User Reviews

The sixth Pokémon movie is decent, but it's quite underwhelming compared to the best Pokémon movies. There are some things to enjoy, but there just wasn't much that was great or notable about it.

There wasn't much plot, to be honest. Most of the movie takes place at a circus and the last half hour was mostly spent on getting Jirachi to his home.

Jirachi was kind of cute but rather annoying for the most part, and I felt that his relationship with Max was kind of forced. It had the basic message of lasting friendship that while nice, has already been done before.

There wasn't much excitement until the last 20 minutes and the animation is still good but a definite step down from "Pokémon Heroes."

However, I will admit that there were some funny moments involving Jirachi, and Butler was fairly interesting as a villain. Even if a lot of the magic show scenes went on a little too long, some of them were quite entertaining.

Groudon is another cool legendary Pokémon, and the final 20 minutes are exciting enough. I also loved the "Make a Wish" song at the end credits.

Easily the worst Pokémon movie up to this point and, in my opinion, one of the least memorable. However, even though it's nothing special, at least it's never boring. It's not the worst Pokémon movie and it's still worth a watch, but don't expect anything mind-blowing.

RATING: C+

While Pokémon has been one of Nintendo's mascots for a long time, even popular icons go into hibernation. After the lackluster performance of Pokémon: Heroes - Latios & Latias (2002), the franchise would finally begin its venture into home video territory with this sixth film installment. For some tent pole franchises, this is the kiss of death as most don't return to theatrical releases. Additionally, that means the stories lose more and more of their connections to the original films. However, because these films are playing in line with the TV show, that hasn't seemed to be the case yet. Which is good otherwise that would really throw off the legions of fans who watched the episodes religiously. Another thing to note is that while this entry is the beginning of home video releases, it is also the beginning of other changes.

The story, taking place during the sixth season of the show, follows Ash, Brock and their new crew comprised of May and Max where they seek to catch a glimpse of the millennium comet. It is said the comet contains a large amount of energy capable of generating lots of power. Making its appearance in parallel to the comet is Jirachi (Kerry Williams), a Pokémon with special powers who befriends Max (Amy Birnbaum). Where they meet is at the local festival headed by Butler (Wayne Grayson) and Diane (Megan Hollingshead). The script and direction were headed by the usual crew members working on the past films There's also a bit of additional support from Norman J. Grossfeld returning for script adaptation as well as voice actor Eric Stuart doing direction adaption for the first time.

What both Japanese and American crews accomplish in this feature is changing the formula slightly for fans who have been wanting something more. Of course by no means would the sixth film in a series change any new comers but for fans of the show, this should be entertaining enough. For once, the plot revolves around a main character other than Ash. While he is a central character, laying him off for a while is needed and it fits in with the show since much of Season 6 essentially reset Ash and has put him more in a mentor role than a mentee. That's a nice way to show Ash is growing up...despite the fact that he's still the same age even though it seems like years have passed. But that's not something that can be really faulted for, as fans have come to accept this.

The structure of the story also has slightly changed for the better. This entry did not start off like it typically does with Ash battling some stranger with the current season's theme song behind it. Even the continuity is adequately referenced for the most part. Unfortunately, even with all these good parts, the film does get caught up in some real juvenile things like not giving the antagonist a very clear backstory. It's certainly not as bad as the antagonist from Pokémon the Movie 2000 (1999), but there are parts that feel like more could be said. It's just not that clear. The acting though is still great. Veronica Taylor who used to voice only Ash now also plays May and her interactions with the other voice actors is good too. Kerry Williams as Jirachi is fine, the Pokémon is supposed to be childlike so it seemed like an easy role. Mike Pollock also steps in as narrator instead of Roger Parsons, who sounds fairly close in performance.

What still makes no sense as to why it would be needed is cinematography. This time not only handled by Hisao Shirai but also Takaya Mizutani. Seriously, what is camerawork needed for in animation? The only thing maybe is digital camera movement for anything CGI but who's to say? Shirai has been doing cinematography for the series since the very first film. Lastly Shinji Miyazaki returns as composer to this feature which looks to remain intact even for the English release. That's always good, but again no domestic album release. What can be said is at least there's consistency in the production where people who've worked on an entry before come back again for another time.

