Mini-Movie: Pikachu's Vacation
          This is for some fans the best part of the whole movie series, a setup of things to come. With the exception of Disney's Runaway Brain short and preludes to both Toy Story movies by Pixar, this is a suprise to many movie-goers, like an added bonus on a video tape at home. This was also the first time I had heard of a mini-movie being a staple of a series of animated films, so I was pleasantly surprised as well!... Anyway, on to the mini-movie itself!
          Pikachu's Vacation is about Pikachu and all of Ash, Brock and Misty's other pokémon going to stay at an exclusive resort for pokémon that's off-limits to people, I suppose, because there are no humans within the resort itself. They all split up, with Ash's pokémon kinda staying together (excluding Charizard) meaning Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Pikachu along with Togepi. They take care of Togepi and are doing all right when a group of noisy pokémon come over and bother them. Among these are a few characters from the Gold and Silver game, such as Pikablu, aka Merril. Of course, they upset Togepi, which upsets Ash's pokémon, and they nearly come to blows about it with the group. What follows is a series of mishaps- a water race between Merril and Squirtle that doesn't go according to plan, a hilarious head-to-head (literally) race between Pikachu and a Raichu that nearly totals the entire resort, and Charizard getting its head stuck in a pipe and frying Team Rocket (who had snuck in to capture pokémon) in the process! In the end, all the pokémon band together to help poor Charizard and put aside their differences in order to re-built the resort, which they manage to do before their owners arrive to take them home. They become friends, the end....
          I really liked this little short feature, the plot was cutesy without being overly so, and it was enough to keep ALL the little kids interested- a surprise for me, seeing how little kids that have short attention spans can be COMPLETELY engrossed in the cartoon, all eyes up on the screen, cheering along the good pokémon and laughing out loud at every single funny part. The only thing I didn't like was the strange transition between scenes. Each "transition" was a 15-second-long surreal blend of one or two types of pokémon doing various repeated actions. It seemed like these lasted forever and really had no point to them, but at least the animators made sure the wait was worth it! The narrator was there in the background to expain what the pokémon were saying and what was going on, so even people who were not at all familiar could follow along, very helpful for the newbies in the audience. I give this 4 stars out of five. Very nice!!

