A review of Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning

I didn't expect to feel so conflicted

Last night here in the States, Fathom Events showed the newest Digimon movie across theaters as part of a two-day event. Wednesday night audiences could choose the English dub, and Thursday night (tonight) audiences could choose to watch the original Japanese version with subtitles. Enough of the original English cast returned that I chose that option, marking my first theatrical Digimon experience. Spoilers will be openly shared below.

The Digimon franchise has been having a bit of a renaissance in recent years, with some highlights being the very warm reception of the latest anime series ‘Digimon Ghost Game’, a successful trading card game, effective “remasters” of classic virtual pet releases with a surprisingly dedicated community, lovingly handled rereleases of the old animated properties by Discotek, and now a duology of films involving cast members from the original 2 anime series helmed by a new creative team. It’s during this time that I’ve gotten back into Digimon in a big way. I think this is the most interested I’ve been since I was a kid who adored anything and everything Digimon I could find (which wasn’t much back then in stores near me). Naturally, one of the things I loved so much as a kid was the Digimon Adventure 02 series.

As the name suggests, Adventure 02 was a sequel series to the original Digimon Adventure, featuring a mix of brand new characters, a couple of old characters joining them, and the original series’ cast still being involved to help sort things out now and then. It’s a bit of a messy series, with my takeaway being that it has a strong first half and a continually stumbling second half, but I still love it all the same. That said, even with the constant nostalgia pulls of the Digimon franchise, its contributions always seemed to be pushed to the side in favor of the original cast. Especially so in the last nostalgic film series, Digimon Adventure tri., where any character new to 02 gets shoved into capsules within the first few minutes of the first film, unable to take part in the proceedings. The following movie Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna (that many seem to view as an apology for the poor reception of tri.) manages to involve them a bit more, but its focus is still on the original series’ cast, more specifically its two main characters Tai and Matt. Even some of the original cast feels sidelined in that film (though for a poignant reason, in at least one case). Still, it was at least nice to actually get to see 02’s cast in the proceedings, which helped make 02 The Beginning’s announcement even more exciting. Finally, these characters would get their own film so we could get a better idea of what they’ve been up to in the time since.

02 The Beginning takes place in 2012, about 10 years after the events of the 02 anime, with its humans and Digimon reconvening after a giant digital egg appears over the Tokyo Tower. My favorite part of this movie is this beginning, seeing these characters so easily fall right back into their dynamics was a treat. That said, a news broadcast quickly disrupts them and shows the film’s new character, Lui, climbing Tokyo Tower with a Digivice in hand. The characters go to rescue him and meet him, setting the film’s events into motion. I’m considering all of that the basic primer, both for personal and franchise context. At this point I am just going to openly talk about my feelings and comment on different aspects of the film that did and didn’t work for me. Again, spoilers incoming.

Put simply, this is a Lui movie that the 02 cast happens to be around for. It feels cosmically fitting that these characters are still sidelined in their own movie, though that may be overstating it a bit. Lui, Davis, and Ken are the film’s main human characters. Yolei, T.K., and Kari occasionally have input, and then poor Cody is just kind of there. The Digimon partners themselves don’t tend to fare much better, with a spectrum that ranges from a healthy enough dose of Veemon and Wormmon, to about 8 seconds of Angewomon helping during a “fight” scene. You’ll still see painstakingly accurate widescreen recreations of the Digivolution sequences as Exveemon, Stingmon, and etc. Digivolve and DNA Digivolve, but these moments are fleeting. If you come to Digimon for the action of these cool monsters beating the tar out of each other, this movie doesn’t particularly have anything for you. The sole “fight” sequence in this film is more of a “focused attempt to transport Lui past obstacles” sequence.

