Pokemon Extravaganza: Movie 05 (Sub) The Guardians of Altomare/Guardian Gods of the City of Water: Latias and Latios Review

Plot: Satoshi/Ash, Kasumi/Misty and Takeshi/Brock are on the island of Altomare where they treasure the heroes of their local legend, Latias and Latios. Satoshi is lucky enough to see them after saving a Latias from the thieves Zanner/Annie and Lion/Oakley, but they still have plenty of plans in store for the pair – plans that could cause the destruction of the town.

Breakdown: Now THAT is a much better poster, Japan. That is eye-catching, detailed, well organized, contains scenes from the actual movie and just looks great. If I would complain about anything, it’s the lack of Kasumi, Takeshi and Team Rocket, but seeing as how they’re basically not a part of the movie, I can’t damn it too much.

There’s also this poster, which is more complex.

That is pretty good too, and Kasumi and Takeshi are included this time as well. Plus there’s the awesome soul dew center piece. My problems are the slight nitpick that Satoshi wasn’t wearing his vest or regular pants in the race, Kasumi was wearing a life jacket (the Water Pokemon Trainer’s wearing a flotation device but not Satoshi? Weird) and the odder issue with what the hell Takeshi is even doing there.

That shot, to my recollection, is not in the movie, though his role really is just gushing over girls. It’s a shame, it’s like they wanted to include him but realized he did absolutely nothing the entire movie. They would’ve been better off using stock pictures, to be honest.

Alright, well, since we may be dealing with first movie level changes according to Dogasu, I’m going to go through the movie step by step again. I’ll try to glance over scenes whenever possible to avoid unnecessary text walls.

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The ‘World of Pokemon’ opener starts us off, even though it seems faster and like it’s missing a couple scenes in contrast to the dub. For example, this version doesn’t include the further shot of Satoshi in Okido’s/Oak’s lab, and it includes scenes from the first episode with Satoshi and Pikachu running from the flock of Onisuzume/Spearow and the classic battle between Iwark/Onix and Gangar from stock Pokemon League footage.

Our movie actually starts off with….me wondering if I put the right movie on—oh god it is the first movie all over again!

Alright, alright!….Deep breaths, everyone! I’m sure we’ll be fine.

We start off with some pretty cool looking construction-paper cut-out-like animation of the town of Altomare. In the Japanese version, Altomare is one word. In the dub, it’s two. I don’t understand why, but I’ll assume it’s because the Italian translation is two words…

A female narrator starts explaining the backstory of Latios and Latios. Back in the ancient days of Altomare, an elderly couple found two children, a boy and a girl, injured and washed up on the beach. They took the children in and cared for their injuries. As the children were recovering, a gigantic monster that looked like a huge cloud made of dark gears appeared and…..wait, dark gears?….Black Gears?! Someone call the Digidestined, looks like Devimon’s up to his old tricks again!

The monster took over and started destroying the town. The elderly couple tried to shield the children from the monster’s attack but were startled when the children started transforming. The children became the Infinite Pokemon, Latios and Latias. Together, they called upon their other Latios and Latias friends to defeat the darkness with what seems to be the power of the Heart Drop (The Soul Dew).

As we cut out to the shots of the book actually seen in the dub, we learn that peace returned to the island, and the Latios and Latias who were cared for by the elderly couple started frequently visiting the city of Altomare to ensure that the peaceful state remained.

The book is held by two thieves, Zanner and Lion, and they run off before they’re caught stealing the book. Also, according to the Wiki, they’re sisters in both versions, but I don’t recall hearing them ever say that in the dub.

In the car, Zanner points out that the story is just a legend, but Lion says there’s plenty of evidence to support that the story is real, and there’s also a hidden secret in the book that leads to something much better than the jewel. They drive off and then fly off on Barbie’s magic dream jet/convertible and head towards Altomare.

We get our title screen, and it beats out the 4Kids one. They did a better job with the jet transition and the tidal wave effect. Plus the actual title itself looks like finished CGI.

For comparison’s sake, I made a gif of the dub movie’s title sequence too.

We cut to the start of the race and learn that it’s actually Altomare’s Summer Festival and this is just a water race for the festival as opposed to the actual race being the big event, the Tour de Alto Mare – and I’m just now realizing that 4Kids was probably referencing the Tour de France with that…..you know, the French bicycle race? France, Italy? They’re both foreign, who cares? Bicycles, boats? They’re both modes of transportation, who cares?

The race begins and we get our theme song which is just another remix of the same ‘Mezase Pokemon Master’ song we’ve heard every single movie so far. Guys, it’s a fine song, but change is good. As much as I love the original Pokemon theme song, even that would get old after hearing it for so long. Variety is the spice of life, people.

As for how this remix fares….it’s okay. It’s pretty poppy for my tastes. They remove the Pokemon sounds, so that’s something.

Everything’s fine and dandy throughout the race, except we don’t hear Takeshi talking to that girl when he’s on the bridge. Not a big surprise, even though I don’t get why they’d leave it alone in Movie 02 and 03 and yet add dialogue again here.

Satoshi wipes out, gets saved by Latias and then pulled by Latias, and we cut to Kasumi and the other guy vying for first place. Believe it or not, 4Kids almost left his name intact. He’s Rossi in the original and Ross in the dub.

Satoshi catches up, but gets diverted when Latios skews him off course and he crashes. Meanwhile Kasumi pulls out the win.

Rossi offers a ride in his boat to celebrate, and the gang heads off with him on his gondola. Kasumi marvels at her medallion, but there’s nothing stating that the symbols tell the story of Altomare. In fact, now that I really look at it, the only symbols are Latios and Latias. How is that a ‘story’?

Kasumi asks what the statues of Latios and Latias are, and Rossi basically just gives the cliffnotes version of the legend. And now it makes perfect sense why Latios and Latias are both on the statues instead of just a Latios like the dub legend states.

Cut to Zanner and Lion’s little camera thing and the icky CGI people below. They explain the same thing about how Latios and Latias can disguise themselves as humans so they’re scanning the people. Latios and Latias have lower body temperatures than people, so the thermal imaging can quickly spot Latias.

As they pursue Latias on their boat, they splash Team Rocket and Kojiro/James instantly recognizes them as two of the top thieves ever. Yup, another change between the two versions is that Zanner and Lion are merely great thieves, not spies for Team Rocket, nor members of Team Rocket at all. I don’t have any clue as to why 4Kids changed that.

The comparison states that it was big rumor that the two were part of Team Rocket before the movie even came out, but that’s not really an excuse seeing as how they eventually got and translated the damn script themselves. Unless they started writing the dub script before the movie even came out….I wouldn’t put it past them.