Main Movie:
          Now for the main event! After the mini-movie, I was all psyched up for the real-deal. If the mini-movie was any indication, I told myself, then the main part was sure to be a blast!! And for 7/8ths of it, it was exactly that. The plot ran something like this: scientists, eager to study something similar to the legendary pokémon Mew, created Mewtwo out of the ancient DNA they had found. Disappointed and discouraged with being labeled a "creation" or just a thing to be studied, the super-smart psychic pokémon Mewtwo destroys the whole complex and the scientists with one powerful blast. Seeing the power Mewtwo had, the infamous crime boss and head of Team Rocket Giovanni offers a partnership with Mewtwo. Not knowing any better, Mewtwo agrees and begins to help Giovanni in his evil crime sprees. When asked by Mewtwo for a share of the profits he helped to get, Giovanni refuses, saying that Mewtwo is only a pokémon- a creature who is owned by a master who can do anything he wants with it. Enraged, Mewtwo blasts Giovanni off and returns to the ruined laboratory he came from, transforming it with his psychic powers into a huge castle brimming with DNA-engineering machines, vowing to have his revenge... Meanwhile, Ash, Brock and Misty are resting with their pokémon on the mainland when a holographic telegram arrives for them to come to a tournament held for all great pokémon trainers to battle the "Pokémon Supreme Master". Never one to willingly refuse a good challenge, Ash accepts on his and the others' behalfs. However, first they have to get to the Master's castle, located on a faraway island. Not an easy task, since a fierce storm suddenly comes down on the town from out of nowhere, making travel by boat almost impossible. Many who are invited to the tournament get discouraged by this, but some, including our trio of heroes, use their heads and their water and flying pokémon to cross the raging waters to the island. Brock and Ash are somehow unable to do this despite their efforts, so they enlist the help of a "viking touring boat" couple (who of course are really Jessie and James of Team Rocket in disguise, and their figurehead on the boat is Meowth) to take them across. They arrive at the island and are greeted by a servant of the "Pokémon Master" who is recognised by Ash to be a brain-washed Nurse Joy under the control of a psychic power, she leads Ash, Brock, Misty, the disguised Team Rocket and the others in to meet "the master". Surprise, surprise, it's really Mewtwo! He takes everyone's pokémon for the DNA he can then use to create clones of every pokémon in the world and hold them on the island with him while he destroys the world and every human in it as revenge for the way he was used along with the "inferior" pokémon and replace them with his "superior" clones. He says he's doing this because people are evil and mistreat pokémon that should be free and wild. Despite everyone's valiant efforts, their pokémon are cloned and held captive, so they have virtually no chance of stopping Mewtwo's evil plan. However, in a freak accident, Team Rocket is captured but manage to escape with all the captured pokémon in tow and return them to their owners. Even the legendary Mew appears to help them, so everyone thinks they have the day saved. Reunited, the owners and pokémon go to stop Mewtwo, but a surprise awaits them. Wanting to prove his point about clones being superior to the originals, the clones of the pokémon appear and attack their non-clone counterparts while Mew and Mewtwo duke it out above the island...
          Up until now, the movie was superb, so as it neared the climax, I was really excited as to what the movie might have in store. How did Ash and the others save the day in a way that finished this crowning jewel of animation?... Unfortunately, from the time the climactic battle started on to the finish, it appeared the makers of the film, pressed for time or something, decided to just cut everything off and throw in embarrassingly-tired, Americanish "let's-all-hold-hands-and-be-friends" clichés to finish off what could have been the best animated movie of the year. I was stunned. This couldn't be, I told myself. Maybe this is an alternate ending specifically made for the Americanized version of the movie, the animators fearing that the spectacular and astonishing ending they originally had would be viewed as too violent over here in the states. That can't be Pikachu refusing to fight and letting his clone beat him up until they both were cying together; that can't be Ash running out to stop the fight saying that fighting the way they were was wrong; that can't be Team Rocket going over to the battlefield and saying that every pokémon shouldn't be enemies but friends with each other and that humans should be the same way; that couldn't be Meowth saying to his clone that the clones and originals may not be the same, but they have the same earth, the same sky, so they all have something in common; that can't be Mewtwo stopping the match for that and agreeing with them, saying that he was wrong, now he knows the error of his ways, now he'll be friends with humans, etc; that can't be it, the time between the start of the "climax" and the end taking only ten minutes to wrap up a wonderful 7/8ths of an anime feature into meaningless drivel... but it WAS... I was crying a little by the end, not because of the sickeningly-sweet and sappy scenes touching me in some way, but because I had been built up by this fantastic premise that was THISCLOSE to being fufilled, only to see it slip away in a matter of ten minutes- those ten minutes being the point of no return. HIGHLY disappointing, and had it not been for those ten last minutes, had I walked out right as the start of the battle was commencing, I would have been able to give this movie 5 stars with glowing pride, thumbing my nose at Poké-haters everywhere, but I didn't, I saw the end, so I cannot. 2 stars out of five for this one. Want to have a better experience than I? Watch everything up until the end battle, then turn it off. Trust me, you'll be all the better for it, and you won't even have to take your little ones to therapy! There, I just saved all the parents who read this hundreds of dollars worth of psychiatric fees.

Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5, the bulk of it being the mini-movie

Audience comments:
"The first cartoon was awesome! I laughed all the way though it, but the end of the second part, the real movie, sucked." - Jeremy Burke, age 11

Mini-Movie: Pikachu's Rescue Adventure
          Ah, yes, the second mini-movie I've seen for the second film... Many people in the audience were surprised by this one, as was I, but unlike the first mini-movie (Pikachu's Vacation, see above for review), most of the audience was CLUELESS as to what was going on. As I was sitting there writing notes, the parent next to me remarked that I must have psychic abilities, as I somehow knew what was going on better than even her son did. Well, no, I don't think you need to be as psychically-powerful as Mewtwo to understand the plot; you just need a VERY good background in Pokémon...Okay, Brock is missing from this one, in his place is a kid I didn't recognise, but had the feeling I might have seen him before on the TV show. That kid's pokémon, along with Ash's and Misty's pokémon, have accidentally fallen down a hole into another world inhabited by wild pokémon. Their intent was to rescue Togepi, who had fallen down the same hole a little earlier. The group of pokémon meets Elekid, (the first form of Electobuzz, I assume) who shows them around the land. While exploring and meeting new pokémon from the Gold and Silver games, they discover Togepi. When they try to take him, however, a group of eggsecute prevent them from leaving with him. The rest of the mini-movie is spent trying to find a way to get Togepi back while battling a storm and saving the eggsecute with the help of their newfound friends. They valiantly stay together and help one another in order to save only a few small pokémon. After the storm, they finally manage to get Togepi back and even help the Eggsecute evolve into an Eggsecutor!
          This was the part of the mini-movie that had a majority of the audience scratching their heads: the part where the group is prevented from retrieving Togepi by the Eggsecute. There was no narrator to explain things this time around, so all of it was in poké-speak. They didn't understand why the group couldn't take Togepi and why the Eggsecute were so upset over their intrusion. However, I knew that Eggsecute have a certain number of egg-like individuals in it, and the group in the movie that prevented Togepi from being taken was missing one. Apparently, Togepi, being an egg-like pokémon, took the missing one's place, so in order to get him back, the group had to try and find the missing member of the Eggsecute (They did, in the end, thanks to a generous Chansey). Not many people were so well-versed in Pokémon as I was in the audience, and in many other theaters I'm sure, so many thought it was just a plain waste of 30 seconds. I don't think so, but I can see their point. 3 stars out of five for the un-understandability of it.

