This is definitely one of the best written. My favorite is probably Rise of Darkrai because of the towers that turn out to be a giant musical instrument. Also it has a hopeful ending, showing that Darkrai is still present at least within the shadows to watch over the garden he so treasured.
I saw this movie on RU-vid ages and ages ago, where someone had uploaded it as a single super long video. This movie is one of the reasons why Lucario is one of my favorite Pokémon of all time, and this movie itself is also one of my favorite Pokémon movies.
literally the reason why lucario is my favorite pokemon of all time. this movie is still one of my favorite movies. watching it years ago, then now, I've come to appreciate more and more
Let’s be honest with ourselves, the Gen 1-3 movies were Pokemon at its peak! The Gen 4 movies were also really good! Maybe a little weaker. But still right up there! Personally, I wasn’t as excited watching the Gen 5 or 6 movies. And then Gen 7 is when they started splitting the movies from the anime and I just felt totally disconnected from them.
Well, the first part of the movie is solid, but the whole Tree of Life thing was terrible, super life cells, consuming humans? WTF? It seems like with The Spell of Unown, the movie tries too hard to be dramatic, like with the kidnapped of Pikachu mirroring the kidnapped of Ash's Mom in that movie and this contribuites nothing to the plot, its just there for the sake of rising the stakes.
... the conflict in this movie as the driving plot is completely forced. The fantasy aspect was great, but they definitely came up with the main problem last. Also, the crystal flowers had nothing to do with anything, really. Just for flashbacks. They had no ecological or mystical importance other than being magical recording devices. Then, just like that, they all disappear because they weren't ever necessary. The characters of lucario and Aaron are great. The idea of Aarons betrayal and redemption was also great, but the execution falls very short when you analyze this as world building as a whole. It was secular. Playing deeper to the fact that pokemon doesn't like to consider the movies as canon