Why A Mewtwo And Genesect Team-Up Falls Flat

Mewtwo plus Genesect should be a slam dunk: two human-made Pokemon, a city under siege, and a finale packed with legendary-level destruction. But sometimes a movie can do everything “big” and still feel weirdly empty, and that’s exactly what I wrestle with as I review Pokemon the Movie: Genesect and the Legend Awakened. If you’ve ever watched a franchise entry that looked great yet left you feeling nothing, you’ll know the exact kind of disappointment I’m unpacking here. 

I talk through what works for me first, because there are real strengths. The animation blend and the glossy visuals hold up, the urban setting is a fun change of pace, and Genesect’s upgraded, robotic vibe is legitimately cool on paper and on screen. The problem is that the story doesn’t build the kind of wonder and emotional connection I want from a Pokemon movie. The plot energy feels like a runaround, and even the big action beats can’t replace stakes that make me care. 

Then I dig into my biggest sticking point: talking Pokemon and heavy telepathy. I know some fans love it, but for me it strips away the classic Pokemon charm where emotion comes through sound, body language, and restraint. I also get into why this portrayal of Mewtwo doesn’t hit the same as the original, from the intimidation factor to the sense of presence, and how that hurts the whole movie since Mewtwo should be the anchor. 

I close with my rating out of six Pokeballs and tease what’s next, including a chaotic Cinema Sunday lineup and a friend-filled conversation I’m genuinely hyped for. Subscribe to Couch Critics, share this with a Pokemon fan who’ll argue about it, and leave a review with your take: should Pokemon talk in full sentences or never at all?

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Transcript

Quick Setup And First Impressions

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Welcome to a brand new episode of Couch Critics. I am your host, Nathan, and today we're talking about Pokemon the movie Genesect and the Legend Awakened. And I'm just gonna go ahead and say it right now. I did not like this movie. And honestly, it kind of surprised me because when you think about it, this movie sounds like it should be like a guaranteed win for Pokemon because you have the epic Mewtwo, you have this kind of found from the fossils of Pokemon called Genisect. And both Mewtwo and Genisect were created by humans. And then, of course, you have like this awesome giant legendary battle at the end. And then you have to ask yourself, how does that not work? Well, like I said before, it just it just didn't. So when the movie started, I actually had some kind of hope, even though I remember from another Pokemon movie, Mewtwo's voice was more deep and masculine. And in this movie, no offense, but it kind of sounded more feminine to me. And so there wasn't didn't seem as intimidating. But like the other two Pokemon movies before this one, the visuals were pretty solid. I mean, I I like the mixture of animation and computer animation. The city setting was kind of interesting, and the genesect, even though again I didn't like that they could talk, they look kind of robotic and kind of cool. It was kind of like Vulcanian from that movie. And so I thought, okay, maybe maybe this could be better than I expected, even though it wasn't.

Visuals Work But Story Feels Empty

SPEAKER_01 2:02

My my biggest issue though is like I've said before, I'm not a big fan of Pokemon's talking. I'm not a big fan of the telekinesis and uh it allowing the Pokemon to talk. And because of that, the movie just felt like it was strangely kind of like empty to me. It didn't really have much emotion to it. Now, again, there's a lot happening visually. There's lots of movement, there's lots of action, there's lots of like laser beams coming out of Mewtwo's hands and Genesis eyes and that kind of stuff. But like the story-wise, it didn't really do much because that matters to me because it's Pokemon and you're supposed to care about the characters, and I really didn't. You know, you're supposed to have that wonder and that emotion, and like I said, you're supposed to care about them. And this one kind of struggled with all three of those things. I didn't really wonder about what was going on. I I didn't really have an emotional attachment, and I didn't really care about the characters because it it kind of felt like the Diancy movie where there's like this runaround of everyone's chasing Diancy and nothing really happens. Well,