Main Movie:
          Given the mixed reviews of the mini-movie this time around as the first-impression factor, coupled together with the GIGANTIC dissapointment I suffered from the last movie, I viewed the beginning with a sense of reserve and dread. Heaven forbid it should turn out like last time; I wasn't sure I could take the repeated shock... However, after the first ten minutes of the main part had passed uneventfully, I found that I certainly would not be disappointed animation-wise. It was much better than the last, with better backgrounds, character renderings, and even CG animation rampant to spice things up a bit! Even so, I noticed one thing that irked me from the get-go... Again, just like its mini-movie, Brock is absent from the main plot of the movie- apparently he is serving as a lab assistant to one of Professor Oak's colleagues. Oh, well. It would have been nice to include him in somehow or other, but it did fine without him.
          The plot is this: an evil pokémon collector is attempting to round up the Legendary Trio- Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno- simply to add to his collection. In the process, he hopes to draw out of hiding their mysterious guardian, a fourth legendary pokémon named Lugia, again only for the selfish purpose of adding to his collection. Apparently, he either doesn't know or doesn't care that the absense of these legendary birds would make the earth's ecosystem unstable and cause global chaos. Yet on he goes, capturing Moltres and pursuing Articuno and Zapdos with fervor... Meanwhile, Ash and Misty are on vacation with a friend of theirs whose family is part of a tribe on an island they're vacationing at. The friend's sister Melody takes a liking to Ash and asks if he'll participate in a tribal festival honoring the Legendary Pokémon Trio. He accepts, and together with Misty joins the festivities. In the ceremony Melody plays the part of a tribal maiden who plays the flute for the guardians of the islands the three legendary pokémon inhabit. Every year, she has to pick someone who must go to the islands and retrieve three orbs, one of each being set inside a shrine to one of the legends on each island (ex. A fire orb for the island shrine of Moltres's island), and then return them to the maiden. She of course picks Ash for the job, saying that he is the "chosen one" set to appease the trio in their honor. Ash goes along with the whole deal and sets off for the first of the three islands- Moltres's island- to retrieve the fire orb. Team Rocket, Ash's long-time nemesis, hears about the orbs and legendary pokémon and stows away with Ash on board his boat, hoping to beat him to the punch. When they arrive, however, they all are greeted by an astounding sight. With Moltres gone, Articuno has set itself up to take control of the island and all areas that were part of Moltres's domain. He does so by covering the world with a blanket of ice and snow, trapping Team Rocket and Ash together in the shrine area temporarily. Seeing the sudden spread of cold from Moltres's island, the evil collector takes his gigantic ship over to the island and manages to capture Articuno, and later, Zapdos as well from the island. Now Ash sees what is going on, and he and Team Rocket manage to escape and get back to the other islands where the tribe and Misty are. The group is told by the tribal elders about the Legendary Trio and Lugia, who must be found before he is captured, as he is the only one that can restore the earth if the Trio ever get out of balance. The only way to summon him, though, is through the orbs on the island shrines. Those orbs contain the essence of the Trio, it would seem, so the guardian Lugia would appear once all three are together. It becomes a race against time to find the three orbs and summon Lugia before the evil collector can capture the Trio and force the guardian to appear that way... They are too late, however, as the collector soon captures Zapdos, but before he lifts off from over the island he's staying at, Ash, Misty and Team Rocket sneak on board to battle him and release the Trio. The gang crashes the collector's ship on Moltres's island, free the Trio, and summon Lugia to restore order. However, the Trio have been disturbed and start fighting amongst themselves. Lugia tries to break up the fight but fails to do so. It turns out that the way Lugia controls the Trio is through a magical song, but he doesn't have the strength needed to sing it. Ash remembers hearing the melody for the song from Melody who played the flute as the tribal maiden at the festivities. Dodging the Trio's blasts, Ash and Team Rocket team up together to get over to the tribe and bring Melody back with them. They then race back with her and Misty in tow, battling the Trio all the way back to where Lugia is with the orbs. Melody plays the melody (no pun intended) on her flute, giving Lugia much needed strength. He goes to sing the song and control the Trio, and Ash helps by using the power of the three orbs to channel the energy of the Trio with Lugia's power to stop them from fighting and restore peace. With everything now under control, Lugia disappears, the Trio go back to their respective islands, and Ash finishes the tribal ceremony by handing over the orbs, which were then sealed up for good (I assume) where they belong on the island shrines.
         *WHEW*!! It's complicated to try and explain it all to you, and I hope I did okay.... Well, it might seem hard to understand just looking at the summary, but I believe I don't do the whole thing justice here. In other words, I'd recommend you to go see it for yourselves! It was a FANTASTIC movie, the plot was superb, and it had the kind of ending that the first movie should've had- a GOOD one!! 4 stars out of five for this one!!

Overall Rating: 4 stars out of five. Not as good of a mini-movie this time around, but a MUCH better main movie in the fact that this one actually had what I can truly call an ENDING. Not only that, but it fufilled all my expectations I had left over from the first movie! One to rent or own with pride, mini-movie uncomprehendable or not!
         

Audience comments:
"I had absolutely NO clue as to what was going on in the first part, the short cartoon. Just a bunch of weird-looking things doing random things and babbling their name over and over. Kids actually LIKE this stuff? I can't believe I took my son to see this" - Gara (sp?) of Springfield, VA

"I loved it! I saw the first one, too. Why didn't the people who made this do this for the first movie? This one was MUCH better!! I'm going to see it again!"- Carrie Mays, 14

