Mewtwo - The Human Within

I decided to watch an animated movie today.

'Pokémon The First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back'

It's the best the Pokémon animated series has ever been. The animation was as limited as you'd expect from an anime of the 90's and the CGI remastering was sloppily inserted over the top of the original in a very obvious way (with pixelisation and missing frames when scenes change) but it's still a very charming movie that holds a lot of nostalgic feelings for myself. About halfway through the film I stopped remembering watching it as a child when it was first released and started really getting into it. See, even fifteen years later 'Mewtwo Strikes Back' has the same impact it had on me when I was in primary school.
Mewtwo is very easy to relate to for someone like me, despite being the villain. This is because he has some, though limited, emotional depth. He was created by cloning a creature called Mew in a laboratory to serve a mob-boss. The first thing he sees when he awakens from being created is a group of scientists congratulating eachother. They outright state that he is the result of an experiment and there are more tests to come. Mewtwo is disgusted with the way humans treat Pokémon (Pokémon are this world's equivalent to animals, and Mewtwo is one of them). With this, he decides to take vengeance and destroys the laboratory. He is shortly found by the mob boss, Giovanni, who talks him into becoming his partner. Throughout this whole scene, it is very easy to see humanity within Mewtwo and to connect with him on an emotional level. His motives are clear in both his words and his expressions. Giovanni later locks Mewtwo in armour that "focuses" his power for training. The armour covers Mewtwo's face and his humanity is lost. The emotional connection is broken as Mewtwo works for Giovanni to poach and steal Pokémon. It soon becomes clear to Mewtwo, however, that Giovanni does not consider him an equal. Mewtwo wonders aloud about his purpose, the destiny he seeks. Giovanni states that "you were created by humans to serve humans, that is your purpose." Mewtwo denies this purpose, he refuses to serve. He destroys Giovanni's headquarters and vows to take revenge on all humans.

Mewtwo builds a cloning facility on an island and uses psychic powers to create a huge storm. He challenges trainers to get to the island through the storm. When three trainers make it, he steals and clones their Pokémon. He intends to wipe out all humans and Pokémon with his storm and rule the world with clones. This will be his revenge and his destiny. Things change when one of the trainers, Ash, steps up and is shortly followed by Mew - the Pokémon from which Mewtwo was cloned. So begins the battle between the clones and the originals! The two sides are willing to fight to the death, almost destroying eachother in the process. Ash stops the battle by obstructing the attacks of Mew and Mewtwo as they converge. He is turned to stone in the process. The two sides, clones and originals, weep for the loss of a life. Mewtwo realises that it is not the circumstances of ones birth that matters, but what they do with their life. The tears of the crying Pokémon revive Ash and end the storm and it's a generally happy ending with a moral about racism or something.

Now, I recently tracked down another version of the film that was quite different. It turns out a lot was cut from the movie when it was dubbed and broadcast for American audiences. In fact, Mewtwo's story was a lot deeper and explored more thoroughly, making him less of a villain and more of a misunderstood individual seeking a place in this world.

When Mewtwo was being "grown", it met a child within its mind. This was a human clone, communicating with him psychically. He also met Charmandertwo, Squirtletwo and Bulbasaurtwo in the same way. However, the four soon died as the cloning process failed. The young Mewtwo, who was growing up alone without a world to live in, finally met someone and saw their world, only to watch them die and have that beautiful world taken away. When he grew up after years of artificially induced sleep, his first sight was that of a cold steel room with scientists talking about their latest experiment.

Mewtwo's role as someone without a place in this world is the running theme of the original cut of the movie. Even in the final battle, Mew (who is shown as the side of justice) states that Mewtwo and his clones do not have a place in this world, are inferior and should forfeit their lives. This makes Mewtwo the most misunderstood villain I've encountered, and I love him for it. All he seeks is acceptance and to find his place in the world and a place for his clones. When Ash ends the battle by intervening, Mew and Mewtwo realise that all life is precious, no matter what, and that everyone chooses their own destiny.

So now, after fifteen years of feeling like I don't belong in this world, I have fallen in love with Mewtwo. He may have been portrayed as a villain, but the true depth of his character means he can never be assigned to such a black-and-white classification. He is a very "real" character, with his own problems to overcome... And he isn't even human.