Why Talking Pokemon Breaks The Magic

SPEAKER_01 3:04

that's what this movie was. Mewtwo was upset about humans creating Mewtwo, and so just like Volcanian, they had a mistrust of humans, and then of course, Genesect just came out of nowhere and just full-on vengeance. Even though I kind of liked the concept of Genesect, you know, this ancient Pokemon Brack brought back to life and and modified with all these cool, epic weapons. It sounds awesome, it sounds terrifying, it sounds kind of movie-esque, but somehow the movie just never made them feel threatening, even though their voices were more like deep and and a little bit more threatening than Mewtwo, but they weren't really compelling. And especially the red genesec. So all the other ones are like gray, and then there's this red one. It it's it came off as more frustrating than it was intimidating because there was no rhyme or reason for them to be this upset. Now, of course, Mewtwo tries to explain it, but this brings me back again to one of my biggest complaints about these first three Pokemon movies on this list. I don't like when the Pokemon are talking. I've said this before, and I'll say it a million times, as long as any of these other movies have Pokemon talking in them. I know some people like it because they kind of can connect a little bit more, but I'm not one of those people. I grew up with the original Pokemon where that they communicate not with human language, but just by repeating their names over and over again. You know, like Pikachu. Pikachu can only say Pika Pee, Pika Pee, you know, 20 different ways, and somehow we understand what he's talking about. And so do the humans in the movie, that's the charm, that's the storytelling of Pokemon. But once you have these Pokemon having like actual conversations, I start disconnecting from the emotions of it, which is strange because usually when characters can have actual conversations, you can feel the emotion behind it, but maybe it was a voice acting, I don't know. But it makes me feel like it's less like a Pokemon movie and more of people just with costumes and superpowers. It's kind of like Power Rangers, like the genisect are like power rangers, and they can talk because they it just it didn't connect with me, and that happened happens a lot in this movie in particular, at least with the Volcanyan movie. Volcanyan was the only Pokemon that could talk, and all the other ones did what Pokemon were supposed to do. Diancy, there were multiple Pokemon that could talk, so that kind of annoyed me too. So I kept thinking, please stop explaining everything and just be a little bit silent, just a little bit more.

Mewtwo Feels Weaker Than Before

SPEAKER_01 5:30

And of course, there's Mewtwo, and Mewtwo is supposed to be this epic Pokemon. And again, this is probably my most disappointing part of this movie is because Mewtwo is supposed to be exciting, but Mewtwo didn't do much, and this version of Mewtwo didn't really do anything for me. Mewtwo is supposed to be powerful and intelligent, broken, complicated. This this character that was literally created went from the DNA of other Pokemon. And I think part of the problem is that it's the impossible comparison to the original Mewtwo. I said earlier that the original Mewtwo had this deep, ominous voice, and this one I just didn't feel intimidated by it. You know, the the original Mewtwo just its mere presence was intimidating, it felt important. Every word, I mean, even though that Mewtwo could talk too, but every word had carried weight with it, and it wasn't terrible. This version of Mewtwo was terrible, it was forgettable, and that's not really something you want in a movie where it's one of the main characters. You shouldn't forget about Mewtwo. Mewtwo is an epic Pokemon. So I say all that to say where does this movie land for me when it comes to my rating?

Final Rating And What’s Next

SPEAKER_01 6:39

It's pretty low, and I I didn't hate every minute of it. I think, like I said, I thought the the battles at the end of the movie were pretty cool, and the visuals again were pretty cool. Overall, it just it's again, it's there's a reason why this movie is on so low on this list, and it's disappointing. Because again, when you have Mewtwo and you have this really cool sounding Pokemon Genesec together, you wouldn't think that this movie would be so forgettable. But here we are. So, but before I give my rating, I I do have to explain something. Last episode I did whatever out of five Pokeballs. Well, if you pay attention to the theme song of this season, there's actually a line in the song that says something about doing six Pokeballs. So just like back in the day when it was just me and Katie and we did the Infinity Stones when we went through the whole MCU, we're gonna do six Pokeballs. So why not? It feels more fun, it feels more chaotic, and slightly more, should I say, Pokemon. So, with that in mind, I'm going to give the Pokemon movie Genisect and the Legend Awakened a 2.5 out of six Pokeballs. Again, it's a cool idea. You have two epic sounding Pokemon together, but there's not much emotion. I don't like how the Pokemon can talk, and there's not enough in this movie that really made me care about what's going on because it felt like it was just it went around in a circle, just what just like the Volcanian movie and just like the Diancy movie. So these the so far, these movies are fitting where they are landing on the list. So this one just didn't work for me. But just because I didn't like this movie doesn't mean I'm not super excited about our cinema Sunday coming up next Sunday. So next Sunday, cinema Sunday, I'm way more excited about what I'm gonna be talking about. We're gonna be talking about four movies. Now, probably the first three are just gonna be me talking about it, but that's okay. But this last one, the fourth one, I'm really excited because I have some friends that are gonna be joining me talking about this movie. So, what are the movies? Toy Story Five, Scary Movie, The Breadwinner, which nowadays is kind of controversial, and I'll talk about that when I talk about that movie, and the fourth movie, which I will be joined by my friend JP and my good friend Red, both from the Unnecessaries Improv Troop that I'm a part of here in Fayetteville, North Carolina, shameless plug, we'll be talking about that movie. That is going to be an absolutely wild combination of movies. We've got emotional Pixar Nostalgia, ridiculous comedy, another ridiculous comedy, and then Key Man. I'm especially excited again about Key Man Masters of the Universe because not only am I going to be talking to two of my really good friends, we got big fantasy battles, swords, skulls, and over-the-top villain energy, skeletor. All I gotta say is yes, please. So if this genisect review felt a little negative, don't worry because I have a feeling next week is going to be way more fun. So thank you for listening to the Couch Critics. And remember, not every legendary battle creates legendary cinema. Thanks for listening to The Couch Critics.