CaseyJewels

I'm not sure how I feel about this movie.

It's the first movie with the 02 cast (presumably before Ken joins their team, as I don't think he was mentioned even once), and it's a fun ride.

The focus is on Willis, who is an American Digidestined. He has two Digimon--twins--and it's easy to see how powerful is bond was with them as a child, and then the interactions between him and Terriermon when a little older was just so darn cute. You can tell how much they really care for and understand each other in just the smallest of ways, such as the expressions on their faces. It was this movie and the cute way they animated Terriermon that made me want one of my own.

The main cast was great as well, and it was fun watching them again.

As for the plot, it is an interesting take on Digimon. The show has dealt with digivolving the wrong way when forced, but it hasn't dealt with what happens when your own Digimon goes evil (not counting Gatomon, because hers happened for a reason, and not under Kari's care). You could really feel the emotion, of Willis doing all he can to try to stop Chocomon without actually hurting the Digimon he cares for. I loved the arc Willis has to go through, both in letting others in and in doing what needs to be done.

Now, the animation. It's similar in style to the first two movies, but--at least to me--it feels a little more different. It almost felt like they were trying to combine the style of the first two movies with the style of the show, and while the animation still gave off a little bit of a lazy vibe, it worked. Not to say I don't like the style (Terriermon was especially cute because of it), but it just looks lazy.

For a few random nitpicks, I find it odd how Willis says he learned Japanese from a girlfriend, but then there's one telephone conversation with his mom where he's speaking Japanese... It struck me as odd, as ever other time he spoke to her in English. Also, it felt like the girlfriend thing was just thrown in to explain how he knows Japanese. Not to say Willis couldn't have had a girlfriend at his age (and he acts a little like he knows what he's doing around girls), but I got the impression that it had always been just him and his Digimon (and his mom). But maybe not.

Another nitpick is Chocomon. Why did he go evil, exactly? Looking it up, it seems the English version had him turn evil because of the same virus that corrupted Diaboromon. Which would explain why I was thinking that until I watched the movie in Japanese just now. Because in the Japanese version, they don't really try to explain it at all. All I get via a wiki is that Chocomon was corrupted by a virus unrelated to Diaboromon. Which just seems odd, and a bit frightening, that you can be having a great time with your Digimon only for them to disappear and turn evil because of a random virus. How often does that kind of thing happen? Pretty scary.

For my last nitpick, which is a pretty big one... Let's talk about Patamon's and Gatomon's mega evolution. That's right, mega. That never gets brought up in the actual show. I don't mind so much that Davis never uses the Digimental of Miracles again, but it's really odd that Patamon and Gatomon are able to reach mega in this movie and they don't bother to ever do it again, where it would have been very helpful in the big battle at the end of 02. Also, in this movie, they were both kind of like 'let's evolve to mega and see what miraculous thing occurs'. Like evolving into mega was just a choice, and not something they hadn't been able to do before. I do like that they know ahead of time their evolutions are something special, as the two of them have unlocked special evolutions for others before. But still. It kind of came out of nowhere and it's odd the show itself never included their megas if that was something they could do. Also, I realize they were going to mega just for something special to happen, but mega is a pretty powerful level. Shouldn't they have been able to stop Chocomon themselves, rather than giving their power up so Terriermon and Veemon could digivolve to a level under mega? What I guess I'm saying is that it was cool to see their mega forms, but it was used as a plot device to get the digimentals, and that just didn't work for me. While their evolutions have always been special, they've never been shoved aside as a device.

Now, on to a positive! Davis and the Digimental of Miracles. It always made me sad some of the Chosen Children of 02 don't get their own crests, but even though it's a spin-off movie (that I think is considered canon, even with my big nitpick above), I think Davis' crest really is the Crest of Miracles. Yes, he fits Courage and Friendship really well, but in a way Miracles is what he gets by combining those two traits. He's strong because of his courage and his bond with others, and that makes it so miracles can happen. The crest really fits him.

So, overall, I did enjoy this movie. Willis and Terriermon were a great new pair to introduce, and the character interactions were all great and fun, and I loved the arc Willis went through. The fight at the end was fun to watch, and it's great to see Davis getting another option for a crest, and that's the one I see as actually his.