Sucks, actually. While they don’t do a whole lot, I like when Team Rocket actually does villainous organization things, like how I liked Vicious in Movie 04. Though I’d prefer if one day the whole organization got off their asses and did something big and movie-worthy for once. All I remember is them taking over the St. Anne and a few things Butch and Cassidy did. They’re a pathetic organization….

They get basically the same idea as the dub, only they want to outwit and beat them at thieving not follow them and try to learn from them.

Back with Satoshi and the others, Rossi bids them farewell and tells them of a great crepe shop, not an ice cream shop and seafood place like the dub. Surprisingly, the ‘ciao’ is also present in the dub, and I feel weird about that for some reason.

The gang runs off for some crepe-y goodness while Pikachu goes off to a fountain. Latias, in human disguise, turns on the faucet for him and Pikachu starts drinking and cooling off. Satoshi arrives and thanks Latias for turning on the water for Pikachu. Latias gets in his face, circles him and runs off.

Latias continues her stroll until Zanner and Lion spot her, out her as Latias and pursue her. Pikachu hears the fuss and runs off, prompting Satoshi to follow, and Zanner and Lion catch Latias. Satoshi to the rescue, but Zanner sends out Elfie/Espeon to attack Satoshi.

Satoshi counters with Pikachu’s electricity and runs off with Latias while Ariados and Elfie pursue.

They run through the town giving us that ‘flying’ shot, but it’s slightly helped by the inclusion of footsteps. It’s still way too smooth to be running, though.

Satoshi gets a bit lost, and Latias leads him back to Kasumi and Takeshi before mysteriously disappearing.

Satoshi reunites with Kasumi and Takeshi and they head off to some temple. Oh, it’s a temple and not a museum. I guess that makes more sense considering the only things I saw there were the two fossils and the machine.

Zanner and Lion spy on them with their little robot, and Lion says he won’t get away, which I guess means she doesn’t want to keep Latias and him apart like the dub said.

At the temple, Satoshi and the others see the fossils of Ptera/Aerodactyl and Kabutops. As expected with the different backstory, there’s no mention whatsoever about these two nearly destroying the city. In fact, they’re not even the only fossils at the temple supposedly. I’m not exactly sure why they’re there, but there ya go.

They’re brought to the machine and Takeshi says his pointless and confusing line about finding a girlfriend in the city all because he saw stained glass.

As we cut to an outer shot, the old man explains that, in ancient times, the temple that they’re currently in and a neighboring building called the Sun Tower were built for Latias and Latios as an expression of the people’s gratitude for them saving the city. The machine was also seemingly built for the sake of peace, but no one knows how to operate it.

Satoshi sees what he thinks is the girl from before and takes chase. When he finally catches up, he asks the girl why she ran away but she just asks what he’s talking about and walks away.

The chase continues, but he gets lost and gives up right as they spot Latias, who drags them through town some more until they reach the portal.

They go through the portal, find themselves in a park and find Latias yet again, but Latios springs up out of the water and attacks Satoshi and Pikachu. The assault is halted by Latias, and Kanon/Bianca soon shows up to see what the fuss is about. Kanon hears Satoshi’s story about how he followed Latias into the park, but she finds it suspicious and sics Latios on him. He’s instantly stopped by Vongole/Lorenzo, however.

Everything’s sorted out and they start playing together, and we cut to Kanon and Vongole talking to Satoshi about how they protect the secret garden as a sanctuary for when Latios and Latias come to visit the island.

Wait, that just raises more issues in the dub. The city was supposedly just a regular land-based city before the evil Trainer and his Kabutops and Aerodactyl attacked and then it became flooded with water that Latios delivered. Unless Latios made a damn OCEAN when it defeated Kabutops and Aerodactyl…in which case, why is Latios not a Water Pokemon?

They also explain that the Latios and Latias before them are indeed brother and sister with Latios being the older brother.

Latias steals Satoshi’s hat and playfully teases him while Latios starts sight sharing, called Dream Projection in the original (though, to be honest, sight sharing is a more logical name) before diving underwater.

After that’s over, we’re brought back to the secret garden where we catch the tail-end of the legend of Latios and Latias, and they solidify that these are not the same Latias and Latios from the legend nor are they the direct children of the one/ones responsible for it, they’re their ancestors.

They explain the stuff about the Heart Drop being used in conjunction with the device from before even stating that the many Latios and Latias helped them build it, which explains how it’s all magical and stuff.

Satoshi is tasked with keeping the garden and the Heart Drop a secret, he agrees, and Latias and Latios try to play some more. He politely declines as he says he needs to get back to his friends, but promises to come back and play later.

They exit out of the door in Vongole’s gondola workshop while Zanner and Lion’s camera captures images of Latias and Latios in the garden, and Kanon escorts him to the Pokemon Center.

Meanwhile, back with Team Rocket, they see Zanner and Lion roof-hopping, try to follow them and fail. And thus ends their kinda-sorta-ish-maybe-a-little-okay-not-really subplot.

Zanner and Lion knock out Vongole again and break into the secret garden. Latios and Latias try to fight the intruders, but they ultimately fail. Latios is captured, but manages to help Latias escape.

Latios and Latias sound awful in both versions. In the dub, they have higher-pitched squeals, and in the original, Latias has a high-pitched squeal while Latios constantly sounds like he’s saying ‘Wha-hoo!’ It’s not unbearable but it is annoying and a little silly.

Zanner and Lion steal the Heart Drop, and Lion scans the tablets on the floor to figure out how to use the Heart Drop in conjunction with the machine. It’s here where we learn the not-stupid explanation of what happens later in the movie.

The tablet warns that the Heart Drop should not be used for evil. If it is, the Heart Drop will be defiled and will vanish along with the island. It was a warning to the villagers stating that, as long as they’re responsible with the Heart Drop and the machine, their land will forever be protected, but if they decide to use the powers they’ve been given for evil nothing but destruction will follow.

Much better explanation than ‘Oh yeah, if the Soul Dew is used at all, or if it’s kept out of its water tank for more than 15 minutes, our protected land will be wiped out by a tidal wave caused by the thing we used to protect ourselves.’

I still say that the secret garden has the worst security measures ever. They don’t even have a lock on that entrance in Vongole’s workshop. Town-destroying jewel, the instructions on how to use it right next to it and two Legendary Pokemon sitting right there and you can’t be arsed to buy a damn padlock. Does Altomare have no hardware store?

Zanner and Lion head to the temple to use the Heart Drop with the machine, Vongole and Kanon arrive only to get knocked out, and they start the machine.

Meanwhile, Latias goes back to Satoshi in the Pokemon Center, and Takeshi and Kasumi are made privy to the situation. Latios uses Dream Projection to show Latias, Satoshi, Takeshi and Kasumi what’s going on.

Lion starts controlling the machine, revives the Ptera and Kabutops fossils to have them do her bidding, and sets up grates to block all exits and entrances, except, as I mentioned, the waterways, while Satoshi escapes the Pokemon Center with Pikachu before they’re trapped as well.

