Ash and Pikachu stumble into a new mystery and make some new friends along the way.
What They Say:
Deep within the Forest of Okoya, the Mythical Pokémon Zarude live in a troop and maintain a strict rule that forbids outsiders from entering their territory. Elsewhere in the jungle lives Koko, a human boy raised by a lone Zarude who left the troop. Koko has grown up never doubting that he is a Zarude. But one day, a chance meeting with Ash and Pikachu leaves Koko with his first human friend. Is he truly a Pokémon? Or is he, in fact, a human? When danger threatens the jungle, the bonds between Pokémon and human—and the love between parent and child—will be put to the test.
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this film brings us the English language dub in 5.1 using the old standby of the Dolby Digital codec. While I continue to foolishly want to get the original language here, the dub for this is pretty strong overall and delivers a good series of performances across the length of the film. The sound design for it works well with the music definitely hitting some really good notes throughout and working an enjoyable theme song. The action moments deliver just as they should with some things being thrown to the rear channels while the dialogue itself is pretty straightforward. Everything is done here as it should be and there aren’t any real surprises; it’s simply solidly executed throughout.
Video:
Originally in theaters in Japan on Christmas 2020, the encoding for this film presents it in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 480p the MPEG-2 codec. Animated by OLM, the end result is a pretty strong one overall for DVD with some really good animation, detail, and design that is captured by the encoding. It has a pretty solid bit rate throughout so that it’s not cutting corners and the end result is a film that looks quite vibrant at times but handles the muted side as well. It plays to a more natural look for a lot of it but it doesn’t go for an overly garish green with so many other colors. And that helps a lot to really create a feeling for the film. There’s a really clean look to it overall with no cross-coloration and very little if any banding or gradients that I could see in the original source. It’s not as strong as the high-definition release for obvious reasons but it’s not something that looks bad, especially if your playback device has some solid upscaling capabilities.
Packaging:
The packaging for this release comes in a standard-sized DVD case with an o-card that replicates the case artwork. As is the case with most o-card releases, it definitely outshines the case version because of the paper quality and this one makes out really well with the reds and oranges from the cover that uses the key visual and poster from the Japanese side. Getting this group sitting on a hill at sunset watching out over the valley really works well even if it doesn’t say too much about the film. The back cover gives us a nice film visual of Dada and Koko together talking and the logo just below it before it goes into a pretty standard summary of the premise. The minor technical information is clearly listed as well while the reverse side artwork from the cover features the Zarude jumping about across both panels. No show-related inserts are included.
Menu:
The menu design for this release is pretty nice overall even if it does stick to various clips from the film itself. With the theme song playing over it in a rather soothing way that builds well to create an emotional bond, the clips have a more subdued feeling overall and when the pops of vibrancy come in it really stands out, though the whole thing loops poorly. The navigation along the bottom works a kind of deep burnt brown look with gold text that has a nice bit of gold leaf and vine elements to it that gives it a little added definition. Everything loads quickly and easily as there are no language selections here though you can turn the subtitles/captioning off and on.
Extras:
The only extra is the inclusion of the trailer.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Pokemon: Secrets of the Jungle is the 23rd feature film in the decades-long film series that complements the various TV projects. This film landed in 2020 in Japan and in 2021 saw a Netflix debut in English for North American audiences. It’s now found its path to home video through partner Viz Media who has been releasing the home video versions of this property going back to the late 1990s. I still have some fond memories of those early days in watching the show, wishing it was in Japanese of course, and then watching as my kids became fans and continue to play the games in a big way all this time later. I’ve had some light interactions with the property over the years with a film experience here and there but I’ve never been one to follow it in any serious way, so forgive my near-complete-outsider view of the film.
The cold open for this film brings us to the first of Okoya where the Zarude exists. This introduces us to one of the beings there that discovers a baby human who he ends up essentially taking care of, even though it costs him a lot with his own people. They’ve spent a decade together and he’s now known as Dada while the child has grown into a boy named Koko, who of course thinks he’s a Zarude like the one that has raised him. You can see some easy paths from there about Koko not knowing who he truly is and having to grapple with that in the film but also a sense of Dada having to let go of Koko once they find a place that he truly belongs. It’s nothing that surprises in the larger view of things but one of the welcome twists to this is that both of them – and the Zarude it seems – all speak normally and not just “Zarude” or something like most Pokemon do.
In the present, we get to catch up with Ash as he’s nearby with Pikachu and is going on with his usual journey. That leads him to deal with a group from the Biotope Company that’s focusing on a nearby spring and its medicinal powers, which is in the same are as Team Rocket trying to figure out their next plan to be the comical villains that they are. It is kind of reassuring that decades later we’ve still got the same core setup here for these characters and that there’s a kind of timeless element about it. Naturally, everything has to combine over time as we get Koko rolling right into Ash and company and realizing that there are people that look just like him, and that he may not be what he thought he was. It’s standard identity crisis stuff but for the target audience it’s pretty well presented and sets up the internal conflict for him while at the same time providing for a friend in Ash to connect with and to try and understand things. Plus, you know, plenty of Pikachu time as well.
The film works through a lot of stuff while expanding on the villainous side as it goes on, which isn’t always Team Rocket as is par for the course, so there really aren’t any surprises for folks who have seen any number of works over the years. Honestly, it’s easy to get some traditional Tarzan / George of the Jungle vibes here with what it’s doing and that’s certainly an easy riff to play when it comes to Pokemon themselves and the complication of a human raised among some of them. It manages to work a pretty good light tone throughout most of it and when it gets a bit darker and more serious, as these films always have, it doesn’t feel too out of sorts because you know that the good side will shine through. And I can definitely appreciate that, having seen my own kids go through enjoying and being quite taken by such works when they were younger. And that’s the kind of stuff you need out in the world, something that the Pokemon films do really well.
In Summary:
While it’s easy to write off a Pokemon film as just another Pokemon project, and there is some easy truth within that idea, the reality is that these projects are put together with a lot of care and effort for their intended audience. I’ve never really been that audience but they work the film in a way so that if I do end up watching it with kids, well, it’s not a bad experience like a lot of films aimed at younger audiences. Yes, take task with the musical montage moment or some of the easy formula, but compare and contrast to the hyperactive films we get from Hollywood and this feels positively glacial at times in what it’s doing. And it works better because of it as kids are able to engage with the characters better and the stakes feel a bit more fully realized. This is a pretty straightforward film with a Pokemon layer on top of it but it all comes together well with some really strong animation throughout and some very appealing elements in how the story comes together.
Features:
English 5.1 Language, English Closed Captions, Trailer
Content Grade: B
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B
Menu Grade: B-
Extras Grade: N/A
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: October 18th, 2022
MSRP: $19.98
Running Time: 97 Minutes
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
