Sure, we didn't have a legit, consistently good movie since The Rise of Darkrai, some eight movies ago and we didn't have an unironically great movie since Pokemon Heroes some 13 years ago. However, this doesn't mean some movies, such as Zoroark: Master of Illusions weren't enjoyable. What's that? The Zoroark movie came out 5 installments ago? Huh, well, I guess the very last one about Diancine wasn't that bad. The more I look back at the past movies, it seems as if quality really is slipping down with smaller and smaller spikes in quality.
I'm happy to say that this movie's not offensive. But I'm also disappointed to call it a less exciting derivative of the Diancine movie. Fitting the same mold, we've got Ash meeting a cosmically irrelevant legendary pokemon. Then some sweet shenanigans ensue and before writers are forced to make the movie into a character study, all hell breaks loose. By no means am I'm petitioning for Pokemon to shift gears into deeply personal stories for art majors by art majors, but you can't keep doing the same thing and always get away with it.
I keep getting side tracked. Let me try again. Music is absolutely forgettable and visuals are merely fine. Team Rocket are used especially badly to the point it becomes infuriating. Unfortunately, after being beat with them for the last twenty years in the show, like a battered housewife returning for more, I can't muster much the energy to protest.
This movie can be divided into two parts, the starting shenanigans and the "epic" plot. Former being standard pokemon movie fare to the point I don't even need to describe it and in fact, I won't. Just know that it's run-of-the-mill. It's the latter that drags this movie down. who exactly is the culprit? The exact thing that hangs on every bit of advertising - the insane numbers of already seen legendaries. While it is an attempt at nostalgia, none of them actually recognize Ash since these movies avoid continuity like Ash avoids growing up in the show. For this reason, character wise, the whole thing is wasted. While it's nice for Ash x Latias shippers (read: reason why people don't like Pokemon fans) to see him flying with the Eon duo, it all amounts to nothing more than cheap effects. The number of legendaries they had to animate flying spread their budget thin. Everyone's just floating in the same way no matter their anatomy. Besides a two second money shot where a building gets sliced like bread, the drawn out battle looks unimpressive and is generally boring. This, coupled with a faux ending is dull and firmly puts this outing into the "at least it's not too obnoxious" camp.
I could ramp this up to the level insane nitpicking, but there's no reason to bother. It's just another disapointing Pokemon movie for the pile. However, I will point something that really irritated me - the inconsistent way movie handled the population of the city. As they didn't want to bother animating people until the very finale, during the battle the city is generally empty with a few jarring cutavawy reaction shots of people turning towards the action. This was shameful, just as lazy as in the pony movie two years ago. What's worse, with no reactions from people towards legendaries and without interactions between humans and legendaries, this movie creates a disconnect between what's happening and what the stakes are supposed to be. While the climax after the faux-ending rectifies that a bit, it's not enough.
To wrap up. This generally inoffensive, but formulaic movie is dragged down by the virtue of being very similar to the superior outing that was the very movie preceding it: Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction. I would advise the viewer to watch that movie instead of this one. Or if one's looking for a subpar, but somewhat worthwhile Pokemon movie, then check Destiny Deoxis instead.