My first blush of Lui was a stifled sigh. He acts holier than the cast, broods, and speaks obtusely. Just as I was bracing myself for more of him, though, he mentions “killing” his partner Digimon before the film begins flashbacks of his past. Honestly, the film did a damn effective job of making me care about him, and quickly gives context to his obtuse statements that turned me around from indifference to investment. I did not go into that theater expecting a bruised and abused 4 year old to be the catalyst of the movie, and through retconning, the seeming catalyst of the entire Digimon Adventure series. This film continues recent Digimon’s streak of dabbling with unsettling horror elements, with Lui’s partner Digimon Ukkomon playing a wish granter of sorts. It’s a weird, blobby Digimon with an almost gratingly cutesy voice that is quickly implied to kill Lui’s abusive mother (a detail I didn’t even catch when watching), body snatch her and his dying father, and parade them around like puppets to misguidedly attempt to make Lui’s life better. Seeing that illusion dissipate for Lui as he matures, and especially that gruesome scene where he loses an eye, yeah…if this movie was your intro to Digimon, hi, it’s not usually like this, but boy did they commit to it.

It didn’t strike me as exploitative either, it came across to me as a story the creators genuinely wanted to tell respectfully. It’s a creative choice I admire as Digimon continues trying to age with its audience, though I also think this having to be a movie hurts it. It incredibly effectively portrays Lui and Ukkomon’s relationship as an almost parasitic affair, but falters when the 02 cast hears about the body horror, manipulation, dead parents, etc. and immediately default to “Well how did Ukkomon feel, did you ever try to get to know it? Maybe you should’ve thought about what it wanted; it can’t just be a one-way relationship.” The theme of the film is empathy, as far as I can gather, but I don’t think it correctly led me along that path. Any scene of Lui and Ukkomon in the past are of it going out of its way to serve Lui, but not once does it ever seem to have any issue doing so much for him.

The notion that Lui should have made this an equal relationship is noble, but very weird to hear suggested when killing Lui’s mom is like, the second thing Ukkomon does. That made the rest of the ride a bit bumpy, as the entire cast decides Lui and Ukkomon need to talk it out and reach a resolution before it gives 7 billion people Digimon (that in particular being explained better in the movie than here, if you’re reading this without watching the film). It’s why I wish this could have been a short series, if anything. The film feeling frontloaded with flashbacks and really having so little actually happen in the present is an interesting choice, but to me it doesn’t use the time it has to effectively convey everything it tries to. A couple debates within hinge on the viewer going “yeah, okay” to a few things that really could have used more time to properly explain, including the fallout of the aforementioned “give everyone a Digimon or risk taking everyone’s away” plot point. Not to mention it would have given the 02 characters more time to exist, get to know Lui better, and most importantly, again, be able to give some time to make Ukkomon more of an apparently sympathetic character instead of a horrific one. With some time to reflect on it, a wish granter that never gets to have its own desires and needs met is interesting. Getting to that conclusion naturally with what the film shows instead of a character making a seeming logic jump out of nowhere is the main realistic difference I wish had been made.

Ultimately, though, my unrealistic wish is that 02 The Beginning didn’t have to be a 02 movie at all. Its connections and retcons of the original series are interesting (and sure to bother many fans as decades-old threads continue to dangle), but also feel wholly unnecessary. I don’t think the Adventure storyline is strictly enhanced by this story existing, and I think that this story could have been stronger without its minimal 02 elements just happening to play a part. I’ve already seen sentiments that the movie focuses too much on Lui, wishing there were more fights with the 02 Digimon, etc. I just can’t help but wonder what this film looks like if it were a self-contained Digimon story that had that extra time to focus on these two characters specifically. It’d be harder to draw that nostalgic audience in, but I think there’s a chance the word of mouth from its emotional beats would have spread and helped carry it. Alas, Digimon has to play it pretty safe these days and aim for a reliable audience to return, so these are choices I understand and reckon with at the end of the day. Empathetically, I understand that without the nostalgia banking this movie doesn’t get made and this story doesn’t get told.

I wanted a 02 movie, I got an enjoyable Lui movie instead, and so I’m left still wishing for that 02 movie. As the film shows, though, maybe not every wish needs to be granted.