The movie so heavily edited?

Key recommendations

• Digimon: The Movie was heavily edited due to the challenge of adapting three shorts into one coherent narrative.
• Despite the messy execution, the film worked well enough with Americanized elements and popular music from the 2000s.
• The success of Digimon: The Movie was a necessary evil to capitalize on the popularity of Digimon and compete with Pokemon.

In the 2000s, when PokeMania was in full swing, competing series emerged to challenge Pikachu's dominance. One of those series – Monster Rancher – it wasn't really a hit (we might explore that later), but another series called Digimon: Digital Monsters ended up becoming a decent hit for rival network Fox Kids. It was successful enough that parent company 20th Century Fox began exploring options to bring the franchise to the big screen. In 2000, they would succeed Digimon: The Movie. However, the film was released with a heavy caveat: it was heavily edited and altered from its original form. However, unlike most cases, this may be a necessary evil rather than simply the meddling of corporate executives. Read on to find out why.

What is Digimon?

Digimon (Short for “Digital Monsters”) is a Japanese multimedia franchise created by Akiyoshi Hongo. Believe it or not, it came out as a virtual pet device in 1997, similar to the Tamagotchi, another virtual pet that owners could carry around in their pockets (those things, by the way, were EXTREMELY needy and demanding, probably require more of your time than a real pet would). (which was about taking care of a virtual pet), Digimon were designed with a focus on fighting creatures After Pokemon exploded in popularity, Bandai quickly expanded the franchise into other mediums, including anime, movies, video games, manga, and exchange card. games, becoming one of the most iconic franchises of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

At its base, Digimon centers around the concept of digital creatures that exist in the data of Earth's networks and devices (and later, the Internet, for obvious reasons). These creatures can evolve (or “Digivolve”) and form strong bonds with human partners, usually children known as “DigiDestined”. Together, Digimon and their partners (usually the player in games or children known as DigiDestined in other media) go on adventures, face off against villains, and often work to save both the digital and human worlds from threats.

How popular was it in America?

Digimon toys weren't exactly a huge hit when they arrived in America, with sales barely noticed by most retailers. However (partially due to his popularity Pokémon) the first anime series of the franchise, Digimon Adventure (which was retitled Digimon: Digital Monsters in America), ended up being a surprise hit for the Fox Kids network, and distinguished itself from Pokemon by focusing on narrative arcs, character development, and memorable villains (much like Dragon Ball Z would).

It would eventually become one of the highest-rated shows on Fox Kids and (again, after the success of Pokemon: The First Movie) 20th Century Fox decided they wanted to bring Digimon to the big screen. It would do so in one of the strangest ways possible.

What is Digimon: The Movie?

Digimon: The Movie is a 2000 animated film that was an English adaptation of the popular Japanese film (the word “adaptation” being the key here). It is a big screen presentation of Digimon franchise and centers around the first two seasons of the anime series, where children team up with digital creatures called Digimon in a parallel world known as the Digital World. The film was released in North America by Fox Kids with significant changes and localization changes to cater to Western audiences. Why was the film so heavily edited? The answer may surprise you.

Fun fact

Unknown to many people, Digimon: The Movie was one of the first theatrical films directed by then-unknown Mamoru Hosoda. Hosoda was heavily involved in the Digimon Adventure anime (and even directed the 21st episode of the series), and this would be his introduction to film directing. He would later go on to direct classic animeWolf Kids, Belle, Summer Campand surprise (which would go on to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature).

Why was it Digimon: The Movie So heavily edited?

The reason Digimon: The Movie It had to be edited so heavily because there wasn't really a working Digimon movie to bring to America itself. While three films were technical done, the problem is that all of this took about 30 minutes. Which in Japan was fine (they would be screened at festivals and as double-lengths with other anime shorts), but in America this was a big no-no. The films in question were:

1. Digimon Adventure (1999)
2. Digimon Adventure: Our War Game! (2000)
3. Digimon Adventure 02: Digimon Hurricane Touchdown!! / Ultimate Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals (2000)

The first two were based on the first season of the anime, while the third film was based on the second season (titled Digimon Adventure 2 in Japan). None of the films connected to form an overarching plot. While Fox theoretically could have released these to TV as prime-time specials or something, the $85 million Warner Bros. (under the Kids WB banner) made with Pokemon: The First Movie it was (probably) hard to ignore. If Fox could even do it half from that, it would be pretty tall cotton.

Thus, it was decided to merge the three films together. Kairi would become a narrator for the film, while Willis – a character who appeared in the third film – was inserted into scenes to create the illusion of a narrative that would (in theory) lead to a third act climax . Fox would then include music from popular bands of the time such as Fatboy Slim, Barenaked Ladies and Smash Mouth (it wouldn't be the 2000s without an appearance from All Star). Finally, while none of the characters' names were completely changed (and everything still takes place in Japan), the characters were given American nicknames.

The execution was messy, to say the least. But… it worked well enough in the end. Even if the fact that Digimon: The Movie Three shorts edited into one wasn't exactly known, fans would eventually see it that way, and some admit they're watching their favorite segment, as opposed to the “whole movie” most of the time (the second segment – Our war game! – is considered by many to be the climax of the film). With all that effort, was the movie the success Fox wanted it to be? Well, as they say, that's another story for another day.

Digimon: The Movie (as well as the uncut versions of all the original films) will be re-released by Discotek Media.