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"Leaked" Live Action Pokémon Movie Trailer Looks Absurd

by Phil Kollar on Sep 14, 2010 at 02:55 PM

From the "if it's too good to be true (or too bad to be true), it probably isn't" file this evening, I bring you: leaked shaky-cam footage of a top-secret screener for the trailer of a supposed live-action Pokémon film. Real? Unlikely. Car-crash-style can't-look-away awful? You better believe it. Check out the full story and the video below.

This apparently leaked footage originates from Shogun Gamer. Supposedly they were contacted by an anonymous source using the fake e-mail ProfessorOak@PalletTown.com. Cute. The esteemed professor claimed he was invited with about 30 other people to view the three-minute trailer, of which he recorded the last 30 seconds and sent the footage to Shogun Gamer.

The Shogun Gamer article speculates that rather than being for a real project, the trailer could be a pitch to a studio -- sort of like the Mortal Kombat movie reboot trailer from this summer -- which is about the only situation under which I could see it being "real." Other possibilities: Someone is trolling Shogun Gamer or Shogun Gamer is trolling us.

Why is it almost certainly not real? The trailer is full of things that seem highly unbelievable from any Nintendo-sanctioned Pokémon film. The trainers wield guns, Pokéballs are exchanged for money like some shady drug deal, and a Voltorb is used as a freaking car bomb to kill someone. Least believable of all, the audience sees all this and apparently cheers and claps when the Pokémon logo pops up. There's no way Nintendo would do this to one of their franchises. Then again...

Anyway, now that I've made it clear that I in no way believe this thing is real, check it out for yourself. It looks goofy as hell, and Pokéfans are sure to get a couple chuckles out of it if nothing else.

[Top image via Wikimedia]