Satoshi grabs a boat and heads to the temple, but Ptera attacks them, destroying their boat and nearly drowning Satoshi. Latias saves him, and they grab one of the boat things I still can’t identify to continue traveling.

Back with Takeshi and Kasumi, still trapped by the grates, they let out Crobat, Sunnygo/Corsola (Sunnygo?….That sounds really weird. And I keep thinking of Sunny D. I know it has actual meaning; the word Sunny mixed with sango (coral) but still, weird.) and Nyoromo/Politoed to help Satoshi.

Nyoromo has an incredibly cute and goofy Japanese voice, by the way.

They valiantly go off to help Satoshi, ashamed of the fact that their combined strength can supposedly not support the weight of Satoshi’s monster balls and belt. If only monster balls weren’t made of dark matter!

Kasumi and Takeshi’s Pokemon help Satoshi take down Kabutops and he heads back off towards the temple.

Lion, spying on them with the machine, realizes that Kabutops and Ptera failed, so she uses her waterbending to create a water spout that ensnares Latias and Satoshi. However, Latias uses her psychic powers to break the water.

This results in the machine going haywire while Satoshi, Pikachu and Latias try to free Kanon, Vongole and Latios, meaning I get to watch Satoshi the human battering ram again! The entertainment value with this is endless.

They eventually get Latios out, and the machine shuts down. Everyone’s okay, even if Latios is worse for wear. Kasumi and Takeshi arrive because they exist, and Zanner retrieves the Heart Drop.

However, it’s completely tainted by evil and expels a huge burst of energy when she tries to remove it. Zanner and Lion both fall into the machine as it powers back up again and spins them right round baby. Right round. Like a record, baby. Right round round round.

The legend starts coming true as the water starts receding into a giant town-destroying tidal wave. Latias and Latios realize that they can’t depend on any of the other Latios and Latias who are around to come in and help, because that would just save the life of one of their kind and everything. The Celebi from movie 04, you are not. They head towards the wave and use their psychic power to disperse the water in a harmless manner across the town again.

Latios dies due to expending too much energy and bids farewell to Latias.

The effects of the machine start to disappear over the town, and Satoshi and the others head out into the water to find Latias. They find her being rescued by some Water Pokemon and are soon made aware of Latios’ fate.

Latias’ dream projection activates, and Latios shows them his view of the clouds and the earth from space (or maybe it’s heaven now that I think about it) and Latios either makes a new Heart Drop or becomes one, it’s not entirely clear. In this version, the Latias and Latios who gave the initial Heart Drop just had one, no one died for it that I know of, but they keep saying ‘Latios’ to the new Heart Drop so *shrug*

Satoshi and the others are leaving the city, so they bid farewell to Vongole. They want to say goodbye to Kanon as well, but she seems to have stepped out for a second. Also, this shot lends more credence to the theory that it was Latias in the end and not Kanon. There’s really no reason why Kanon/Bianca wouldn’t have responded when being called numerous times unless she was Latias and couldn’t speak. Not only that, but you’d think Kanon would hear that Satoshi and the others are leaving and ask out the window that they wait for a second while she gets the picture to give to Satoshi.

Satoshi and the others leave until they realize ‘Kanon’ is following them. They stop, she hands Satoshi a rolled up drawing, puts her mouth hole to his face and runs off.

Satoshi opens the paper to see a drawing of him and Pikachu and they depart from the island once again, seeing a bunch of Latias and Latios on their way out, and segueing us into the end credits.

The end song in Japanese is ‘You Are Not Alone’ by coba & Kazufumi Miyazawa. I really like this song. It has a great melody, wonderful singing and the instruments being used fit in wonderfully with the setting. It’s probably my favorite Pokemon end theme so far, movie wise anyway.

If I have one complaint, it’s that the opening is a little too peppy to really fit the tone of the final couple of shots. 4Kids’ little CD mashup may have been random, but they did purposely start off with a nice slow song.

During the end credits, we see Zanner and Lion in prison, Vongole fixing up the machine or temple, Kanon drawing and Satoshi and the others traveling some more. The end.

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That was actually a lot better than the dub, mostly because it actually made sense. Who woulda thunk it?

I know I’ve mentioned that 4Kids, oddly enough, sometimes changes stuff to make it worse than it actually is to create drama and tension, but I still can’t get over the fact that their revised story involves so much death and murder.

Kabutops and Aerodactyl get forcibly drowned, probably alongside the unnamed evil Trainer, the citizens are left with the worry that their town will be destroyed and everyone will be killed if a ball accidentally dries out, and Latios from the legend dies while sacrificing himself for the town. The original story was perfectly fine and very sweet, yet they made it dark and nonsensical for no real reason.

Think about that. Let it sink in. The company that is so scared of death that it’s basically became a meme to replace ‘death’ with ‘the shadow realm’ or something, purposely added in much more death to the movie. I can’t even begin to comprehend that.

What I really find problematic is I cannot, in any way, justify why they changed it. The whole thing with Mewtwo way back when, they probably changed that just to make it a more clear cut struggle of good vs. evil. Can’t make Mewtwo too sympathetic until his redemption. Plus, they were really trying to shoehorn in a ‘violence is bad and we don’t condone it’ message to the parents of the world who were outraged at Pokemon for the violence and ‘cockfighting.’

However, I can’t understand why the original story wasn’t good enough. If it was really because the art style for the story section upset them for whatever reason, then it’s still not justified. They repeat the story without the special construction-paper animation, so they could just parrot the story without showing the opener. I see nothing wrong with any part of the original story to warrant changing, so it’s really just boggling my mind.

It’s boggled even further by the fact that most of the movie besides that is left completely alone for the most part. Some minor changes, but nothing that major.

Bottom Line: It’s much better than the dub…..but I’m still not all that into it.

I love Latias and Latios, and Kanon’s made to be more tolerable than Bianca. The story here actually makes sense, the death scene with Latios is on par with or better than the dub’s, and the town is probably the best location Pokemon has had to date. The music’s great and very fitting for the location, but the plot is still predictable from practically the first scene with the only real shock being Latios’ death.

The giant tidal wave, once the reasons for it happening are explained, is done in a way in that’s not out of the blue and dumb, and makes for a pretty good scene as well. I can better understand why this is Dogasu’s favorite Pokemon movie thusfar, but it’s still nothing terribly special to me.

Recommended Audience: I’ll actually lower the rating for the original merely on principle that 4Kids added death. 3+

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Pokemon Extravaganza: Movie 05 (Dub) Pokemon Heroes Review

Plot: Ash, Misty and Brock are in the beautiful town of Alto Mare partaking in the local traditions, competitions and culture. One of their most beloved legends is that of Latios (with special guest Latias, who wasn’t even in the legend) who became the guardian of the town after saving it centuries ago…..or less than 50 years ago depending on if Lorenzo’s a vampire or not. Ash is lucky enough to meet a pair of Latias and Latios, but soon discovers that they’re in danger from the thieving Team Rocket pair of Annie and Oakley.

