jwuckert - 2015-04-26 15:25:49

Pokemon movies don't tend to be good, but most of them are harmless.  But the soullessness of this movie makes it the worst of all Pokemon movies by a wide margin.  It's a slipshod mess where the lack of thought and effort put into it turns it into an uncomfortable dirge.

The first problem is the way the conflict is pulled from thin air.  The way the plot unfolds, it seems that there's only a conflict because the characters decided they wanted to have one.

There are three Pokemon, the justice ponies, and they fight Kyurem.  There is no reason why they fight Kyurem.  They've just decided it's their job, and the movie's entire plot is based on the fact that they provoked him for no reason. The other ponies won't let Keldeo fight Kyurem, so he sneaks off to do it alone. He gets beaten up and Kyurem freezes the other ponies in a block of ice, where they stay for the rest of the movie.

Keldeo runs away and meets Ash, because Ash has to be in the movie. Ash serves no purpose in this movie. He's nothing more than a spectator to Keldeo coming to the conclusion that he shouldn't have run away, and he should go back and fight Kyurem for no reason. Keldeo meets Ash in a city that has no people in it at all. It is a completely empty, lifeless city. It's depressing to watch all the scenes that take place in the city because it looks like a damn ghost town.

It's not just the city, though.  Throughout the entire movie, we barely see any humans besides Ash and his friends, and we barely see any Pokemon besides Kyurem, Keldeo, and Pikachu.  It takes place in an empty world so devoid of life I would almost believe the movie took place in limbo and all the characters were dead the whole time.

Keldeo goes back to fight Kyurem. He loses because he jumps in front of one of Kyurem's attacks to protect someone. I can't remember if it was Ash or the other justice ponies, and honestly I don't care. But because he protected someone, Kyurem lets them all go because Keldeo was an honorable fighter. This is really dumb if you think about it, because Kyurem spent the whole movie causing mass destruction trying to find Keldeo when their fight was apparently just some kind of ritual. He also froze all the other justice ponies in a block of ice, even though they apparently are on friendly terms with him or at least have some kind of reasonable arrangement.

In summation: Ash doesn't need to be in this movie. He doesn't do anything. I'm not exaggerating. Also, the stakes are entirely manufactured. There's only a conflict because Keldeo provokes Kyurem. And he only did it because the other justice ponies told him to, because of their weird arrangement with Kyurem that apparently includes a clause that says it's OK for Kyurem to freeze them and be a terrorist.

But none of those things are as detrimental to this movie as the total absence of any other humans or even Pokemon in both the foreground and background. Every other Pokemon movie has at least one new human character. This one doesn't, and there is apparently no one in the entire city or surrounding area for them to meet anyway. This, frankly, makes this movie soul-crushing to watch. The only characters who exist in its world are human characters that have no purpose, and Pokemon characters that pull their conflicts out of thin air.  The movie is draining and depressing.  Is that harsh? Yes. Is it deserved? Also yes.

ambrose.reinger - 2013-07-24 23:13:45

While I haven't been paying too much attention to the current Pokemon season, when I read that Cartoon Network would be showing the latest Pokemon movie, I figured I'd give it a shot and see how it is. After seeing it, I would say that, while it's not necessarily a bad movie, it really wasn't that great either. I have seen all of the First Movie, Movie 2000, and Pokemon Heroes, and I think bits and pieces of some others, and I can definitely say that this was the least impressive to me compared to those 3. I think some of that has to do with the story, which had little suspense. The main characters that many are familiar with are basically supporting characters in this movie as opposed to being heroes or the like. Speaking of the characters, like with the TV series itself, I'm also not enthusiastic about the new characters. They just don't have the charm that the others had, those of course being Brock, Misty, May, and Dawn. I can only recommend this movie to fans of the Pokemon franchise. Everyone else can skip it, though I doubt they need my opinion for that. Even for Pokemon fans or casual observers, I can't give this a full recommendation. Like with most if not all Pokemon movies, this is just an opportunity for the franchise to introduce the legendary Pokemon not seen in the TV series. Unlike the other movies though, the lack of any "world in peril" or other intriguing plot keeps it from standing out or being that memorable. For all this, I give it a 5/10 (Mediocre).