Digimon Adventure 02 Movie: Diaboromon Strikes Back

CaseyJewels Nov 15, 2015

6.5

Out of the first three Digimon movies, the one with Diaboromon was my favorite, as it explored a new idea while raising the stakes pretty high, and it was the movie I remembered best from my childhood. However, I can’t say I remembered this fourth movie at all—partly because it wasn’t part of the package for the single American Digimon movie, and partly because it doesn’t leave as much of an emotional impact. Diaboromon is back, this time with the 02 cast taking the focus. Matt and Tai have some focus as well, since they were the ones that originally defeated Diaboromon, and I have to say that was one of my favorite things about this movie, is that some of the older kids play a more active role than they do throughout the majority of 02. However, by this movie, it seems that those behind Digimon had decided Sora and Matt should get together, unlike the first movie with Diaboromon, where it was clearly Tai and Sora. Not to say there wasn’t a moment or two that could be read as hope for Taiora, but the romance with Matt and Sora was clearer… Normally I don’t let shipping affect my opinion of a show/movie/whatever too much, but Matt and Sora liking each other is just so left field in the show. I can see Matt maybe liking Sora a little, because it’s not like there were a lot of choices for him out of the main cast, but Sora and Tai just always seemed like a better match. But I think I’ve rambled enough about shipping. I guess I’m still bitter about it, and this movie has a very blatant Matt/Sora moment, which makes me want to complain about shipping. For the plot of the movie, I think the idea was to make Diaboromon seem like more of a threat with him finding a way to enter the real world, but he honestly felt like more of a threat in the first movie. I think it’s because of the speed he had in the first movie. The way he was defeated there was by email slowing down his speed enough for Omnimon to land a blow. So, it stands to reason he would be a bigger threat in the real world because there is nothing to slow down his speed there. Except they didn’t bring in his speed at all. It felt like a lost opportunity. Not to say he wasn’t a big threat, and he certainly was plenty powerful, but it felt odd to take away one of his biggest strengths while trying to up the stakes. Still, it was a great (and emotional) fight, and I enjoyed the movie as a whole. Like I’ve said with all of the previous movies, I like the animation style, but there’s something about it that just gives it kind of a lazy appearance. But Ken looks extremely adorable in it. :P Overall, it’s not a bad follow-up to the second Digimon movie, and I like the idea of Diaboromon’s threat growing by him entering the real world, but he actually seemed stronger in the first movie, and thus more of a threat. But I still enjoyed it.

Jonmon11 Dec 28, 2013

5

I think this movie was meh, nothing like movie 4. It didn't have much battle buildup and the story wasn't that good compared to the first 3 movies. Overall I give it 5, since it was fine, but nothing I'd rewatch anytime soon.

FreddyCrab Jan 15, 2012

8.5

Story: In this particular story of Digimon, Diaboromon (from the second film) has returned and now it is up to both all the Digidestined from series one and series two, as well as other Digidestined spread all across the world, to take him down. I thoroughly enjoyed this film, but was a little dissappointed with how spread out it was. All the characters split up into groups of twos or threes to travel to various destinations across the world and find other foreign Digidestined to team up against Diaboromon. Although I enjoyed seeing such a diverse amount of characters present, the fact that there were about 8 groups of characters, each with indivdual stories playing out, meant the film was a slight bit of a muddle. For a few minutes it would go on about Sora and Yolei in the Arctic, then it would move to Mimi and T.K. in New York, then quickly change to Ken and Matt in some weird cave of somesort in a rainforest somewhere. Add this to about 5 other groups going to places such as France and Britain and wherever else, I'm sure you can gather how confusing this film could get at times. So many characters also meant limited screen time for all of them all, so whenever your favourite character would come up on screen they would only be on for a few minutes then dissappear for quite some time T_T Animation: For the early 2000s, animation in Digimon is great ^^ It could go a little sloppy like all the other films, but only for a little bit. In all the important parts of the film it was amazing. Sound: Same as every other film. The same themes were used as well as different fitting music. Characters: I love them all <3 But like aforementioned, there were so many so spread out it was hard to get a good idea about them all. Seeing both season one characters and season two characters collaborate was very interesting though. Plus, I think this was the first time in a film where ALL the characters were there, even Ken whos known to hardly be present at all for, well, anything.  Overall: Although a great film, I think this one is more for the Digimon otaku's who want to see what a collaboration of seasons 1 and 2 of Digimon would be like. People who aren't that bothered about Digimon would find this one pretty dull.