Review of Pokémon the Movie 2000 (1999) by Samuel C — 14 Jan 2008

With the 2nd Pokemon movie, the stakes are risen with a grander setting and a greater crisis. However, the animation is still poor compared to other Anime, and the use of CGI is jarring.The film does contain a fair amount of action, which is rendered with just enough excitement to prevent narcolepsy, even when the viewer is without prior knowledge of the series, which renders many (read: all) plot points confusing.

Another grand flaw is that the characters are stereotypes. Some characters are hideously flawed, such as the 'evil' collector who lives out the franchise's catchphrase by actually trying to "catch 'em all!" His motivation is because he got a card (which if watched at the cinema you'd recieve... product placement no?) but his floating fortress is unexplained and despite his 'evil' is absent for much of the film.

The major draw for the film is the legendary birds, and these don't disapoint, with each having significant screen-time and action scenes. The only problem is that other than Lugia, they never seem THAT powerful, and if they were so legendary, why is everyone aware of them? This lack of mystery renders the film seemingly pointless.

However, an extra star is added for the script writing for Team Rocket, who's presence is unexplained, but welcome, with self-referential jokes and slapstick, they raise the films calibre and enjoyment. But even them cannot make this film about legendary birds soar into animation history.