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- Aug 9, 2011
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I watched this about a fortnight ago with a friend of mine at the cinema. Before I launch into my review, I must say how lovely it is to see Pokemon as a cinema experience with others. Pokemon is not really an interest I share with other friends irl, especially not the Pokemon anime, so I usually watch it alone at my own house as opposed to with others. This probably has affected my overall enjoyment, as it's so much fun to make jokes at the anime and laugh at it with someone, so I probably had a better time watching this than I would have alone. The rest of the cinema really does richen the experience too; often people laughed at jokes or moments I wouldn't usually find funny, but it's something about their amusement that made me appreciate those scenes more. My friend has little to no interest in Pokemon actually, so it's nice to go along with someone who is an extremely casual fan in order to contrast your feelings (embarrassing when you know much more about a series than is socially acceptable, lol).
Firstly, to get it out of the way - the scene where Pikachu speaks was the stuff of nightmares. I understand that they had to have a high pitch to match the pitch of its cries, but that voice was overly creepy and extremely off-putting, both myself and my friend couldn't get over that. I really wish they had subtitles instead of Pikachu actually speaking, or Pikachu communicated telepathically; if it's supposed to be a heart-warming moment, it falls flat on its face as it jarringly snaps you out of the suspension of disbelief and makes you wonder how could this be? Even if someone hand-waves it with "Ho-Oh", I wish the film actually tried to attempt some elaboration on it instead of just moving on swiftly.
I found Sorrel's character much more fleshed out than I had anticipated in summaries and such, which was a pleasant surprise - did anyone else find his voice too deep for the age of the character portrayed? I really thought it was much too deep. I found it interesting how he very quickly jumped to the assumption that Ash had left the Charmander out in the rain as opposed to Ash rushing in, trying to save the pokemon - I understand it is to show his passion for Pokemon, and considering his Luxray's death, his interest in keeping Pokemon alive/out of bad weather conditions. Though, I did like how he did have such a committed stance towards keeping his Pokemon's homeostasis at optimum (for instance, when he wanted Lucario to go in its ball since the cave was cold), I hope that was intentional, since it caused his backstory to have an effect on his character.
The plot was pretty bad to be honest, but as I had known the overall bones of that before entering the cinema, I didn't care. Besides, I didn't watch it for the purpose of a good plot, I watched it cause it is Pokemon. Team Rocket really did nothing to contribute the film, I felt they were there for pure fanservice (which, I think would have worked on casual fans). Their dub lines were quite poor though so I didn't miss them because I really dislike the pantomime-style in which they speak. I also felt a lot was rushed for the sake of nods to the Original Series, which was nice, but a bit jarring at times.
Verity - I feel her backstory could have benefitted better outside of this film's realm, since there was just so much going on in this movie but it was a waste not to have better exposition on it. She was fine, her personality was quite like Misty's in OS but I felt a bit more temperate than hers, and her relationship with Ash just felt a bit shoehorned. In fact, the whole group dynamic just felt oddly shoved together.
I liked how TPCi, while it didn't explicitly mention it, it didn't shy away from or try to cover up what had happened to Luxray. I was worried this would happen, so it was great that it didn't. All in all, that is not too bad of a scene, it's pretty emotional.
I have so much more to say, but I'm just going to throw in a mention of the field of flowers in the meadow - way too realistic, did not fit in with the art style at all, a little jarring.
I didn't go in the cinema expecting a lot, and I didn't get much in return, however what I did see I didn't mind. I wouldn't rush to watch this film ever again though however I did have an enjoyable experience, how much of that was up to the film, and how much of that was up to being with my friend to watch it, I'm not certain on.
Firstly, to get it out of the way - the scene where Pikachu speaks was the stuff of nightmares. I understand that they had to have a high pitch to match the pitch of its cries, but that voice was overly creepy and extremely off-putting, both myself and my friend couldn't get over that. I really wish they had subtitles instead of Pikachu actually speaking, or Pikachu communicated telepathically; if it's supposed to be a heart-warming moment, it falls flat on its face as it jarringly snaps you out of the suspension of disbelief and makes you wonder how could this be? Even if someone hand-waves it with "Ho-Oh", I wish the film actually tried to attempt some elaboration on it instead of just moving on swiftly.
I found Sorrel's character much more fleshed out than I had anticipated in summaries and such, which was a pleasant surprise - did anyone else find his voice too deep for the age of the character portrayed? I really thought it was much too deep. I found it interesting how he very quickly jumped to the assumption that Ash had left the Charmander out in the rain as opposed to Ash rushing in, trying to save the pokemon - I understand it is to show his passion for Pokemon, and considering his Luxray's death, his interest in keeping Pokemon alive/out of bad weather conditions. Though, I did like how he did have such a committed stance towards keeping his Pokemon's homeostasis at optimum (for instance, when he wanted Lucario to go in its ball since the cave was cold), I hope that was intentional, since it caused his backstory to have an effect on his character.
The plot was pretty bad to be honest, but as I had known the overall bones of that before entering the cinema, I didn't care. Besides, I didn't watch it for the purpose of a good plot, I watched it cause it is Pokemon. Team Rocket really did nothing to contribute the film, I felt they were there for pure fanservice (which, I think would have worked on casual fans). Their dub lines were quite poor though so I didn't miss them because I really dislike the pantomime-style in which they speak. I also felt a lot was rushed for the sake of nods to the Original Series, which was nice, but a bit jarring at times.
Verity - I feel her backstory could have benefitted better outside of this film's realm, since there was just so much going on in this movie but it was a waste not to have better exposition on it. She was fine, her personality was quite like Misty's in OS but I felt a bit more temperate than hers, and her relationship with Ash just felt a bit shoehorned. In fact, the whole group dynamic just felt oddly shoved together.
I liked how TPCi, while it didn't explicitly mention it, it didn't shy away from or try to cover up what had happened to Luxray. I was worried this would happen, so it was great that it didn't. All in all, that is not too bad of a scene, it's pretty emotional.
I have so much more to say, but I'm just going to throw in a mention of the field of flowers in the meadow - way too realistic, did not fit in with the art style at all, a little jarring.
I didn't go in the cinema expecting a lot, and I didn't get much in return, however what I did see I didn't mind. I wouldn't rush to watch this film ever again though however I did have an enjoyable experience, how much of that was up to the film, and how much of that was up to being with my friend to watch it, I'm not certain on.
Sorrel's story about Luxray was so sad 