None of the Pokémon films have ever managed to hit ground breaking levels of entertainment and this one is no different. It still makes no sense how cinematography is incorporated and the villain still doesn't have the best backstory. But the production crew that work on these films are a reliable bunch with acceptable voice acting and good music. The direction has also been slightly modified to keep its fans attention.

Even though I watched this many months ago, I can still recall the complex and beguiling lyrics of the lullaby. "Doo doo doo" it starts and "doo doo doo dooo doo doo" it continues. Truly beautiful. Beyond that I know there was something about a vengeful butler, a gigantic circus and pokekaiju. I honestly enjoyed it rather more than the film before with the shrieking sky chickens and the China-inspired mountain locale here is rather nice. Sure, a lot of it falls into that classic pokemon trap of mindless tomfoolery with a thin veneer of sentiment, but... well actually I can't put it better than the rousing chorus of the wonderful lullaby: "doo dooo doo doo doooooo doo doo".

I wasn't expecting much. I found the Mewtwo movie better. I thought it would be interesting having a pokemon grant wishes, but hey this is for kids.

I have also seen pokemon 2 and will be watching Pokemon 7 Destiny Deoxys. I started watching the TV series then the red/blue gold silver and other games came out, then we got the Mewtwo movie so I have missed the ones between 2 and this one.

If you don't know much about pokemon you wont get the small team rocket parts and the powers pokemon have such as Pikachu's thunder attacks, but you wont miss much of the story. Go back and watch the TV series or play a gameboy version if you're a bit lost but I doubt it.

A better name for the magician could have been better, though it was original. The plot is simple and you don't need to guess whats going to happen.

What was the point of Absol? He debuts trying to harm Jirachi because of a furtuee tragedy. Then Absol all of a sudden wants to help Jirachi. I don't get it.

3/4 of the movie was alright to watchable. The last bit when they get to Jirachi's home really shows how Pokémon producers think pokemon fans are dumb.

The positives are the Butler and his story.

Most of Everything else we've already seen before in the Pokemon series for the past 20 years.



A decent movie that ends subpar.

Thank you, Pokemon!!! I really enjoyed movie! This movie was so great that I gave this movie 10 out of 10! Thanks to computer graphics (I think it was included in there), and the animations, for Pokemon and Pokemon characters, I really loved this movie! Oh my god..., I can't stop but think about this movie after I watched it. The music was good, the plot was good, the animations were good... I mean great, everything was good. No wait, I say everything's GREAT, not good! Man, I'm so excited about this. No wonder I can't stop but think about this movie all over again. I can watch it over again, too, so that I'll be able to remember this throughout my life. I recommend this movie to everyone, so watch it and remember it!

Well, Jessie, James and Meowth ALMOST stole Pikachu for once. Outside of that this movie is awful. It's a complete cringe-fest. There is nothing I hate more than a cringe-fest. The movie could be a Schindler's List level quality movie and I would still hate it because of the cringe. I don't do cringe, and this movie was constant cringe.

If you like Pokemon as much as I do, you won't want to miss the appearance of a Pokemon that is, otherwise, never shown on TV. Though I would make an exception for this movie, even you're a hardcore Pokemon fan.

I've been following Pokemon shows, games and movies ever since I was a child. This has got to be the most boring Pokemon movie yet! More than half of the entire movie is FILLERS and nothing but FILLERS. The plot is crappy and the only character development was when their past is revealed in a brief sentence or two. The voice over is terrible, especially for Jirachi. Half way through, I was so disappointed that it felt painful to sit on my seat.

The only reason why this movie didn't receive a 1 star from me is because of the sudden twist towards the end. It saved the movie and made it almost worth watching.

Again, even for hardcore Pokemon fans, you might want to simply skip the first half. Trust me, you won't miss a damn thing!

This movie is the best out of all 6 movies released so far. It has everything the other Pokemon films had except its executed much better. The two new characters Max and May add something to this movie that the others lack... the sense of a real chemistry between characters. While the villain in this one is the stupidest of the series (I mean his name is butler and he is a magician, come on). The song at the end of the film is very beautiful and nice to listen too. Overall this film is one of the better animated releases this year, too bad it was released direct to video while the last 3 crappy Pokemon films got theatrical releases.

GRADE: B

I never seen that movie before... but I'm looking forward to seeing that movie! 🙂