Okay, so I just watched this thing. Umi Mizuno already took the words right outta my mouth: Soundtrack = Blah. I mean, the song over the credits was good, and that really odd low-jazz Spurt remix was interesting to say the least, but it was otherwise bland, particularly when compred to Movie 8 (which was the pinnacle of the Pokemon movie soundtracks), or even Movie 6 and 7.
The movie itself was decent at best. I'm not gonna deny that on the surface, the movie felt like a rehash of Movie 6. However, the characters were much more interesting (sorry, Butler fans). Obviously I loved Hiromi, who makes Flannery look like Medusa. But the Phantom was a very entertaining villain. To take him seriously would be a grave mistake. His constant blunders and clumsiness on top of his evil cackle and overall wackiness really made for a nice change of pace. Combined with Jackie, it was nice to see some humans kick some butt for once in this series.
Like Movie 8, I thought the movie fared quite well without any true final battle. But although I totally despise the use of the term "deus ex machina", I'm gonna have to use it for Super Saiyan Satoshi. The king's power itself is pretty lame alone, but how the hell did Satoshi automatically learn to use and control them? Moreso, how did everyone else learn to use it at the end?
Personally, I thought the most entertaining part of the movie was Corphish emerging from the water and starting to dance, only to realize that everybody's gone and he's nowhere near the ship. Those who had been longing for Haruka fan service throughout AG will have their prayers answered in this, no doubt. Of course, we all know the ever-so-smexy Hiromi was the true hero of this movie. I mean, think about it - Without her, everybody else would have been screwed. (I already took lots of screencaps and uploaded them to Photbucket, LOL. Yeah, I'm desperate.)
One more thing - CG OVERKILL. As much as I love the animation in the Pokemon movies, I swear, I would not be surprised in the least bit if all the backgrounds in Movie 10 were done in 3-D at this rate. Or at least Movie 11 will, anyways.
Movie rankings: 8 > 2 > 6 > 3 > 9 > 5 > 1 > 7 > 4
Square in the middle.
(Also, I'd like to say I'm very proud of the fanbase for not going, "OMG THERE'S NO WAY THAT WILL SLIDE BY RELIGIOUS PARENTS IN THE DUB" for the scenes where Haruka and Hiromi are praying.)