Breakdown: I watched this movie quite a few times On Demand back when it was released, and I remember enjoying it perfectly fine. Annie and Oakley were fairly interesting, and I like Latias and Latios….

I guess this movie, like 04, just never felt that big to me. Latias and Latios, while I do really like them, don’t seem like actual Legendaries to me for some reason. I was expecting some movie about Kyogre and Groudon and maybe Rayquaza and yet we got these two. Instead, two of them are made into a special arc in the TV series and the other gets a role in the Destiny Deoxys movie.

I was pretty okay with doing the review until I remembered this excerpt from the Bulbagarden comparison.

“The problem with the Pokémon Heroes dub is that the script is really off. For whatever reason, 4Kids decided to completely throw out the movie’s backstory and create their own, which is strange considering how they haven’t had any script changes this major since Mewtwo Strikes Back.”

….I’m in for first movie level changes? Ouch.

Enough jabber. Let’s get into Pokemon Movie 05: Enter Super Generic Title Here—I mean, Pokemon Heroes.

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Brock murders the narrator again and gives us ‘The World of Pokemon’ intro that I still don’t understand why they do in these movies. I guess it makes for a good intro, but every single movie? Also, it should be noted that this entire sequence is the exact same scene as it was in Movie 04. They don’t even fix the pajama mistake I mentioned last time.

I find it funny that, in this intro, Brock calls Ash ‘the pride of Pallet Town.’ Gary’s a better Trainer, capturer and battler, and I will believe until my dying day that Ash ever winning against Gary is a complete fluke.

Technically Ash is an awful ‘pride of Pallet Town’ seeing as how Red, the character Ash is based off of, is so much better as well. He won the Indigo League while two other Pallet Alum, Blue (Gary’s inspiration) and Green (who never gets an anime counterpart) were second and third place respectively.

Why do Misty and Brock get no explanation whatsoever? It’s just ‘and joining them is Misty and yours truly, Brock.’ Sadly, this is the last time they can use this opener. This is the final movie that Misty ever appears in. 😦

Getting to the actual movie, we see a few pages from an old book and two thieves, Annie and Oakley, talking about it. They discuss how the book explores Latias and Latios as well as a jewel, but that the book doesn’t get into the really good stuff until the end. I don’t know why they’re spending time talking about it while they’re still in the process of stealing it. Seems like a needless waste of time when you’re pressed for it.

A security guard at the library they’re in nearly spots them, but they get away on cables. The guard finds a single rose in the spot where the book was as well a picture with two lip icons on it, one red and one blue.

They zipline their way back to their car with spy-like music playing and Annie asks what the ending is about. Oakley says it explains how to control a machine called the Defense Mechanism of Alto Mare. It’s pronounced ‘Mar’ here, but it’s spelled ‘M-air’ so I dunno.

They drive off a cliff, perhaps a nod to Thelma and Louise, but then we see the car instantly transform into a jet and fly away. You guys are really taking the spy thing all the way, huh?

As they fly, Oakley explains that the Defense Mechanism of Alto Mare, really original name by the way, is supposedly the most powerful weapon in the world. Annie doesn’t care about the weapon – all she wants is the jewel from the story – the soul dew.

However, Oakley states that the jewel is needed to operate the machine and then goes on to explain the origins of the name ‘soul dew’ – it contains the soul of a Latios and looks like a dew drop.

Annie says that they have to remember to capture Pokemon for Giovanni and then they head to Alto Mare. Ooh, Team Rocket’s actually doing stuff for a change? I’m surprised 4Kids even believes viewers will remember Giovanni’s name at this point. He’s such a non-existent character. When he is brought up he’s usually just called ‘the boss.’

We get our title screen with the Pokemon logo over water, and they go to the trouble of putting the logo’s reflection in the water. Fancy~

Then we get the word ‘Heroes’ in 2 ½D. It looks like it’s unfinished. It’s flat, obviously, but it’s designed in such a way that makes it seem like it was meant to be entirely in 3D CGI.

That being said, the animation and colors for the title are pretty good, so I can’t fault them too much.

In Alto Mare, Ash and Misty are partaking in a water race where Trainers stand on small boat things while their Water Pokemon pull them. Ash is using Totodile while Misty is usin – Corsola? Really? Out of all of her Water Pokemon, she chose the one based on an organism that is basically immobile and the Pokemon itself is known for being so sedentary that people build houses on them? Politoed, Staryu, hell this would’ve been great for Goldeen, but no – she chose Corsola. Okaaaay.

The race starts and we get our theme song, ‘Master Quest.’ Unlike the other movie songs, this is just the TV version only extended with more instrumental parts and repeating the chorus a couple times. Booooooooo! You guys have been doing so well with the movie themes, yet you don’t even try on this one? Shame!

Pikachu ends up getting knocked off the bridge he’s on and lands conveniently on Ash’s shoulder. Oh yeah, sorry Pikachu. We didn’t realize you weren’t getting attention for more than five seconds.

The race is neck and neck….and neck with Ash, Misty and some dude named Ross with a Wailmer. Nothing much else is going on for a good chunk of this segment. Brock chats up a girl, there’s a joke about Team Rocket getting splashed by water from the racers and we see translucent Latias and Latios flying around. Several of them, it seems.

Ash ends up wiping out on a corner but is saved by one of the translucent Latias or Latios. If the rest of the movie is any indication, it’s probably the Latias we see later. He gets back on his float thing, gets back into the race and is propelled by Latias who suddenly grabs the rope and drags him.

Surprisingly, the race doesn’t end when the song does, and it’s a race to the finish with Misty and Ross.

Latias is allowing Ash to catch up to Misty and Ross, making me worry that he’s going to end up unwittingly cheating to get the win, but Latios grabs the tether as well and sends Ash down the wrong path, eventually throwing them back onto land and then they fall into the water.

Back with Misty and Ross, they’re still neck and neck and they cross the finish line at the same time. However, video evidence shows that Misty won by the horns on Corsola. Wow, Misty actually won? Holy crap. I would say this is a nice movie sendoff for her, but she is basically non-existent for the rest of the movie.

Ross congratulates her on her win and offers to show her around Alto Mare. Damn, you’re a really good sport…..or he’s hitting on her and didn’t expect that she’d take her guy friends with her. Either way.

And that medallion looks freakin’ awesome.

If there was ever one piece of Pokemon merchandise that I needed in my life, it’s this. Someone make my dreams come true and tell me this is a thing.

