Hurricane Landing!! and Transcendent Evolution!! are extensively rewritten in an attempt to merge the plots about Diaboromon (Diablomon) in the former and Willis in the latter into a single narrative; in the original films, since each character does not exist at all in the opposite film, they have nothing at all to do with each other. Major changes to accomplish this include:
- In Our War Game!, Kōshiro's initial information about Kuramon comes from an anonymous Russian contact, who is only discussed briefly at the beginning of the film. In The Movie, Willis totally replaces this contact and also adopts their backstory as a computing prodigy, and is given a much more significant role throughout the duration of Part 2; emails that Izzy (Kōshirō) receives are often replaced with Willis giving advice, including the advice to slow Diaboromon down that results in its defeat.
- In Our War Game!, Diablomon has no particular motivations but to consume data and to "play" with the Chosen Children in its own dangerous manner. In The Movie, it is established through both extensive added dialog and changes to the content of its emails that its actions are specifically targeting a "programmer" who is later identified as Willis.
- In Our War Game!, Diabomon is found by the analysis of Kōshirō's Russian friend to have been formed by the agglomeration of computer bugs on the internet. In The Movie, Willis eventually admits to being directly responsible for its creation: on a lark, he had attempted to create a Digi-Egg (Digitama) by himself, but a virus had infected it and mutated it into Diaboromon.
- In Digimon Hurricane Landing!! and Transcendent Evolution!!, Chocomon's origin and motivation is that a) after having been separated from Wallace by a whirlwind, he is attempting to find Wallace but is totally unable to recognize his grown-up self as the Wallace that he knew, b) his efforts to find the Wallace that he remembers entail abducting and de-aging owners of original-model Digivices to see if one of them is Wallace, and c) his loneliness and fixation on his early past with Wallace have twisted him.
In The Movie, following its destruction, Diaboromon's virus tracked him down and infected Kokomon, taking him away from Willis and Terriermon (Gummymon); since the original plotline about the abduction of the Chosen Children was cut entirely, Kokomon now wants to "go back" in time to before the virus infected it. - In Digimon Hurricane Landing!! and Transcendent Evolution!!, the ultimate goal of the Chosen Children is to, reluctantly, destroy Chocomon in order to put it out of its misery and save the abducted Chosen Children. In The Movie, the goal of the DigiDestined becomes to destroy the virus inside Kokomon, and all subsequent evolutions and changes in demeanor that it undergoes are attributed to the virus.
- In an attempt to reinforce the connection between Diaboromon and Kokomon, The Movie makes the following further changes:
- Both are voiced by the same voice actor in all forms past In-Training (Baby II): Paul St. Peter. (In the original version of Our War Game!, Diablomon has no voice actor, and the sole line of dialog that it and its copies speak is computer-generated.)
- Several recurring phrases, which they (as well as other characters, on occasion) both speak at some point, are written into the script, including "Go back to the beginning," "Don't interfere," and "Time to heal." As a result of this, Diaboromon has vastly more spoken dialog than Diablomon (again, originally only having a single computer-generated line) does.
- Both of them have an attack named Cable Crusher in The Movie. In the original films, attack names are never given or announced at all, but other Digimon media names the attack of Wendimon's in question Club Arm; Diablomon had no such named attack in Japanese media until Digimon Battle Chronicle, which retains the Cable Crusher name.
- Mentions and footage of Willis are also added to Kari's narration in Part 1, to set the character up from the beginning of The Movie. Naturally, once again, none of the Willis-centric content was ever present in the original version of the Adventure short film.
- The original credits for the constituent films feature background footage that provides a glimpse into the films' respective aftermaths, none of which is kept or repurposed for The Movie, as its combined credits instead run over black. As a consequence of the loss of this footage, some details from the plots of the constituent films are lost:
- The last two images in Our War Game!'s credits provide the payoff for the film's ongoing subplot between Taichi and Sora: Sora finally replies to Taichi's email, in which she expresses gratitude for the hairclip gift, and attaches a photograph of herself wearing it. This payoff is absent from The Movie.
