First off, it seems as if us Canadians will be getting Pokemon 9 by April 17. That is what it says on the Rogers Video website.
Secondly, I was able to watch this movie, thanks to a peculiar website.
Lets see, possibly one of the best pokemon movies ive seen in quite a while. the next one would be LatMoM, followed by Heroes. Liked the whole plot, the characters and the Ranger. Team Rocket had probably a decent role in this movie that strongly resembled that in Movie 4. The funniest thing they say is:
James: "We'll get Diamonds and Pearls"
Meowth: "Lets just get through this season first"
For once, i think their voices were very good, and sound better than their show voices. I was a little worried that there would be too much CG to interfere, but it worked so nicely that it didn't bother me at all. One of my favorite parts is the Team Rocket Heart Swap part. Best laughs and all. A little strange that Ash never noticed that their voices didnt match the character, but then again this is a character that isnt able to see through their most obvious disguises.
Chatot had possibly the most second most pointless role. Only surpassed by Mantyke who really didnt even have a role. Chatot never gets to use Blabber or any attack for that matter. Though it is a parrot so i guess its real role is to act like any pirates parrot.
Manaphy, well it was another pokemon that uses mostly abilities as opposed to attacks.
Kyogre gets a movie appearance. Though at least it's real, unlike pseudo Groudon. I was hoping for it to at least use Hydro Pump on the Submarine, but seeing how popular Hyper Beam was, i guess its alright. And for a minute, it looked like a yellow flamethrower.
My biggest confusion: they mentioned that the temple has traps. Unless the water was supposed to be the trap then im blind because i never once saw anything that could remotely even be considered a trap.
Pikachu never gets to properly shock anyone this time around; it's mostly just for defense.
A little disappointed that the opening theme(Battle Frontier) wasnt played, as that's one of my favorite parts of any of the movies. Which is the reason why Pokemon 8 is still one of my favorites. Otherwise it was pretty good. And i also noticed that before anything else they showed a japanese symbol thingy that are usually in all the movies. Im not sure if this is what you guys saw, but if it is then PUSA must be slightly trying to appeal to the minority of the fans by having that there.
Now, I recognized Elizabeth's voice as a character in one of the Battle Frontier episodes, but im unable to figure out who it was. My sister thought that her grandfather sounded at times like Mr. Burns from the Simpsons. And of course i thought that the Phantom sounded like the evil king of Pokelantis. Though, it does sorta fit.
Anyways, that's all i have to say. Now to buy it in about 4 weeks... grumble...
~C_L~