Ross explains that the symbols on the medallion tell the story of Alto Mare. Misty points out that the symbols look like Pokemon, but he doesn’t bother actually telling the story yet. They see statues of Latias and Latios, and Ross explains that they’re Pokemon that protect the town. No one sees them, but most people believe they’re real.

Cut to a flock of Pidgey followed by a little flying gadget that flies via a drill on its head recording everything on the island, including the painfully CGI people down below.

When we get a closer shot, it’s even more obvious how ech it is. It’s that weird cel-shaded CGI we’ve seen before. These same people were traditionally animated and drawn a minute ago, so I dunno what they’re doing.

We cut to Annie and Oakley watching the video feed with a thermal imager. Annie asks why they haven’t seen either Latias or Latios yet if they’re the guardians of the town. Oakley claims it’s difficult because they can take on different shapes, even disguising themselves as humans. The reason they’re using the thermal imaging software is because either Pokemon in general or Latias and Latios specifically have lower body temperatures than humans. They find one of them and leave on their boat.

Team Rocket are about to eat ice cream by the waterway. You’d think they’d eat indoors or further away from the water after last time, but then we wouldn’t have this running gag.

After Annie and Oakley splash them with water as they drive by in their boat, Jessie points out that it was Team Rocket. James worries that they saw them, and Meowth states that they’re spies for Giovanni. They decide to follow them to somehow make a big break for themselves.

Back with Ash and friends, they bid farewell to Ross, and he tells them where to get great food and ice cream. They head off for the ice cream place first, but despite the fact that they’re going to get cold desserts and drinks, Pikachu decides to make a pit stop at a rusty fountain to get a drink instead. Pikachu can’t turn the tap on, but a mysterious silent girl turns it on for him.

Ash arrives to come get Pikachu for ice cream, and the girl gets all up in his grill and stares at him while circling him. He just stares in response before she walks away.

She wanders by the river, and Annie and Oakley catch up. They confirm that she’s Latias and attack her with their Espeon and Ariados. They have custom designed Pokeballs, black with a red lipstick mark for Annie and blue lips for Oakley. Funny how custom Pokeballs mostly just pop up in movies.

Latias runs, and Pikachu, still bathing in the fountain, hears the commotion and runs off. Ash follows after him, and I love how he takes the time out to turn off the tap before running after Pikachu. Ash is such an advocate for water conservation.

Latias is cornered and captured in String Shot before Ash catches up and saves her, but Annie and Oakley aren’t going to stand for that.

Oakley: “Whatever would we do if he attacked us, Annie?”

Annie: “Espeon, show Oakley what we’d do.”

Ash: “That was a dirty trick!” What trick? That was the most obvious sarcastic set up to an attack I’ve ever seen. Even if there was no sarcasm, she clearly pointed out that Espeon was going to do something bad.

Ash decides to fight back and has Pikachu Thunderbolt them. I’m now realizing that Espeon has an awful English voice. Ick.

Ash and Latias run away, and Espeon and Ariados chase after them. During the chase we cut to their view, I suppose, but the shot is too smooth so it’s like they’re flying through the CGI town. This is made even worse by the fact that, though you can hear Ash panting as he’s running, you can’t hear his footsteps.

Latias takes the lead when Ash realizes he’s lost and she leads him right back to his friends before vanishing.

As Ash reunites with his friends, and Annie and Oakley watch over them with their little drill camera gadget thing from earlier. They note that Latias isn’t with Ash anymore and will be ensuring that it stays that way……Really? You’re that intimidated by a ten year old boy with a yellow rat? You really are from Team Rocket.

The gang heads to a museum and Ash gives us this line:

Ash: “Is this a fossil of a Pokemon?”

Ash, sweetie, remember that thing you were captured by a long time ago? That thing that spurred your old Charmeleon’s evolution? Looked like a pterodactyl? Similar to that fossil? Come on. You can do it. I believe in younotreally.

Some old guy named Lorenzo, who I think is a curator, explains that the fossils are more than just fossils – they’re the remnants of Pokemon who used to terrorize Alto Mare.

Lorenzo: “One was an Aerodactyl, the other was…”

Misty: “Kabutops?”

Lorenzo: “That’s right!”

Wait, Misty remembers Kabutops, but Ash doesn’t remember Aerodactyl?

Lorenzo introduces the kids to the DMA, the Defense Mechanism of Alto….Mare….It’s two words, so doesn’t that mean it should be DMAM?—oh whatever.

Brock sees light coming through the stained glass windows and proclaims it’s a sign that he’ll meet a girl in Alto Mare…….kinda random there.

Lorenzo tells a story about how the people of Alto Mare were terrorized by an Aerodactyl and a Kabutops and their evil master. When this happened, Latios arrived and flooded the town, drowning the evil Pokemon and turning the streets into canals…..

That’s real neat and all….but…uh, if Latios flooded the town….wouldn’t that kill all the innocent people and Pokemon there too? And how did flooding a town kill an Aerodactyl? They can fly….For that matter, how’d it kill a Kabutops? They’re part Water type. They just chose two Pokemon who have no real reason to ever drown to be the victims of a drowning. I’m surprised 4Kids even opted to say that they drowned. That’s a bit dark.

I thought there was some preachiness at some point in time that said no Pokemon is evil, they just have evil Trainers. I didn’t hear him say the evil Trainer was killed by Latios.

He explains that the story and the canals are the reason the town’s called Alto Mare as it means ‘high seas.’ It’s also how the DMA(M) got built.

As he’s telling us more about the weapon, Ash notices a girl who looks suspiciously like the girl he met earlier, only with a hat, drawing up in the balcony.

Ash pursues the girl all over town, but when he finally catches up with her and asks why she disappeared, she says she doesn’t know him. Also her voice sounds way too old for her body. She’s ten like Ash, right? She sounds like she’s 30.

The girl leaves, but Ash still decides to follow her through town. We see some Murkrow, who also have have awful voices, and Ash gives up on his chase right as he sees her again. It’s clear this time that it’s Latias since she’s now sans hat and art supplies and isn’t speaking. She runs off, prompting Ash to follow her. We get more ‘flying’ through the CGI town some more and it’s even more distracting because now I can’t hear Ash panting to imply that he’s running.

He’s brought to a cool little part of town with a garden lattice and a fountain for the bird Pokemon. Latias suddenly disappears through a portal in a wall, so Ash and Pikachu follow.

They’re lead into a beautiful park and continue to follow Latias. When they catch up, Latios springs from a nearby pool and starts attacking Ash while invisible, but Latias steps in to protect him.

The girl from before who looks just like Latias walks up and starts bitching out Ash for attacking Latios. They try to explain, but the girl, Bianca, will have none of it and orders Latios to attack. They’re stopped, however, by Lorenzo. He explains that the other girl is Latias and she just wants to play with her new friends. As we learned earlier, Latias and Latios have the power to change their form, but the reason Latias chooses to look like Bianca much of the time is because they’re best friends.

