entertain them." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 35 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. Anime News Network review called the main feature "contradictory", stating that "the anti-violent message that is pretty much crammed down our throats works directly against the entire point of the franchise" and criticized Pikachu's Summer Vacation for being "incoherent, pointless and fluffy". Rating the movie two stars out of four, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called the movie "a sound-and-light show, linked to the marketing push for Pokémon in general" and said that the movie had "no level at which it enriches a young viewer, by encouraging thinking or observation." Michael Wood of the Coventry Evening Telegraph said that Pikachu's Summer Vacation "can only be described as a mind-numbingly tedious piece, with no discernible storyline and lots of trippy images and silly voices". Wood did note that the main feature had a "mildly intriguing premise", but said that the rest of the film "was like a martial arts movie without the thrills". Retrospective reviews written several years after the release of the film have criticized the narrative changes made during the localization process, such as the omission of the extended-prologue detailing Mewtwo's origin and script changes that paint Mewtwo as an "oversimplified villain". Commenting on the English-language script of the film, Ryan Lambie of Den of Geek described the decision to cut Mewtwo's origin "a highly unfortunate move" and that the original Japanese script allowed for "a far more engrossing watch" due to its deeper exploration of mature, existential themes. Lambie also commented, however, that "the various edits made to its dialogue and story probably didn't mean much" to younger fans at the time of the movie's release, since the film was ultimately marketed towards children. Box office In Japan, it was the second-highest-grossing domestic film of 1998, earning a distribution income of , and grossing a total of . In the U.S. box office, Pokémon: The First Movie was an instant commercial success, debuting at number one and earning $10.1 million on its Wednesday opening day. This day is commonly referred to as the "Pokéflu" because so many children missed school to see the film, much to the chagrin of educators. This was the biggest animated