Despite the change in the Pokémon franchise with ownership and the voice actors behind it, newcomers still found it entertaining. It also wasn’t like these changes would halt any production going forward because some avid followers would still watch whether the original voice cast was there or not. With that said, it should be no surprise that after one bad anniversary special and a film entry in the lineup, another one would come around. Interestingly enough, this entry somewhat improves upon the last film but is still needlessly complicated in the world this franchise is trying to expand. That’s not to say there isn’t effort here but there are several questions about what gets set up. As it has been before, the Yuyama Sonoda duo are the main headers to this entry, which is good but some are probably wondering how much longer are they going to remain attached.
The story relatively picks up where the last film left off where Palkia and Dialga had their spat over what seemed like nothing. However because of the last event, another Pokémon called Giratina is annoyed by this. Giratina who is the Pokémon of the reverse world watched as its home became invaded by the disruption the two others causing dark matter to appear. To try and stop that from happening again, Giratina tries trapping Dialga in its realm only to be foiled by another Pokémon called Shaymin who has powers that can convert pollution into freshness. Meanwhile a man by name of Zero (Christopher Kromer) is seeking to get his hands on Giratina to control the reverse world. So it’s nice to see the consequences of the last film impacted this one, which kind of explains the reasoning behind it too. Why that couldn’t be said for the film itself instead of here, who knows.
There is reasoning why Shaymin is involved with the plot which is helpful. Sometimes these tinier Pokémon seem to be thrown in more for cute factor based on marketing more than anything else. However, the use of this character has nowhere near the same kind of charm compared to previous ones. For some reason this particular Shaymin can communicate via telepathy with Ash and company. The reason why is never explained as it is later shown other Shaymin exist and do not interact with such abilities. Okay…whatever. That’s not where the issues end though. Although it is more entertaining compared to the last story, a couple minor subplots do not get resolved when it concludes. For the characters though, the actors put in well-earned performances. The five main cast members who voice the characters fans know and love are fine.
The new characters to join for this film are Shaymin also voiced by Michele Knotz. Shaymin as a character is ok for the story but personality wise comes off frustrating. Christopher Kromer is good for voicing Zero having past roles in Berserk and Giant Robo. Lastly there’s Marc Thompson voicing Newton Graceland a scientist also studying the reverse world. Thompson has also had various roles in anime like Duke Devlin in Yu-Gi-Oh. He even had a role on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Aside from those additions, everything else is very much standard which means nothing to really go on about because things have been in place now for quite some time. With this entry being apart of the eleventh season, the new voice actors have had enough time to settle in.
The visuals to the film were fine. Takaya Mizutani as the default cinematography was acceptable for however that applies. Maybe. The blend of digital animation and CGI have gotten pretty good now where the renders don’t look completely out of place. Lastly the music from Shinji Miyazaki is no shocker either. He’s been scoring the series for several films now and looks like he’s just another component to the franchise as like the Yuyama Sonoda duo. And of course, no domestic release on the soundtrack. The tracks heard in the film have that familiar sound which is good. Nothing really felt out of place, but an album would have been nice sometime.
The story reverts back to its sort of status quo entertainment value which is okay. From a narrative perspective it misses on some subplots and explanations but perhaps that’s expected by now. The animation, voice acting and connective tissue to the last film makes up for that a little bit.