Ash starts swinging on the swing with Latias who spooks him by turning into her actual form. Latios also apologizes to Pikachu for attacking it by licking its cheek. Pikachu plays with Latias and Latios while they fly around.

Latias plays around with Ash by stealing his hat and playing keepaway. After he retrieves it, Latios uses the ability of Sight Sharing while he dives underwater. It allows Latias to not only see what Latios sees but also allows her to project the images to other people. We get a neat rail-shooter-esque ride through Latios’ sight. Even though it’d be more effective for the audience if they kept Ash and the others out of the shot, it’s still neat either way.

After that, we hear the story of how Lorenzo and Bianca came to know and care for Latias and Latios. Lorenzo has not only known them since they were babies, but also knew their father, Latios, who was the one from the legend who brought water to the town, stopped the ancient Pokemon and created Alto Mare.

Wait, wait, wait, back up the truck. He was there when Alto Mare was formed? The whole event with the….evil….ancient Pokemon? I guess it’s not impossible for ancient Pokemon to live back then because, well, Ash and the others have awakened ancient Pokemon before, but that theory gets squashed when you remember that the Aerodactyl and Kabutops fossils they saw at the museum earlier were the actual fossils. There’s no way in hell those Pokemon fossilized in 50 or so years. Maybe if they were killed by lava, but they were drowned.

All of this, the museum, the ancient machine, the legend book, all of it points to stuff that happened an incredibly long time ago. This is made even more apparent by the fact that the story is laid out for us in what seem like ancient tomes carved into stone. Unless Lorenzo is immortal, I think this whole story is very oddly written in regards to time frames.

Their father died back then (and despite the fact that they say it ‘vanished’ Ash does actually say ‘die.’ Guess the movies have different rules now or something) because he expended all of his power to bring the water to Alto Mare……Really? It’s a Legendary Pokemon and it didn’t have the strength to take out two Pokemon without making a martyr of itself? Just because they’re ancient Pokemon doesn’t mean they’re anymore powerful.

In Latios’ place, a gem was left behind said to contain its spirit and was named the soul dew. The gem was then used to power the DMA(M). While the soul dew contains the soul of Alto Mare’s guardian, it also contains the power to destroy their town if it gets into the wrong hands, thus its location must be kept secret.

Ash agrees to keep the secret when Latias comes up from behind him and tries to give him a ride, but he’s too heavy for Latias and she drops him. However, he’s saved by Latios. Bianca points out that Latias is trying to play with him some more, but he says he can’t because he needs to find his friends.

He bids them farewell and Bianca decides to take him back. As we cut out of the park, we see Annie and Oakley’s drill camera thinger. Dun Dun Dunnnn.

Later that night, in front of a glowing sapphire moon (this movie is so friggin’ blue) Annie and Oakley head off over the rooftops to Latias and Latios’ location while Team Rocket tries to follow. We see Lorenzo working in his workshop making a gondola when Espeon enters and knocks him out with its psychic powers.

They enter the park through the secret entrance in Lorenzo’s workshop. As Latios and Latias sleep, Latios senses them and goes in to attack. Annie and Oakley start a counteroffensive, but Latios and Latias choose to go invisible. That won’t work, however, as ♫ they wear their sunglasses at night, so they can, so they can, see Latios and Latiiiiiaaaaaassssss ♫.

They attack Latios and Latias, and, in an effort to save Latias, Latios takes the hit and they capture him in some sort of awful CGI electro-slime net.

Despite Latios’ efforts, Latias is shot down soon after. As they’re about to capture her, Latios steps in to save her and tells her to run. She manages to get away, but now Annie and Oakley have Latios as well as the soul dew.

So wait, the soul dew and the DMA(M) are the two things needed to easily destroy the town? Yet, one’s in an easily accessible museum and the other’s in a park with the access to this place being either an unguarded portal in an easily accessible wall or a door in an old man’s workshop. And the tablet which explains, step by freakin’ step, how to use the soul dew with the machine is embedded in the floor mere feet away from the dew. You guys suck at security. It’s almost like you want your town to be destroyed.

The tablet not only explains how to use the soul dew and the machine but also explains that operating the machine must be kept as merely a last resort as using it will destroy the soul dew and cause the waters in the city to recede. Annie doesn’t want to sacrifice her gem, but Oakley says it’s probably a bunch of bull.

Annie and Oakley head to the museum and follow the instructions from the tablet. They lay Latios on a platform—wait, I thought all you needed to make the machine work was a soul dew and the machine. Now you need a live Latios too?

Lorenzo and Bianca, having discovered that the soul dew was missing, arrive at the museum to stop Annie and Oakley but get knocked out by Espeon again. You guys could’ve called the cops ya know…..oh right….cops…in Pokemon. Yeah, you’re better off on your own.

Oakley uses the soul dew and they marvel in the machine powering up.

Back with Latias, she finds Ash and the others sleeping at the local Pokemon Center. She transforms to her Bianca form, wakes Ash and hugs him in fright.

Ash explains the situation to Misty and Brock and says that the girl before them is actually Latias. They strangely believe him without question, but get instant proof when Latias returns to her Pokemon form. You could’ve saved several precious minutes by just doing that in the first place…or never transforming to the begin with.

Latios awakens and uses sight sharing with Latias to show Ash and the others what’s going on. Oakley enters the machine, and I’m just now realizing that they never say exactly what the machine is supposed to do. It’s a weapon of course, but what powers does it have?

Power 1 – The power to bring fossils back to life as pseudo-zombie Pokemon.

I don’t see how that helps defend the town….

Oakley uses the machine to bring Aerodactyl and Kabutops back to life through their fossils to make them fight on their side. It still bothers me that we never learn who this evil Trainer was that owned these two. You’d think the legend of the evil person who trained these Pokemon to attack the town would be more prominent than the Pokemon themselves.

Oakley commands the two to capture Latias, and Latios ends the sight sharing.

Power 2 – Close off all of the streets, pathways and all exits in town with giant grates.

Uh….Okay, I guess that’s a defensive power. But if the danger is in the town, it’s just locking the enemy in with the townspeople and making it impossible for them to escape from the threat.

Oakley causes a city-wide lockdown, performing the same function I just mentioned, to trap the citizens within the city as she takes it over.

Ash manages to escape and heads to the museum while Misty and Brock are trapped in the Pokemon Center for the time being.

Ash rides in a gondola to the museum, but Aerodactyl attacks Latias. He manages to save Latias for a moment, but she flies off and turns invisible. Aerodactyl comes back with a Hyper Beam to destroy Ash’s gondola and nearly drowns him, but Latias saves him.

