This was a really saccharine, feel-good type of movie that excelled at telling humble stories about people instead of trying to be a grand epic about legends and the end of the world. It's a touch on the corny side, but the core message about cooperation and finding courage to overcome weakness stands strong throughout.
What I appreciated the most was the raw humanity of the characters. Pokemon has a habit of giving its human characters problems that are very specific to its universe, but here every film-exclusive character has a problem anyone can relate to, whether you're a kid or adult. Lisa has injured her ankle and fears a repeat injury, Kagachi lies because he doesn't want to let down his niece, Hisui wants to be alone after losing someone close to her, Torito doesn't have the confidence to back up his expertise and Largo only wants to protect something she likes in a way only a child would. There's great variety here and I think anyone watching can relate to at least one of these characters.
These characters were handled with a surprising grace. The establishing of each character was seamless, giving each character enough time on screen to make a mark before moving on to the next one. The crossover of each character's story felt natural as well. I thought it was especially clever how Lisa went to Kagachi for advice on where to find Eevee because she had seen him win the catching contest, and how Kagachi's bragging scared Largo into eventually stealing the Sacred Flame. This doubles up as neat foreshadowing as Kagachi's lies hurt two people before it really comes back to bite him.
Kagachi was my favourite of the lot. Being an uncle myself, I can empathize with his desire to dote on his niece and not let her down. Believe me, not being able to deliver on promises to a young child leaves you feeling rotten. I loved his dynamic with Sudowoodo. It's one of those things that'll get lost in translation, but Sudowoodo's Japanese name, Usokki, turns out to be quite important here. It's the liar Pokemon, and Kagachi is a liar. Sudowoodo follows him around going "Uso uso uso!", or "Lies lies lies!", and it bugs the crap out of him because he's being reminded at every turn of his greatest flaw. Him accepting it as his partner was extra heartwarming because of that aspect of their dynamic. I was actually tearing up a little during that scene.
Then we get to Ash, whose role in this movie is fascinating. He's the one character who doesn't need to learn the lesson about Pokemon Power. In fact, he's the one dispensing that lesson to people. It's the best way to use his character these days, in my view. The heroics have grown tired and he has valuable experience and ideas he can pass on to other people. He's not the star of the show, and I can see why some have questioned his value in this story, but he plays a key role as a catalyst.
There were a couple of things that bothered me. One was the humanity ruining nature thing. It's a very played out trope no matter how true it actually is and loses its impact the more I see it, especially in Pokemon. Likewise, Zeorora hating humans is about as generic as you can get for a mythical/legendary Pokemon in this context, though at least in this case it represents the opposite side of the trust coin - Pokemon can inspire humans to improve, so it stands to reason that humans can inspire Pokemon, too. The two poacher dudes felt extraneous and just disappeared from the second half of the story entirely.
Aesthetically, the film is beautiful - for the most part. The character designs are excellent for how distinct they are and how they show personality. The animation is crisp and dynamic during battle scenes but also playful enough during moments of levity. I was disappointed in how much CG was used, though. There were too many shots of CG crowds for my liking, and CG was abundant in the city for a lot of decorations, vehicles and wind turbines. It's a minor complaint but I noticed it all the same.
This was the most unique Pokemon movie of them all and probably my new favourite. Hopefully, it's success - assuming it was successful - encourages them to keep experimenting with new ideas. It's so much more interesting this way.
