Pokémon 3 the Movie: Spell of the Unown

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.

I'll admit it. I'm 21 years old and I enjoy Pokemon. With that aside, let me say that Pokemon 3: The Movie is actually one of the better films I've seen this year. As usual the short, this time entitled "Pikachu and Pichu", is a throwaway. Pikachu goes exploring the "big city" and meets up with the Pichu brothers (cute little Pokemon who resemble Pikachu). Together they have a series of misadventures, mostly running from a large dog Pokemon named Hounddower. This short serves only to introduce new Pokemon for the kids to get excited over. What makes it worse is that the "short's" running time clocks in at a lengthy 22 minutes. However, if you can survive that, you are in for a treat. The feature, entitled The Spell Of The Unown, begins with a young girl named Molly and her father reading a bedtime story. We can see that the girl loves her father very much. We soon learn that the father is a famous Pokemon researcher who is investigating the ancient Pokemon call "Unown". While escavating a temple, where the remains of the Unown were found, he mysteriously vanishes.

When Molly learns about her fathers disappearance, she sinks into a deep depression feeling that she is truely alone (her Mother had also disappeared several years earlier). Molly happens upon the remains of the Unown (which resemble letters of the alphabet) in her father's study. She spells out the names "Mama" and "Papa" with the Unown and begins to cry. The Unown come to life and give Molly the power to create her own dreamworld where she can have anything she wants. She brings to life an ancient Pokemon called "Entei" to be her surrogate father and promptly begins to turn her house and the rest of the countryside into a magnificent crystal palace. Enter Ash, Misty, Brock, Team Rocket, all those cute little Pokemon, and some old friends and you have the beginnings to a great movie. This movie has a lot going for it. The animation is well done, the colors are exceptionally vibrant, and even the American added CGI effects look much better in this as compared to the first two movies. The story line in Pokemon 3, which borrows liberally from Star Trek, Alice in Wonderland and The Neverending Story, has a much more dark tone than the first two and feels more like an actual movie rather than an extended episode of the TV series. It deals with such adult oriented issues as loss, loneliness, and depression. However, it is still perfectly suited for kids as there is no language and very minor cartoon violence. All in all Pokemon 3 is a great movie to take your kids to, or just to take yourself to if your in the mood for a great action/fantasy anime movie. I give it an 8/10.

I'm at the point now where I can name the well-known Pokemon, but I still consider myself mostly Pokemon-illiterate. I never much cared for the TV show, and I don't play video games anymore. So why, you may ask, would I go to see the movies? Well, I confess that I love seeing animation on the big screen. I don't know if they spend more money or what, but animation to me almost always looks better on the big screen. I loved the first movie, didn't like the second. And now that I've seen the third, I gotta gay I love it, too.

The "Pikacu and Pichu" short is, just like its two predecessors, merely a showcase for more Pokemon. Didn't leave an impression. The feature, however, is great. Entei is now my second favorite character from these movies, second only to Mewtwo. Like Mewtwo, Entei has a reason for doing what he does, even if it is misguided. Also, he (again, like Mewtwo) is one of the reasons why you must experience this film in the best sound system possible, because his voice comes out of all the rear surround speakers. Ralph Schuckett does another good job with the musical score, and the two songs I heard I LIKED. I also liked the use of the little girl Molly and her imagination as the reason for the happenings, and the inclusion of Ash's mom, no doubt making this a more personal battle for Ash. Oh yes, the animation is quite nice (best of the three), and the action rarely lets up once it starts!

No doubt some will bash this simply because it is Pokemon, but all I can say is if you can get past "Pikachu and Pichu," TRY giving it a chance--even if you know nothing about Pokemon, you might still enjoy it. I sure did.

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.

Being a fan of the pokemon TV show, I really wanted to see this movie, and it was worth it. It told the wonderful story of a girl named Molly, and how her mom was taken by the Unown(by the way, in the original version, her mother was institutionalized instead of taken by the Unown) Molly's father loved her dearly, and he (too,) was taken by the Unown, and when the Unown saw Molly miserable, they made all her dreams a reality. The whole landscape was turned into ice and her home was a castle. The Unown created the legendary Entei, who took the place of Molly's father. Ash, Team Rocket and everyone else tries to convince Molly her world isn't "real" and she needs to get back into the "real" world.

I really adored how innocent Molly was and how her parents loved her. She is my favorite pokemon movie character. Entei was well done, and I liked his purple fire balls and the battle he had with Charizard. Great to see Charizard back, by the way! (It returned again when Ash was getting the Rising Badge from Clair in Master Quest, but that's another story) The computer animation with the Unown was nice as well. The crystal tower was good, and it was kind of reminds me of Emerald City from "The Wizard Of Oz". We also see Molly become older, and the first anime/movie appearences of Kingdra, Teddihursa and Flaafy. (Watch the credits, and you'll see she got a real Teddihursa)

"Pikachu and Pichu" was another good short, with LOTS of interesting pokemon and all-around cuteness. "Pokemon The Movie" was pretty bad with the 2nd and 4th movies better, and this WAY better. Go see it! You won't be sorry! A 9/10.