Latias pulls him through the water slowly since she’s shown not to have the strength to let him ride on her back, and Ash stops her as they pass some of those little boat things from the race so he can use that instead. Yay reincorporation!

Misty and Brock somehow managed to find a way out of the Pokemon Center, but are still trapped by the grates all over town. They’re trying to deliver Ash’s other Pokemon to him in case he gets in trouble. Since they can’t pass the gate, they open their Pokeballs outside of the gate to let Crobat, Politoed and Corsola deliver them instead.

Oh wait, scratch that, that would’ve been intelligent. Instead they keep Ash’s Pokeballs and just let their Pokemon go off as support for Ash while they try to find a way out. Brock starts climbing the grate which really does highlight a big problem with that power.

Some of the grates are inescapable because of what they’re covering such as doors and windows, but the ones blocking the streets and alleyways have no tops and are designed in such a way that is easily climbable. So…this power’s a little dumb. Don’t even get me started on the fact that, in this town where most people travel by the city’s waterways, the power doesn’t block off the waterways at all….

Back with Ash and Latias, they’re still being pursued by Aerodactyl but now are also being attacked by Kabutops. They crash the little boat thing and nearly get attacked by Kabutops, but Brock and Misty’s Pokemon save them. Behold, the only thing Misty and Brock do all movie! No, I’m not kidding. Also, the only thing they do all movie is something they’re not even present for. Hooray!

By the way, Latios the Legendary Pokemon, had to flood the city and sacrifice its life to beat these Pokemon before. Three fairly unimpressive (power-wise) Pokemon from Trainers who hardly ever get chances to battle beat them easily. Yay for making sense!

Power 3 – Can see all over town like it’s covered in hidden cameras.

That’s a better defensive power. Leaves few places for the enemy to hide.

Oakley sees Latias coming towards the museum as well as Ash. Bianca and Lorenzo try to change her mind about using the machine, but Oakley’s gone a little mad with power.

She uses the machine’s next power–

Power 4 – ….Basically Water Bending.

I’m becoming increasingly baffled by this machine. Latios can’t do any of these things, yet the machine uses its power and the power of the soul dew, which is just a Latios as well, to achieve these things. What magic is going into this thing? Who actually built it? Just the citizens of Alto Mare? Are they graduates from Hogwarts? Every other weird machine or monster that has appeared in these movies has had a reason behind their powers yet this is completely unexplained.

Oakley attacks Ash and Latias with a bunch of tidal waves and traps them in a floating whirlpool in an effort to actually kill them. Holy crap, someone actually tried to murder another person on this show. Though I have noticed that whenever that happens, it’s usually through drowning. Actually….it’s that way in several other shows too, like Avatar the Last Airbender…..Drowning gets a murder pass in kids shows? Weird.

Latias saves the day by blasting the water away with its psychic powers. Because of the broken attack, the DMA(M) starts going haywire.

Ash arrives and saves Bianca and Lorenzo while Latias tries to free Latios from its prison that looks oddly like the prisons from Movie 02. Also, this machine was supposedly made with the intentions of trapping a Latios in it and torturing it to uses its powers. Nice, citizens of Alto Mare. Real nice.

Pikachu Thunderbolts the cage, but the lightning gets redirected back at them. Strangely, this does cause the cage to be lowered to ground level though….Wait….it’s in Ash’s range now…..Could it be?!

YAY! THE EXTREMELY WEIRD MOVIE TROPE OF ASH RAMMING HEADFIRST INTO SOMETHING THAT OBVIOUSLY WON’T BE AFFECTED BY HIS PUNY HUMAN BODY AND THEN BEING THROWN FROM IT AND HURT IS BACK! Whoopee!

I think I’m actually enjoying this trope since I am increasingly amused by Ash getting hurt when he’s being dumb. It’s even better because he does it twice in this scene.

Latias manages to break the barrier with its own psychic powers, and Ash and the others pull Latios out of the cage, which causes the machine to breakdown. Misty and Brock arrive just in time to be useless and Annie reunites with Oakley. They’re about to leave, and Annie tries to recover the soul dew, but she finds that it’s black. As she touches the soul dew, she is thrown back by an expulsion of energy from the jewel.

The machine starts back up again and traps Annie and Oakley within it. Lorenzo explains that the soul dew’s been out of the pool of water for too long and now all the water in the town will dry up. Well, thanks for telling us that could happen. The only thing I heard of like that was the machine using too much of the soul dew’s power, which is what I thought was going on.

The water in the town does indeed start receding, but we learn that the real issue isn’t the water going away – it’s the fact that the water returns in a giant city-destroying tidal wave—okay, now you’re just making shit up! This is truly the dumbest defense machine and mystical gem I’ve ever seen. Protect the town by using a machine that is powered by a gem that can’t be out of water for more than ten minutes and its use results in the city being destroyed.

The tidal wave comes, does some awful CGI damage to the ruins, and Latias and Latios go to combat it. They combine their psychic powers to split the wave and allow the water to gently return to the city.

Because he expelled so much power while being so weak, Latios dies. Wow….he does….he dies! And he doesn’t get brought back to life…..Hm, I think that’s the first ever legit death Pokemon has ever had on screen.

The water returns to the city, Aerodactyl and Kabutops return to their fossils, the citizens are none the wiser, and Annie and Oakley remain trapped in the machine until cops one day decide to get off their asses and find them.

Back with Ash and the gang, they grab a boat and start looking for Latias and Latios. They manage to find Latias who is saved by some passing Water Pokemon. They mourn when she tells them that Latios died to protect the city. Latias’ sight sharing activates and they see what Latios is seeing, which is a view of the clouds and the earth from space. It’s actually a very sad and well-handled scene.

Latios turns into a new soul dew and lands in Bianca’s hands. They bring the new soul dew to the pool in the park and welcome a new guardian to Alto Mare.

Ash and the others bid goodbye to Lorenzo. He tries to call Bianca down to say goodbye as well, but suggests that she must’ve left for the market. In her room, we see her hat on the easel and someone grabbing a drawing she had made.

As Ash and the others drive away on a boat, they see ‘Bianca’ waving them down. They stop at a dock, and Ash gets out to see what’s up. She hands the picture to Ash and we get the big to-do about this movie, Ash’s kiss.

The big mystery is if the girl was Latias or Bianca. Given that Bianca left her hat at home, it’s completely possible that it’s Bianca, and most fans would probably want it that way, because ew. But Bianca’s a big mouth. She’s always talking when she’s on screen. Yet she’s not making a peep here and suddenly runs off like Latias would do, so I’m inclined to believe it’s Latias.

I’m not even sure why this was thrown in there anyway. If it was Latias, then, well, it’s kinda cute but definitely weird. If it’s Bianca, then why should we care?

