Oh man...all I have to say about Pokémon the Movie White: Victini and Zekrom was that it was an absolutely amazing experience to finally see a new Pokémon movie in theaters for the first time in nine years. I had been having thoughts, imagining such actually coming to fruition, but I never thought it'd be possible to finally get to see a Pokémon movie in theaters since then. And how it turned out...was far greater than my expectations.
First, with the movie starting at 10:30, I arrived at the theater just about 10:00, having to drive around a rather large Santa Claus Marathon nearby. I met with Yoshi and another buddy waiting in line to pick up tickets. Yes, there was actually a line, and there was quite a significant age range: kids around 8, mid-teens, guys in their early twenties (like us), and adults—and yes, a couple of them were with nobody else. And yes, this was about the only movie playing at this time, so they weren't there for anything else. Upon getting to the ticketing counter, I received a bag with a variety of goodies (detailed below). My excitement grew significantly. We walked to the concession stand, picked up some popcorn, and headed into the auditorium.
There were only about twenty to thirty people in the auditorium at the time, but we decided to sit on the side to be away from most of the crowd. There was quite a bit of chatter about Pokémon Black/White and a lot of StreetPasses on the 3DS. As the movie started, they forgot to dim the lights and the projection was beyond the edges of the screen. Roughly ten minutes in, the screen went black and quite a few people gasped. After they fixed the projection settings and dimmed the lights, the movie started over, and I could hear a few older voices saying excitedly, Yay, finally!
and That's better!
This was the perfect opportunity for folks who scarfed down their popcorn to get their refills. I can't really say many of the comments that I heard throughout the crowd due to spoilers, but there were a few You can do it
and cheers towards Reshiram, Zekrom, and Victini, and a lot of giggles during specific scenes with Victini.
When the credits started to roll, a roar of applause spread throughout, and I looked around, noticing that the room now had at least 60 people in it. I hadn't heard such applause since Star Wars: Episode III. Only a few people left during the credits, most leaving after the movie, and I could tell many others were happy to have seen it.
Oh, and I wore my Sinnoh starters shirt today and received a total of four comments (all positive). I spotted a number of other shirts, mostly Pikachu, but one person had a Victini plush (imported from Hong Kong on eBay), and another had a full Ash (Unova style) getup.
Obviously since I was with Cat, my experience was pretty similar to his. That being said I have one thing I'd like to add.
I actually got to the theater at 9:40 (movie starts at 10:30) because I had no clue what traffic was going to be like. I went into the main area where you buy tickets and there were two people there (said kid who dressed as Ash who had the Victini plush and his father). I talked with them about Pokémon for about 10 minutes and then a family (with an 8 year old and a 5 year old) walk in. The 5 year old noticed the Victini plush and said Look, that's Victini!
. I got curious, so I take out my car keys (which has the Kangaskhan keychain from the old Burger King toys) and ask Do you know what this Pokemon is?
He stared at it blankly and had no clue. I felt old. :P
Other then that my experience was similar to that of Cat's, however this was actually my very first time seeing a Pokémon movie in theater. I had great time and hope to be able to do it again for the next movie.