Digimon: The Movie I

Comparison by Guest Reviewer Sato.

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Gear’s Notes: Welcome to Digimon: The Catastrophe. The first Digimon movie was an extensively butchered amalgamation of the first three Digimon movies, linked together by made-up plot threads that didn’t exist in the Japanese version because Fox wanted to capitalize on the success of the first Pokémon movie.

To say that their efforts failed would be a drastic understatement.

This is a comparison between the first movie, Digimon Adventure, and the first chapter of Digimon: The Movie. Use the Adventure navigation link at the top of the page to find parts two and three.

Good luck!

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[Update 28 March 2010]
Dario Speedwagon: Fun fact about the movie’s DVD box, as presented by Digifan01 from the forums:

“I’ve noticed on the back of DIGIMON THE MOVIE’s dvd case (that’s how they type it on the front) that it says.

When a powerful new internet Digimon hatches and begins to consume data at an alarming rate, the Digidestined- kids chosen to save the digital world- must put an end to the destruction before damage become irreversible and worldwide communication halts forever. As computer-based missiles are launched and wayward Digimon kidnaps the Digidestined, only the combined efforts of a worldwide network of kids and a new group of “Digidestined” can rescue the others and stop global disaster.

And about the bolded Digimon thing: I didn’t make that up. It’s actually colored yellow on the DVD case. But what inconsistent is that they mention the original chosen children getting kidnapped. WHICH DIDN’T HAPPEN IN THE DUB, SABAN!!!”

Way to watch the correct version of the movie you’re summarizing, DVD-box-writer-person! Thanks, Digifan01!

Ok, so you start watching “Digimon: The Movie” and then… You find Angela Anaconda “Digivolving” into Angelamon… A giant version of herself with Taichi’s hairstyle and Goggles… Right… O.o;;

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You have to endure this for a full 3 and a half minutes before the film starts…

The movie then starts with a remix of the dub Digimon Theme. Now, if they just used the dub Digimon theme, this wouldn’t be a problem if they used the TV version. But in this they rewrite the lyrics other than “Digimon, Digital Monsters, Digimon are the champions!” to include words like “DigiSee”, “DigiHear”, “DigiKnow”, “DigiDudes”, “DigiTude” and the list goes on (As if changing “evolve” into “Digivolve” wasn’t bad enough). In my opinion what we’ve seen so far is a total”DigiDisaster”.

Kari does the narration instead of Taichi.

A short shot of Taichi standing on a chair is cut.

Tai suggests they use the egg as a soccer ball, Taichi doesn’t. Tai also suggests that they tell their friends that their chicken coop is on a nuclear waste dump… WTF? Chicken coop? They live in a freaking apartment! They don’t HAVE a chicken coop!

A decent half a minute or so is cut from Hikari chasing the Digitama. As well as Taichi putting the chair he was standing on back where he got it.

Well, this could possibly be considered more of a music edit… In the Dub, Kari and Botamon whistle/hum the tune to the dub Digimon theme. In the original, the only noise is Hikari blowing her whistle while Botamon blows bubbles. (Botamon does not hum in the Japanese version.)

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“It’s taking a bubble bath…” Uh… Once again, Tai wins the WTF prize… In the original Taichi simply said “Hikari…”

The bubbles float around the city while Taichi wonders what Botamon could be… A dog? A cat? A bird? This is cut from the dub; the close up of the hiragana chart just before Hikari feeds chocolate to Botamon is also cut.

The conversation about what they’ll name Botamon in the original, is changed to a discussion about where it’ll sleep in the dub… O.o;;

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All Taichi says on the phone is that it’s the Yagami residence, in the dub he finds that it’s Sora, complaining about him puking in her hat… Eww…

Miko chases Koromon for about half a minute before being restrained by Taichi; this is cut in the dub.

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Miko scratching Taichi is cut from the dub, despite this, the scratch mark on his face is visible afterwards.

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Koromon grabs onto Taichi’s face longer in the original.

Mrs. Yagami tells her children that she bought a cake, Mrs. Kamiya tells her children that she made liver sticks… o.o;;

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When Taichi sniffs, he comments that they’re having Curry tonight. When Tai sniffs, he says they’re in luck cause their mom burnt their liver sticks…

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After Hikari tells Koromon her name and Taichi’s name, he says “Taichi and Hikari”, in the dub he says “Hi KariKari TaiTai”… O.o;;

Gear’s Note: For clarification, in the dub, the exchange goes something like this:

Kari: I’m Kari. KAAARRRRIIII. And this is Tai. TAAAAIIII.
Koromon: Hi, KariKari TaiTai!

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Not really dialogue I guess, but, when Hikari tries to wake Taichi with her whistle, she doesn’t make much sound. In the dub she blows really loudly at the end to wake Tai. If you ask me, this is actually a bit of an improvement. Which is a pretty rare thing in a dub like this…

People watching their electrical stuff go haywire is cut in the dub. As well as a short shot of Taichi.

