What Makes a Pokemon Movie Good?

[Leonhart]

I'll say the Hoopa movie is the worst movie for me, I can't stand the Ash glorification on it.

For me the Lugia movie had the most glorification of Satoshi, which I didn't think he deserved at that point. The dub made it worse however, because it increased Satoshi's importance by making characters like Lugia stroke Satoshi's ego during the scene where Satoshi asked him why all the Pokemon had crossed the frozen ocean.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

For me the Lugia movie had the most glorification of Satoshi, which I didn't think he deserved at that point. The dub made it worse however, because it increased Satoshi's importance by making characters like Lugia stroke Satoshi's ego during the scene where Satoshi asked him why all the Pokemon had crossed the frozen ocean.

Well at least the Lucario movie had a good reason why Ash was important to the plot. Ash having the same aura wave as Sir Aaron made some sense as there were bound to be people whose aura closely matched another person’s.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

Well at least the Lucario movie had a good reason why Ash was important to the plot. Ash having the same aura wave as Sir Aaron made some sense as there were bound to be people whose aura closely matched another person’s.

Too bad that started the trend that Ash is the chosen one in soooooooooo many damn prophecies.

It's like he's the next Jeebus.

 

[DatsRight]

It'd be nice to have more movies where the protagonist are a big part of the plot...because of their actual characters.

I think that's why some like the 'reboot' movies because the emphasis is less on some big event or legendary and more on their amusing cast.

It's just an enormous shame that they are made in place of any SM movies, which I think could have been a perfect for some character driven films.

 

[AznKei]

Too bad that started the trend that Ash is the chosen one in soooooooooo many damn prophecies.

It's like he's the next Jeebus.

Too bad they couldn't use his chosen one/Jeebus card for the Pokemon League outcomes.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

Too bad they couldn't use his chosen one/Jeebus card for the Pokemon League outcomes.

There were no tourneys during Jeebus' time, of course.

 

[LilligantLewis]

Since the movie was a retelling of Satoshi's Kanto journey, the Rocket-dan was likely shown for the sake of nostalgia.

I think @Lord Starfish's point is that since they didn't interact even once with Ash, any potential nostalgia was lost.

 

[DatsRight]

I think @Lord Starfish's point is that since they didn't interact even once with Ash, any potential nostalgia was lost.

The thing is even in the show itself right now they suffer the same problem, being fun enough as characters, but crappy and irrelevant as antagonists for the twerps. I think the writers are venting out that they are done with them.

 

[LilligantLewis]

The thing is even in the show itself right now they suffer the same problem, being fun enough as characters, but crappy and irrelevant as antagonists for the twerps. I think the writers are venting out that they are done with them.

I hope so! It would be great if come gen IX, X, or XI or something, they were finally gone from the show for good. Honestly Team Skull have served pretty well as funny antagonists this series. There could just be a different rotating grunts of whatever evil organization in each generation. It would keep it fresh!

 

[DatsRight]

I'd gladly settle for dumbing down their screentime, but actually making it count. Give them back their chemistry with the twerps and make their faceoffs less repetitive.

Moving TR to background characters is just hiding the problem not solving it.

Actually I'm surprised we haven't had one proper Ash vs Team Rocket movie, even during the OS when they were still fresh.

 

[LilligantLewis]

I'd gladly settle for dumbing down their screentime, but actually making it count. Give them back their chemistry with the twerps and make their faceoffs less repetitive.

Moving TR to background characters is just hiding the problem not solving it.

Actually I'm surprised we haven't had one proper Ash vs Team Rocket movie, even during the OS when they were still fresh.

Mewtwo Returns wasn't an official movie, but it was basically Ash vs. TR

 

[Leonhart]

I think @Lord Starfish's point is that since they didn't interact even once with Ash, any potential nostalgia was lost.

Well then I'm somewhat surprised if that's considered a flaw given how many complaints I've seen regarding viewers being tired of the Rocket-dan trio's shenanigans at this point. Why fans now want more of that in the movies is beyond me.

 

[DatsRight]

Well then I'm somewhat surprised if that's considered a flaw given how many complaints I've seen regarding viewers being tired of the Rocket-dan trio's shenanigans at this point. Why fans now want more of that in the movies is beyond me.

I think the main complaint was more they were stuck doing the same tired shtick that had no relevance to the plot rather than making any attempt to give them a meaningful role. It's similar to the complaints towards the non-Ash companions in the movies, they feel like dead weight.

There's just always this feel that TR have no place in the post-OS movies and that they are butting into something just miles more significant than they are (this kinda merged into the show itself a lot of the time as well). While they were in out of their depth in the OS ones too, it was at least for narrative purposes and they were at least mildly key to the plot.

 

[Lord Starfish]

Well then I'm somewhat surprised if that's considered a flaw given how many complaints I've seen regarding viewers being tired of the Rocket-dan trio's shenanigans at this point. Why fans now want more of that in the movies is beyond me.

I don't want more of the same old shtick; I want them to, if they have to be in the movie anyway, matter. Their appearances in I Choose You were filler of the worst sort, pointless cutaways that never connect with the main story that's going on, and it honestly wasn't funny either. Their role in M2 is still probably the gold standard for how to handle Team Rocket, in that the movie actually gave them a significant role and allowed them to actually be heroes for a bit. (And while I'm generally against dubs making changes like this, I can't deny that the dub's closing scene with them being like "Wait a minute, the audience saw our heroic actions! We're good guys now, yay!" does make me laugh.)

 

[Denko Sekka]

Well an excellent soundtrack is a start. Recent movies have music that sounds too samey and run of the mill quality and that needs fixing. Also less shoving mythical Pokemon down our throats would be nice. Focus on developing the [human] movie characters more.