Its probably a quite well known ‘fun fact’ that whenever a Pokemon movie is released in cinemas, it’s usually preceeded by a short film featuring the franchises main mascot ‘Pikachu’. The ‘Pikachu Shorts’ as they’ve become known are on the front end of every single ‘OG Timeline’ pokemon movie released in Japan, and *were* at the front of most of the EU/US releases, though I believe a few of them were either missed out, or relegated to DVD extras…

In either case, these shorts are usually sans human characters (or feature them in a VERY limited capacity) and instead focus almost entirely on pokemon oriented stories. They usually play like silent films in the sense that theres minimal to no dialogue and the films are very easy to understand the plots of…Realistically I think these were aimed at the younger pokemon fans of the day who maybe wouldnt fully understand the complexities of the ‘main feature’ but still wanted to feel like they were part of the experience and could have some fun.

And thus! the first short film ‘Pikachu’s Vacation’ featured as the opening film to ‘Pokemon: The First Movie’ and…im actually quite surprised that somehow I had a much nicer time with this movie, than with the main feature.

The premise is basically that Ash, Brock and Misty need to run some errands, and they arrive in a town featuring a pokemon resort! Basically a place you can dump your pokemon off at filled with all the stuff pokemon love, to give them a well needed rest and vacation from trying to ‘be the very best like noone ever was’.

But this will be FAR from a well rested vacation! as almost immediately Mistys ‘Togepi’ realises its SUPER hungry and begins crying uncontrollably, leading Pikachu and the gang to try and find a way to pacify the rogue egg…Unfortunately for them; ALSO staying at the resort is a group of boistrous overly loud pokemon. A Snubble, A Marril, a cubone, and the teams leader a Raichu.

They refuse to play ball when Pikachu tries to politely ask that they quieten down to help calm Togepi, instead they get louder and more aggressive, which in turn prompts Ash’s pokemon to race to back up Pikachu, which in turn starts a battle of wits! With Squirtle and Marril having a swim race, and Pikachu and Raichu racing on foot! When they accidentally step on a Charizards tail however, the team will have to put aside their differences to save the day and salvage what they can of their vacation! discovering friendship along the way!

And, this is just a really kind of nice, sweet little short film. Its something of a slapstick comedy, it isnt taking itself too seriously, and it tells a simple story entertainingly and light heartedly.

The short runs to approx 20 minutes, and there is some minor pacing issues here and there, particularly in the opening act when they’re trying to pacify Togepi. I feel like they linger on that aspect a little too long and I would have preferred to have seen that time been repurpoused into a Bulbasaur v Cubone battle, or something a bit more meaty. As it stands its a joke that kind of overstays its welcome, but the whole thing is short, so I cant really complain too much.

One thing that is a bit odd about this one is they have these SUPER trippy scene transitions where they get pokemon on a ‘tie-dye’ backdrop making rhythimic dances and chants to an acoustic backing…It wouldnt be SO unusual if the film was longer, but for at least the first 2 acts they basically cram one in every 2-4 minutes. I can imagine watching them on a big screen must have been a bit trippy honestly, but then frustratingly in the 3rd act they stop bothering with them really…It felt a bit inconsistent.

That being said the scripts lightweight and going for comedy over all else, and I think it succeeds at that. the characters are about as complex as they need to be, the pacing outside of the first act runs at a clip and the act structurings maybe a *little* weighted in favour of that first act…but the whole things 20 minutes…I cant really be too harsh on it.

The animation looks a bit lower quality (more in line with the TV anime) than the main feature, which is understandable…part of me wonders whether the plan with this short was to segment it up (framed by the transition slides) and pop a chunk at the end of each episode of the anime, as I believe its even in a TV aspect ratio…I could totally see them, last minute, deciding to just stick all of them together and bundle it with the film to try and offer ‘value for money’…that would explain a lot.

The soundtracks 90s pop-tastic, but also quite welcome…Honestly? I really kind of had a soft spot for this one. I didnt feel like the main feature had aged all that well, but this thing? I absolutely think you could show this to kids today and they’d enjoy it probably as much as kids did back then.

‘Pikachus vacation’ is short, sweet and to the point, delivering an enjoyable experience that younger kids will likely love, older kids may find a bit babyish and adults?…well, adults will probably have more important things to do…But they’ll probably think its cute non the less! If anything this ones gotten better for me with age, its still not one i’d probably have on *regular* rotation, but if you havent seen this one and you like Pokemon, i’d say it was worth your time.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/pikachus-vacation/