This is a reasonably strong movie that still has a lot of problems.
- Rayquaza's motives make absolutely no sense, and this is important because Rayquaza is one of the main forces in the movie. A single line about Rayquaza considering itself the guardian of the world against anything from space would have sufficed, but instead Lund says that it's Rayquaza thinking the Deoxys are muscling in on its territory? As I said earlier, its territory is the atmosphere, and Rayquaza hated the Deoxys so much that it chased after them four years after their only interaction. That's not something you do when your territory is momentarily violated, that's something else entirely. We never get a proper explanation for Rayquaza's actions.
- The movie's main theme is friendship, and I admit Plusle and Minun were good choices for Tory's pokemon because they're some of the only pokemon that are "together," if you know what I mean. Sadly, Ash's friends, you know, the other three main characters, do nothing at all the entire movie. This is a problem. And the truth is that the power of friendship kind of does nothing except save Rayquaza. Granted, that's a major deal, but that's the only thing it does. When the security robot horde appears, it's Ash who stops it, not by friendship but by athleticism. When the Deoxys clones attack the heroes, they don't stop them by hugging them, they stop them by electrifying or burning them. It's possible to write a plot where friendship is a major theme in both the metaphorical and literal sense, and this isn't such a plot.
- When the very first aurora appeared as the meteorite hit the ground the work of the Deoxys? How could they create an aurora when they were in the meteorite? Also, why are they the only pokemon in the universe to communicate without sound? Clefairy are also from space and still do the whole "saying my name" bit. And was Rayquaza in that aurora because it knew something was about to happen, or did it just happen be nearby?
- Does each movie really need a Character of the Day? Only the first and sixth movie dispensed with that. No one can really get invested with Tory because Tory has never appeared before and will never appear again.
With all of that said, this movie has way fewer plot holes than the previous movies, so it scores some major points there. The score speaks for itself: it's pretty okay. My only real complaint other than the ones above is that the climax goes on for way too long; I didn't give a proper feeling in the write-up of precisely how long the security robot scene goes on for.
--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005