Pokémon 4Ever

This movie is good, but not the best Pokémon film out there. The art is beautiful, and even the computer-generated parts blend in without problems. The sound are the usual, and fit the film very well. The plot takes its time, but no matter how deep and touching it tries to be, all that's really accomplished is a good attempt to connect emotionally with the characters. That is where the movie fails most. For a change, it is nice to see there is someone in Team Rocket that gets the job done. And yet, like in all children's stories, the evil must not win. The good will prevail.No matter how strong and impressive the opposition, how desperate the situation, there is no way the good guys will lose. Maybe I'm a bit old for this film and those alike it, but it also weakens the general structure of the film because they ruin the strong premise with something illogical that would never work in reality.

A BIG step down from the first three, but still generally enjoyable overall. The main problem was that the generic "guy tries to capture Pokemon" story was nowhere near as interesting as the stories of the first three. Though halfway through, with Celebi being possessed, things did get real, and it got interesting from that point. And aside from the weak story, it was great. Sam and Ash's friendship was really cute, and there was a lot of nice, cute bonding moments. The animation was beautiful, and there was a number of drop-dead gorgeous scenes. Celebi was very cute, and there was some good humor especiallyfrom Team Rocket. But once again, what secured it's grade was the direction. Things really pick up halfway through, and it keeps getting better and better until the climactic scene, which is possibly the single definitive moment of the series. As a whole, a big step down but a good movie overall.

Pokemon 4Ever: The Emerge of Broken CGI. See?! Even I could easily give this movie a much better title, and I'm so high on sugar right now, that you don't even know! I know, that I'm not supposed to have such a high expectations towards this movie, since the first three movies were awesome to me - if humbly flawed, to some degree - but this... Argh! This is not a good time, to be called a pokemon fan, spoiled by the awesomenes of Mewtwo, Entei and Lugia! To be honest, I'm not sure, what to call this movie. Technically, this should be rated as abad anime, but I can't really call this a shitpie-level bad, so... Yeah. Let's call this movie, with its real name. Pokemon 4Ever: The Fanservice - because, seriously... there's not much else, what this movie can really offer, even for a fans of the series! My biggest problem with this movie, is the story, which is suprising, since the premise to this movie is actually quite decent - at best - with time traveling, sacred forests, ever-so-japanese springs of life, new legendary pokemon, and all that good jazz. But, to follow that all-so-tired 90's trendmark of enviroment vs man, why oh why did we need that very same shtick pastered into this movie too?! We didn't - Blinky Bill took that part to the ludicrously preachy levels ages ago! Why not keep it nice, and simple for just a once, you guys, and let the story have conflict, without third-hand-policy?! Humans are boring, as a villains, if they're not correctly motivated, and this villain, is not - is he even a villain, I honestly cannot say! All he wants, is money, and power, but he's also so stupid, that he refuses to sell those 'dark' pokeballs of his, that will exhalirate any pokemon potential to the fullest possible point, thus turning them into... evil? Kay! Hook some brother in with those, and you'll have a mint in no time! Boring as hell, and just... stupid, as hell! And let's not talk about our favourite terrorist group, Cobra... no, the Team Rocket, because let's face it... they're not doing anything worth mentioning! And Suicune... why was he there? No, seriously... why was he there - it is a 'he', right?! He kinda just... was there, and now he is there, and no... he isn't there. Really? That's it?! Really?! Seriously, what a wasted potential! What this movie desperately needed, was some serious re-writing, and better CGI - it hurt my eyes! Hear me out... If Celebi was this... protector of the forest, or what not, and Suicune was... also there, then why couldn't there be some sort of power strugle, between two legendary pokemon - with epic proportions, 'course! - of who's got the right to be the true protector of this... sacred forest, that no one truly really exactly cares anyway? And... Ash being there, for... some reason, because... he doesn't age? That would have been so much more interesting to watch, than this wild goose-chase, with this washed-up loser-bad guy, with stupid name - his name is Vicious, btw - with no real motivations, absolutely hollow and pointless plans, and a personality of a wallpaper! Kinda the same, what they did with the second movie, but... second movie was good! And this time, Ash wouldn't have to be this messiah, or martyr, or anything like that - just be there, and your MC-powers will prevail! And the ending... oh my Grisaia the ending! So stupid... so very, very... stupid! Ouch! For what this movie actually was, it felt more like a Captain Planet episode, mixed in with pokemon, and I didn't like that! Usually, pokemon movies are very personal at their stakes and consequenses, when saving the world, and learning something new about the world, about themselves, or something like that, but this... I couldn't find any of these things, from this movie. Nothing was learnd, nothing was changed, and all that needed saving, was this stupid forest, that no one cares! Theres nothing for Ash to do, so... why was he even there?! And those steam-punk pokepalls... I'm not even going there - all the missed possibilites hurt my very soul! The story itself, isn't even that strong to beging with, so that no real stakes, consequenses, motives or themes can't really occure, when compared to the first three movies - expecially the third! - and Celebi... is just a another Mew, but less with personality. Lucky him... Suicune had absolutely nothing to give! Giving this movie a solid 5, almost seems too high into my critical eye, but I must be honest... I actually quite enjoyed this movie. To the degree, with flaws and all! It was, what pokemon fans can expect it to be, but nothing else, really, and that poor CGI... ugh! Let's not talk about that! If only this movie could have gotten itself out of the woods - no pun intented - then this movie, could have been on the par, with the first one, Mewtwo strikes back, but, since we really got just this wattered-down 'movie-special' about professor Oak, and better explanation for his undying trust to this goofball-Ash - yeah, spoilers, again - theres really nothing special to celeb-r-a-t-e. This movie is a solid for a hardcore pokemaniacs, and some of the regular fans might find this somewhat decent, but for a not-fans... try to find something else. And hey... who has a charmeleon, and makes it use a headbud, in a battle?! Or a water-type, against electric-type?! Now that's just... wrong! Story: 4 Art: 7 Sound: 5 Characters: 3 Enjoyment: 6 Overall: 5