Pokémon 3: La Película

Seeing how many adults despise Pokemon, my comments might strike those as the ramblings of a social oddball. But so what?

My child likes Pokemon and I happen to like the Pokemon show, it's not always great but it good to see a show that teaches kids to strive for a goal that is not reachable in half an hour. Name any other children's show where the characters take an entire season to reach a stated goal. In a funny way this show is more realistic then any other children's show on American TV. The program is very tolerant of people's differences and celebrates everyone's unique talents. And I like the different Pokemon creatures and my son and I enjoy playing the N64 Pokemon Stadium 2 game together. He really enjoys explaining the different Pokemon to me as we play. I have a friend who runs tours at a local science museum using the Pokemon as a way to get the kids into natural history and sciences. It really sparks some of the children into learning more.

That said, the movies have been a different story. The first was a very dark movie and the second, although better, still had a strange apocalyptic undercurrent more typical of Japanese animation for older audiences. I missed the light hearted nature of the TV show. The new one is different, the story is more suited to young audiences and it's mostly more coherent to adults who are with the young ones. (Although the kids will have to explain some plot elements to you if you haven't kept up with the show.) The film also has a much better story than the first two. There is still quite a bit of large scale fighting at the end but it's not the end of the world stuff of the first films.

Do I recommend the film to regular audiences? No, but I do suggest to parents that you don't make excuses to not take your child. This should not be the torture you may have experienced with the first two.

It still lacks the cinematic style from the first, however it is a definite improvement from its predecessor. As always, this is slightly biased as I am a massive fan of the franchise. A young girl who's father mysteriously disappears is left alone and sad. Through her sorrow, the mysterious Unown feed off of this and grant her the ability to create a dream reality where she can find happiness, but at a cost of destroying the world. Instantaneously you are thinking "well that just sounds like the fable 'The Snow Queen'", to which you are right. Substitute a snow castle for a crystal palace, add in Pokémon and surreal dream manipulation and you are in for an imaginative adventure. The reason why I like this instalment the most is because it has a story that feels complete. It's creativity and rapid runtime (way too short in my opinion) makes for an emotional plot that revolves around the fear of loneliness. In order to keep this consistent with the franchise, we have energetic Pokémon battles embedded within the narrative, a corny pop song for the introductory credits (I just despise them...) and a child-friendly message about friends and family. Plenty of battles in this entry, the most in the trilogy, and all of them feel electrifying as the monsters fight to the sound of pounding electronic pop music. The final showdown between Charizard and Entei was well animated and chaotic. The sweetness and innocence that exhumes from Molly was a nice addition, and the dream worlds she creates looked creative. The animation of the Unown to make them look 3D was terrible, I hate it when animation includes 3D textures on a 2D background. The plot structure does start to become formulaic, and after this entry the future of the series continues the trend of utilising a legendary Pokémon as the pivotal plot point of a story. Overall, this third instalment rounds off the original trilogy in an creative and emotional way.

Returns some of the darkness of the first film. Here we find a bunch of legendary Pokemon making one young girl's dreams come true. Not as nice as it sounds when her imaginary world is a nightmare for the rest of the earth. Pokemon 3 does a lot of things right, such as limiting the number of Pokemon, allowing for more story. It also brings Ash back his Charizard for a while, which only makes sense, since he doesn't have any powerful Pokemon at this point in the continuity. Team Rocket are reduced to such a joke that even they question their appearance by breaking the 4th wall. More CGI, which doesn't quite mix with the simple anime style, adds something new but not essential.

The other day, I was looking through some old boxes filled with old stuff of mine. In this box was my original NES, some games, and all of my Pokemon stuff. Including each of the films on VHS (well, the first three and Mewtwo Returns).

I remember watching the movies when I was still a Pokemon passionate, and wanted to see if I could get that same rush still, four years later.

Well, with the first two, no chance. The third one, Pokemon 3: The Movie, however, was different.

Again, this review is coming from an 18 year old high school graduate. And even four years later, Pokemon 3 still delivered the thrills.

Loaded with excellent animation, some tense battle scenes (Charizard vs. Entei, anyone?), and a heartwarming theme that children can embrace, I recommend Pokemon 3 to anyone who wishes to rediscover their childhood or for anyone who is just up for some great animation.

9/10

This is definitely the best of the pokemon films. Unlike the previous movie which depended mostly on juvenile action, this one gives us strong imagery, emotion, and a better use of Pokemon to advance the plot.

Even though like Pokemon 2000, this movie feels a bit short, I think the story works well enough. Even though the dialog is juvenile as one might expect, somehow it feels less hokey than Pokemon 2000. Just as it was in the previous two films, Team Rocket acts as a comic relief, by constantly making reference to the fact that they are in a movie. In a way, they have become good guys, but I think the filmmakers are a little confused about what to do with them. The rest of the movie works fine. No movie will ever be as good as the show but, the Pokemon spirit does manage to come alive here for an entertaining hour and a half.