In the dub, when Koromon is all weird looking before evolution, Tai says “You gave him your liver sticks! Didn’t you?” Taichi never says this as they didn’t have any liver sticks in the first place.

During Koromon’s evolution into Agumon, Mr. Yagami is seen coming home from work, he tries to come into Hikari and Taichi’s room to give them a goodnight kiss. Everything involving him is cut from the dub, most likely due to the fact that he’s drunk off his ass. =D

And this is where Kari’s narration really starts to become annoying, she says that when Koromon evolved, he expanded more than her Uncle Fred at thanksgiving… Since there’s no narration in this part of the original, nothing like this was said.

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Tai says “Nice Dinosaur, Friendly Dinosaur…” when Koromon evolves, Taichi on the other hand, is busy trying to hold the door shut so his parents won’t see what’s in his room.

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Ok… Seriously… Did the dubbers actually use a translator for this movie or did they just make a script up as they went along? Mrs. Yagami asks the kids if they’re ok, not if they broke a lamp. And Hikari says “Outside” instead of “Piggyback”. When Agumon lands on the car Hikari says “That startled me.” Not “Let’s play horsey.”

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Hikari never told Agumon to look out for cars in the original.

A close up when Hikari and Agumon get to the soda machine is cut.

Hikari never said anything while at the soda machine. “Just one each.” Why is she picking up a third can then?

There is a couple of seconds cut while Agumon is on the street before the truck comes.

“Did you see that?”
“No I was sleeping.”
“But you’re driving!”

The truck driver/passenger had no dialogue in the original. And the dialogue that was added is just dumb.

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When Agumon shoots his fireball in the dub, he says “Pepper Flame!”, the Japanese Agumon never said anything.

Speaking of Agumon saying “Pepper Flame”… WHY does he say “Pepper Flame”? In the dub Agumon’s Baby Flame has always been called “Pepper Breath”, why is it different here? Maybe cause this Agumon is big?

A close up of Taichi’s face when he’s at the demolished soda machine.

When Hikari tries to tell Agumon not to attack the bus, she sounds a lot more helpless than Kari. Rather than talking about how even though buses are late, it’s not their fault, she says “Koromon… Don’t… Koromon… Please… Koromon… Stop… Koromon…”

A shot of Taichi seeing Agumon’s fireballs just after he fires them. This cut continues into the next scene, where Agumon wanders around a bit more.

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After the shots of Mimi and Koushiro, two shots are cut before the one of a whole bunch of kids on their balconies.

When Tai sees Parrotmon’s egg he says, “I’d hate to see the chicken that egg came out of.” Well Tai, the coop must have been on a nuclear waste dump. =D

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When Parrotmon appears, Kari says “That’s a big bird.” In the original she just says “Koromon”.

Agumon walking. I think there’s also a few seconds trimmed from Taichi running to the scene…

In the original, when Jou is on the phone he says that there’s a big bird. In the dub, Joe is telling Mimi to look out her window. Why the change? I seriously have NO idea…

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“Polly want a cracker? A really big cracker?”

Once again, this dialogue is totally unwarranted. Why must people meddle with the dub so much? Not even 4Kids is this bad… o.o;;

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Why does Parrotmon talk in the dub? He never said a word in the original.

A few seconds of Parrotmon’s first attack are cut.

Joe says “Izzy, did you see that?”. Uh… I thought he said he was talking to Mimi before… O.o;;

Rubble falling and a few shots of kids on balconies and stuff.

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A few seconds after the malfunctioning of the building’s lights.

“I’m Greymon now” Greymon never said anything in the original, the only name Taichi and Hikari ever knew him by was “Koromon”. Also, in this movie Greymon uses “Nova Flame” in the dub, rather than “Nova Blast” like the TV series.

Parrotmon’s wing coming off as a result of Greymon’s flame.

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A shot of Taichi and Hikari watching the battle from the sidelines.

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Greymon destroying Parrotmon’s beak with his horns.

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Parrotmon charging his attack again.

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A few seconds of Hikari struggling to get Greymon after he’s knocked out.

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Children watching from their balconies.

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A few seconds of Taichi crying and a close-up of Greymon while unconscious.

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A few seconds of the shot of the building while Taichi blows the whistle.

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The last few seconds of Taichi blowing the whistle.

Kari mentions Willis in her narration at the end of this movie, Taichi doesn’t mention Wallace at the end here because… Well, he’s from the THIRD movie. Not the first.

The last few seconds of the final shot are cut.

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And the whole end credits are cut too. Which is a shame, cause it has some really adorable footage of Taichi giving Greymon a hug. ^_^

In the Japanese version only one piece of music is used in the entire film. (Two if you include “Butter-Fly”) The dub however uses a lot of different pieces. Not much, but hey, it’s worth mentioning.