- The second still image in the Digimon Hurricane Landing!!/Transcendent Evolution!! credits depicts the aftermath of the appearance of Chocomon's Digitama: him (having hatched and taken the form of Lopmon) and Gummymon playing with Wallace. The Movie replaces this payoff with a joke scene in which Kokomon, once again in his Wendigomon (Wendimon) form, dances to Smash Mouth's "All Star" (accomplished by recycling footage from the preamble to the final fight with Chocomon, originally depicting him in an anguished delirium, the original scene of which had been cut from The Movie).
- As a result of the loss of the still image, Chocomon's Lopmon form does not appear at all in The Movie, although an ersatz white-and-dark-green recolor of him is still present on its theatrical poster.
Marketing[edit]
Jeff Nimoy has also expressed dissatisfaction with how The Movie was marketed.[3]
Reception[edit]
Digimon: The Movie received widespread negative reviews from western film critics. The review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes reports a "Rotten" critic approval rate of 24%, and characterizes the critical consensus as deeming it "[...] a predictable movie with mediocre animation."[8] Its status as an edit of multiple other films did not factor into the critical conversation.
The Movie was commercially successful. It grossed a total of over USD $16 million worldwide: 57.9% of it (over USD $9.5 million) domestically in the United States of America, over 91 days in 1,823 movie theaters; and 42.1% of it (over USD $7 million) in international markets, including over USD $1.5 million in the United Kingdom and over USD $2 million in Germany.[2]
Extra[edit]
Digivolutions (Evolutions)[edit]
- Digi-Egg (Digitama) → Botamon → Koromon → Agumon → Greymon → MetalGreymon (Metal Greymon) → WarGreymon (War Greymon)
- Tentomon → Kabuterimon → MegaKabuterimon (Atlur Kabuterimon)
- Gabumon → MetalGarurumon (Metal Garurumon)
- Kuramon → Tsumemon → Keramon → Infermon → Diaboromon (Diablomon)
- WarGreymon + MetalGarurumon → Omnimon (Omegamon)
- DemiVeemon (Chibimon) → Veemon (V-mon)
- Veemon + Digi-Egg of Courage (Digimental of Courage) → Flamedramon (Fladramon)
- Veemon + Digi-Egg of Friendship (Digimental of Friendship) → Raidramon (Lighdramon)
- Veemon + Digimental of Miracles → Magnamon
- Gummymon → Terriermon → Gargomon (Galgomon)
- Terriermon + Digi-Egg of Destiny (Digimental of Fate) → Rapidmon
- Kokomon (Chocomon) → Lopmon → Wendigomon (Wendimon) → Antylamon (Andiramon) → Cherubimon (Vice) → Cherubimon (Virtue)
- Poromon → Hawkmon
- Hawkmon + Digi-Egg of Love (Digimental of Love) → Halsemon (Holsmon)
- Upamon → Armadillomon (Armadimon)
- Armadillomon + Digi-Egg of Knowledge (Digimental of Knowledge) → Digmon
- Patamon → Angemon → Seraphymon (Seraphimon)
- Gatomon (Tailmon) → Angewomon → Magnadramon (Holydramon)
In Other Media[edit]
Home Media Releases[edit]
Image | Name | ID No. | Format | RRP | Release Date | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Running Time | Picture Track | Audio Track | Distributor | |||
Digimon: The Movie | B000056BS7[9] | VHS | Unknown | February 6, 2001[9] | ||
82 minutes[9] | Unknown, Color[9] | Unknown (English)[9] | 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (label: "Fox Kids Video")[9] | |||
Digimon: The Movie | B000056BS8[10] | DVD | Unknown | February 6, 2001[10] | ||
82 minutes[10] | Full-screen, Color[10] | 1) Dolby Digital 5.1 (English) 2) Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround (English) 3) DTS ES 6.1 (English)[10] |
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (label: "Fox Kids Video")[10] | |||
Digimon the Movies 1-3 Collection | TBA | Blu-ray Disc | TBA | December 17, 2024[11] | Compilation release, which includes an HD remaster of The Movie, as well as its constituent films in their original, uncut forms. Produced by With the Will administrator MarcFBR.[12] | |
129 minutes (total)[11] | 16:9, Color[11] | TBA (English)[13] | Discotek Media[13] |
Additional Information[edit]
External Links[edit]
- Digimon: The Movie section on Fox Kids' official website (Archived by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
- Digimon: The Movie on Wikipedia