She was bitchy for half of her scenes, and it’s not like we ever saw any sort of connection, romantic or otherwise, between her and Ash. The picture is of Ash and Pikachu, so I suppose Bianca could’ve had a thing for Ash, but we don’t see any chemistry or decent scenes with them on screen. She wasn’t memorable in the least, so this just seems forced. If you want to go the extra mile, the argument can be made that her character was entirely pointless besides to purposely make this confusion.

Ash has had two kisses in the course of the show to this point, both of which he got in movies and both of which were on the cheek, which is why I didn’t say this was Ash’s first kiss like a lot of people seem to call it.

She clearly kissed him on the cheek. With the bright background and closeup on the kiss, they’re making off like this is his legit first kiss, in spite of the fact that he got a kiss on the cheek by Melody in Movie 02. The only reason I can think of for this seeming like his first kiss is that it kinda looks like Ash is kissing her on the cheek a little, but he’s really just surprised at the kiss.

As of now, Ash has gotten his first legit kiss, even if it was off-screen, by Serena in Pokemon XY.

In summary, ooOOOoooohhhh kissy! Mwah mwa mwah!

They drive away from Alto Mare and we start getting our ending songs, which are just two snippets of songs found on Totally Pokemon, a CD I actually have. Yay me! And two from 2BA Master, a CD I don’t have and never will own on principle because of that insanely stupid title. Just write it out, guys. Stop trying to be ‘hip’.

The first is a slower remake of the song ‘You and Me and Pokemon’, which I enjoy better than the original. Next is ‘Pikachu (I Choose You!)’ which is more catchy than anything. It’s also not remixed for the movie. Next, we get ‘The Time Has Come (Pikachu’s Goodbye)’ a song they’re going to keep milking apparently. Finally, we get ‘My Best Friends’ even though it would’ve been better to end on ‘The Time Has Come (Pikachu’s Goodbye)’ considering the death and all, but ending on a lighter note’s fine.

In terms of the scenes behind the credits, we have Ash and the others leaving on the boat (They never mention why they were even there. It looks really far out of their way to be a stop on his Johto journey) and seeing a few Latias and Latios flying through the air, confirming what I thought earlier in seeing numerous Latias and Latios flying around during the race instead of just two, which just begs the question of where the hell were you lazy sumbitches when Latios was dying and the town was nearly destroyed? Some guardians you are.

Annie and Oakley get captured by the cops in a picture that looks like brown comic book inking and then we see Annie and Oakley in prison reading a book about ancient treasures. However, on the right page we see Lawrence the Third and his ship thing.

What a weird cameo. A villain who was only there to get a plot going and was ignored most of the time gets a random spot in a book they’re reading. What’s he even in there for? Why isn’t IMM in there? He was a better criminal.

Other than that, we see the usual shots of Ash and the others camping and traveling, Team Rocket following them, Bianca drawing and that’s pretty much it. The End.

——————————————-

This movie was a lot worse than I remember it being. Annie and Oakley aren’t as good villains as I remember them being. Annie’s a non-villain as she more preoccupied with pretty stuff than power, and Oakley’s your average ‘gets drunk on power and nearly gets destroyed by it’ bad guy. And I find it a bit weird that they basically murdered a Pokemon and are treated like comic relief villains.

The story is stupid and makes no sense most of the time. The big machine is given no adequate explanation beyond ‘it’s a big mysterious machine with magic powers that regular people made.’ Don’t even get me started on the tidal wave thing.

I really like Latias and Latios. They’re pretty weak for Legendaries, especially if they couldn’t beat two measly Pokemon without self-sacrifice, but I always liked their designs and their personalities were likable.

One of my biggest disappointments was the lack of Misty, Brock and even Team Rocket. The only thing Misty did the entire movie was win a race that didn’t even matter. I thought they’d do something with her awesome medallion, but nope. It was in one shot then forgotten. Brock did absolutely nothing during the whole movie except get a couple jokes. Sure, they let their Pokemon out to help Ash with Aerodactyl and Kabutops, but they do one attack and are gone from the rest of the movie.

Brock and Misty’s little mission to get Ash his Pokeballs wasn’t even needed. He never used any other Pokemon besides Pikachu and Totodile this entire movie, and I don’t even think they showed them returning the Pokeballs to Ash.

Team Rocket was even worse. They did 100% pure nothing. They didn’t even talk to Ash and co. or Annie and Oakley. They got splashed with water, failed at following Annie and Oakley on the rooftops and that was it. They basically vanished from the movie after that only appearing in reaction shots to what the machine was doing with little dialogue, and we don’t see them again until the end credits where we see them following Ash and the others like normal.

The visuals of Alto Mare were the best things to say about this movie because the city is incredibly designed and well-detailed. The whole city is heavily inspired by Venice, and they even throw in some Italian words to push this further, but it’s still really amazing.

The overall art and animation was back and forth. Some of the CGI was a huge step up from what they’ve been doing, especially in regards to the CGI shots of the city, but some shots almost seemed unfinished they were so bad.

Not to mention that the colors are just wrong during most of the movie. It feels way too dark a lot of the time, and like the comparison said, it’s almost like some scenes have a blue filter over them. It really tarnishes a good visual experience.

The animation and art of the characters is bumped up as it usually is, though.

Music-wise, they kept the original soundtrack besides the ending and beginning theme, and the original soundtrack is quite nice and builds a good atmosphere for the town. It was really disappointing that the beginning theme wasn’t remixed in any way since I’ve truly been enjoying most of the remixes. I find it especially weird that this wasn’t remixed when ‘You and Me and Pokemon’ was remixed for the ending.

Extending the TV version like they did just seems lazy. The ending songs, while I enjoy them, just seem like a big plug for their other CDs instead of trying to make legit ending songs for an actual movie soundtrack. Like why is ‘Pikachu (I Choose You)’ mixed in there? It’s a jarring contrast on ‘Polkamon’ levels. They were also a little bit too short for my taste. It’s like they wanted to compact as many songs as humanly possible in there, though, admittedly, the first movie had a fairly similar problem.

Bottom Line: I really don’t understand how Dogasu can say this is their favorite movie of the five so far. Everyone has their own views, which I respect, and they may have been talking about the supposedly drastically different subbed version. It’s an okay movie at its core for me.

The stakes, like I mentioned, aren’t that high, even though a Poke-death does take place. I’m not denying that the death scene wasn’t sad or impacting. It was. However, it just didn’t hook me in very well.

There are too many characters doing nothing, side characters getting more impact than they deserve, story issues etc. This also works on that whole trope of repeating a legend over and over and then have the legend either come true or be repeated.

Nothing can really be surprising or interesting when everything is laid out for you that much. I can’t even remember why I watched it so often when I was younger. Maybe I enjoyed Latias too much back then. This movie definitely has its merits, but it’s pretty squarely middle of the road.

Recommended Audience: Several mentions of death and one on-screen death, though not graphic. 5+

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