Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution has arrived in theatres. It's the first film in the long-running
Pokémon franchise to make use of 3D animation. Its director recently talked about why he and The Pokémon Company wanted to use of 3D CG animation — rather than stick with the traditional 2D look.
Kunhiki Yuyama recently paid a vist to Anime Expo 2019 (via
Toonado). There, he took part in a panel in which he was asked about
Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution's unique look. Yuyama explained the The Pokémon Company have been wanting to use 3D animation for a while now but wouldn't bite the bullet as they were unsure of how iconic elements would look in the new style.
The director then explained that they could capture
"a level of depth and a level of interesting imagery" with the 3D technology that they wouldn't have been able to with 2D.
"We felt that using 3D animation technology, we could portray maybe an extra level or different dimension of the Pokemon world that maybe would be a little bit difficult to do with one dimensional methods."
Though Yuyama is a seasoned veteran when it comes to
Pokémon films, he mentioned that exploring the possibilities of 3D animation worried him as he wasn't certain that fans would be on-board with it. Fortunately, now that the film's out, it seems that they are.
"[T]his is first time we have done full 3D computer generated animation. And so even though we've done over 20 Pokemon movies, it feels like this is the first time. And I was so worried that this was just going to be a flop and that people weren't going to like it."