Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light, later released in Japan as Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters: Pyramid of Light (遊戯王デュエルモンスターズ 光のピラミッド Yūgiō Dyueru Monsutāzu Hikari no Piramiddo, lit. "Game King Duel Monsters: Pyramid of Light") is a 2004 Japanese-American anime adventure fantasy film produced by Nihon Ad Systems based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters TV series.
The film was released in the United States before Japan, as it was commissioned by 4Kids Entertainment, and was released in theaters on 13 August 2004. The characters are the same as the English release of the Duel Monsters television show and their names retain their regional changes (i.e., Téa is Anzu in the Japanese version and Téa in all other versions). Unlike the TV series, the cards retain their appearance to their real world counterparts in the English version. The film was released in Japan on 3 November 2004 and aired on TV Tokyo on 2 January 2005, which utilized the names, original sound effects and original soundtrack from the Japanese anime and featured ten minutes of additional animation.
Plot[]
5,000 years ago, Pharaoh Atem killed and imprisoned Anubis after he tried to destroy the world using the forbidden Shadow Games. In the present day, Anubis' tomb is uncovered by archaeologists, complete with his most valuable treasure, the Pyramid of Light. At the same time, Yugi Mutou completes Atem's Millennium Puzzle, causing Anubis to awaken from his eternal slumber and begin his return from the dead. Sharing his body with Atem's soul under the alias of Yami Yugi, Yugi goes on to become the King of Games, the world's greatest player of the trading card game Duel Monsters, by defeating his rival Seto Kaiba and obtaining the three powerful Egyptian God cards. Desperate to defeat Yugi, Kaiba turns to Maximillion Pegasus, creator of Duel Monsters, to gain any new cards designed to defeat the God cards. Kaiba and Pegasus duel with Kaiba winning and taking two cards, although Pegasus claims he only created one.
Yugi and Téa Gardner go to the local museum where Anubis' corpse and the Pyramid of Light are on display, meeting up with Yugi's Grandpa Solomon, who reads a prophecy describing a clairvoyant eye which will prevent the world's destruction if blinded. Anubis' spirit attacks the group with Yugi having a vision of the Lord of the Dead manipulating Kaiba and him a Shadow Game death match. He awakens to find Anubis and the Pyramid of Light missing, and races to warn Kaiba, taken to his duel dome by Kaiba's little brother Mokuba with friends Joey Wheeler and Tristan Taylor in pursuit. Kaiba arrogantly and ignorantly forces Yami Yugi into a duel, unaware that Anubis is manipulating him into using one of the two new cards, Pyramid of Light, which covers the field in a huge replica of the actual pyramid and destroys the God Cards. Yugi, Joey and Tristan are sucked into the pyramid whilst Mokuba flees the crumbling building.
Yugi, Joey, and Tristan awaken within the Millennium Puzzle, finding Anubis' tomb within. The regenerating sorcerer reveals that his monsters will destroy the modern world. Yami Yugi and Kaiba continue their duel, each blow to their in-game Life Points actually draining away their physical energy. To make matters worse, Kaiba manages to eliminate half of Yami Yugi's deck through Deck Destruction Virus, leaving him with barely any cards. Kaiba uses the second new card, the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon, to destroy Yami's last monster and dropping his Life Points to 200. Téa, Solomon, and Mokuba escape the collapsing dome in Pegasus' helicopter, Pegasus having figured out what is going on. Téa's soul is sent into the Millennium Puzzle to aid Yugi, Joey and Tristan. Yugi finds the Dagger of Fate within Anubis' tomb, and uses it to destroy the all-seeing eye in the tomb as per the prophecy.
Anubis materializes behind Kaiba as he tries to alter the duel's path, casting him aside and taking command of the duel. Yami, reunited with Yugi, destroys the Pyramid of Light card with the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon and then uses Kaiba's planned strategy to summon the God Cards and end the duel by destroying Anubis. However, Anubis rises again as a demonic beast and transforms the Duel Monsters cards into real creatures. This proves to be his undoing when Yugi and Yami summon the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon to destroy Anubis. Kaiba departs promising to defeat Yugi, Yugi thanking Yami and his friends for their help and companionship.
Voice cast[]
- Shunsuke Kazama as Yugi Mutou / Dark Yugi
- Dan Green (English dub) as Yugi Muto / Yami Yugi
- Kenjiro Tsuda as Seto Kaiba
- Eric Stuart (English dub) as Seto Kaiba
- Kouji Ishii as Anubis
- Scottie Ray (English dub) as Anubis
- Hiroki Takahashi as Katsuya Jonouchi
- Wayne Grayson (English dub) as Joey Wheeler
- Hidehiro Kikuchi as Hiroto Honda
- Frank Frankson (English dub) as Tristan Taylor
- Maki Saito as Anzu Mazaki
- Amy Birnbaum (English dub) as Téa Gardner
- Junko Takeuchi as Mokuba Kaiba
- Tara Jayne (English dub) as Mokuba Kaiba
- Tadashi Miyazawa as Sugoroku Mutou
- Maddie Blaustein (English dub) as =Solomon Muto
- Jiro J. Takasugi as Pegasus J. Crawford
- Darren Dunstan (English dub) as Maximillion Pegasus
Release[]
Box office[]
Yu-Gi-Oh! opened at 2,411 screens across the U.S and made a theater screen average of $3,934. By the end of the weekend, it made $9,485,494 and place #4 on the Box Office Top 10 behind Collateral, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, and AVP: Alien Vs. Predator, which took the #1 position. It is currently the #3 Japanese animated film in the US Box Office, after Pokémon: The First Movie and Pokémon 2000. The film grossed $19,765,868 in the United States and Canada, with only $29,170,410 worldwide, making it a severe disappointment compared to the first three Pokémon films dubbed by the same company, which were highly successful, with a total worldwide gross of $363 million.
Critical reception[]
The film had gained overwhelmingly negative response in the United States. Rotten Tomatoes ranked the film 68th in the '100 worst reviewed films of the 2000s, with a rating of 5%, based on 60 reviews. The film is also currently the lowest rated animated film on Metacritic, with an average of 15 out of 100, based on 18 reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it is the second lowest rated film of the 2000s behind Happily N'Ever After.
Promotional cards[]
Attendees of the premiere (U.S. or Japan) got 1 of 4 free Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game cards Pyramid of Light, Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon, Sorcerer of Dark Magic, and Watapon were given out as part of a promotional deal when filmgoers purchased tickets for the film.
Soundtrack[]
The film came out with a soundtrack titled Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie Soundtrack featuring various vocal artists (most notably The Black Eyed Peas, who contributed the song "For the People"); however, the score for the film was never released.
References[]
- ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! - The Movie (PG)
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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External links[]
- Official website (US)
- Official website (Japan)
- Template:IMDb title
- Template:Ann
- Template:Mojo title
- Template:Metacritic film
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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original article was at Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light.
The list of authors can be seen in the page history. |