Movie Reviews

While I've never seen much of the Pokémon anime and am not overly interested in it, I tend to enjoy watching the movies. Because I can, I have thus decided to write a series of reviews of all the Pokémon movies.

These will frequently overanalyze and criticize, so be warned. They are also rather long.

About the Reviews

A bit of a ramble about my goals and methods in writing these movie reviews.

Movies

The actual, official, one-a-year theatrical film series.

Original Series

Mewtwo Strikes Back

The first movie, in which Mewtwo's psychological complexes cause him to develop a very twisted idea of how to justify his own existence as a clone.

The Power of One

The second movie, in which Lawrence III's attempts to capture Lugia result in Legendaries Randomly Fighting™ and for no discernible reason, only the Chosen One can stop them.

Spell of the Unown

The third movie, in which a little girl with parent figure issues gains the ability to make her wishes come true, with creepy results.

Voice of the Forest

The fourth movie, in which an evilly cackling villain captures Celebi and makes it create a conspicuously CGI giant mecha that blows stuff up.

Pokémon Heroes

The fifth movie, in which cool villains try to capture Latios and Latias and steal the Soul Dew while every other human character, including Ash, has virtually no impact on the plot.

Pokémon Advance

Jirachi: Wish Maker

The sixth movie, in which a former Team Magma member tries to use Jirachi to resurrect Groudon and instead creates a humongous demonic thing with tentacles that swallow people.

Destiny Deoxys

The seventh movie, in which Deoxys apparently intrudes on Rayquaza's territory and thus Legendaries Randomly Fight™.

Lucario and the Mystery of Mew

The eighth movie, in which Ash needs to retrieve Pikachu from a giant mineral mega-organism in a symbiotic relationship with Mew with the assistance of a very troubled Lucario from the past.

Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea

The ninth movie, in which a newly-hatched Manaphy imprints on May and a pirate tries to steal it so that he can become the King of the Sea.

Diamond and Pearl

The Rise of Darkrai

The tenth movie, in which Dialga and Palkia Randomly Fight™ and can only be stopped by playing a special song, which totally doesn't sound familiar, and Darkrai is not evil.

Giratina and the Sky Warrior

The eleventh movie, in which an obnoxious Shaymin forces Ash and company to take her to a flower garden while a scientist obsessed with the Reverse World tries to obtain Giratina's powers.

Arceus and the Jewel of Life

The twelfth movie, in which Ash and company travel to the past to prevent Arceus from destroying humanity in the present after he was betrayed in the slightly more recent past.

Feature-Length Specials

Not actual movies, but they're more than an hour long so they pretty much qualify, and I just felt like reviewing them too.

Mewtwo Returns

The conclusion of the Mewtwo saga, in which Giovanni tries to recapture Mewtwo while the latter tries to come to terms with not being a 'real' Pokémon.

The Legend of Thunder

The Pokémon Crystal version special, in which two Team Rocket agents try to capture Raikou and the player characters from Crystal and Jackson from the Johto League team up with Eusine to stop them.

Pokémon Origins

The unexpectedly first-generation themed special, in which Red does all the things he did in Red and Blue.

Live Action

Legendary Pictures' live-action films.

Detective Pikachu

Pokémon's first live-action film, in which a 21-year-old with issues teams up with a Pikachu with issues to search for the truth of what happened to his father.

Page last modified May 14 2019 at 04:00 UTC