Mini-Movie: Pikachu and Pichu
          Cute, cute!! In this one, Ash, Misty and Brock leave their pokémon home along for several hours. While the others go off to different parts of the rooftop dwelling and have fun, Pikachu spots two little Pichu brothers getting into trouble on the opposite building's roof (Pichu being the first form of Pikachu). Pikachu tries to help them, but gets into trouble himself and ends up on the opposite building's roof with the Pichu. Distraught at being separated from the others, Pikachu asks the two brothers for help, which they readily give. They scramble down the building's elevator shafts to the city streets below, only to land on a tough passerby: a Doberman Pinscher-like-pokémon called Houndour. The tough pokémon obviously doesn't like that, and it chases the three electric pokémon thoughout the city. While trying to avoid the chaser, Pikachu and the Pichu encounter lots of new pokémon from the Gold and Silver games who help them out. Soon, they manage to ditch their pursuer and arrive at a city-pokémon playground made en-tire-ly out of tires (Bad pun, sorry!! ^^;). Pikachu and the Pichu brothers have lots of fun playing around with the other Gold and Silver game pokémon when who should show up again but that Houndour. He gives chase and ends up nearly collapsing the tires on top of everyone. Everyone stops what they're doing to help steady them again and fix the playground, even the Houndour! After all of that, he's too pooped to chase anything, so he becomes friends with Pikachu and the Pichu brothers. All is okay again, until Pikachu realizes that he only has ten minutes until Ash gets back home!! It's then a mad dash back for Pikachu, but the Pichu brothers know shortcuts through the city, and Pikachu gets back home with just seconds to spare as Ash, Misty and Brock arrive. No one else knows but Pikachu what an adventure he's just had with his two new-found friends!!
          This animated short was SO cute, charming, endearing, and DEFINITELY the best mini-movie I've seen!! 5 stars out of five!!

Main Movie:
          Ahh, yes, now this is more like it!! I would DEFINITELY see this movie again!!! My faith hath been restored!! ^_^
          A young girl's father, who is a Pokémon archaeologist, vanishes at his most recent discovery site, due to the power of an unknown type of pokémon he's accidentally released. The poor little girl believes her father to be dead when she hears of it, and with no mother to raise her, she believes she is all alone and falls into dispair. Her only comfort is a book of Mythical Pokémon tales her father loved to read to her. One of the stories he read to her often was a story about a fire-pokémon named Entei, so she turns to the page with the picture of Entei and wishes that her father was there with her. To her great surprise, the picture of Entei leaps from the page and comes to life! The unknown pokémon that made her father disappear was in tune with her thoughts, and the little girl soon discovers that anything she wishes for will come true in an alternate dimension the unknown pokémon has made just for her. Blinded (or demented ^^;;) by her grief, she shuts herself and her home in this false world, calling Entei her "father". After a while, she tells daddy-Entei that she wishes she had a mother to complete her dream world. He grants this wish of hers by going out into the real world and taking the first woman he sees back with him to the alternate dimension- Ash's mother! Of course, Ash is not too happy about that, so he sets off with Misty, Brock, and all their collective pokémon to rescue his mom. Team Rocket, who has been watching from the sidelines, sees the strange pokémon as an opportunity to score points with Giovanni (their boss) if they can capture it, so they follow Ash and company. When they reach the edge of the alternate dimension, everyone discovers that not only are the boundaries of this dimension expanding into the real world, but the little girl behind it all is a family friend- Ash's mom knows the girl's father from many outings with Professor Oak. Instead of coming with them, however, Professor Oak opts to stay behind to figure out what power is behind the appearence of the alt-dimension, so it's up to Ash and the gang to go in on their own and save his mom..... As they head into the area, they discover that everything is being covered by strange crystals that blanket everything in their path. Our heroes make their way around this and into the alternate dimension itself, a realm constantly changing according to the whims of the little girl controlling Entei. She plays around as if everything is a game to her at first, having Entei change her into a grown woman trainer with powered-up pokémon she always liked to battle Brock and Misty. While they distract her, Ash goes searching to and finds his mom. The little girl soon catches on however, and she's not happy that someone's trying to split up her "family". She has Daddy-Entei fight them off, but as she sees the care Ash has for his pokémon as members of his family, she feels guilty and has Entei stop. However, doing this throws the unknown pokémon into a tizzy, and they go out of control covering the outside world and the alternate dimension in thick layers of jagged crystals. Everyone soon figures out that if the unknown pokémon aren't stopped soon, the entire world will be covered in the crystals, trapping them forever! Working together, they manage to find the chamber where the unknown pokémon are swirling about in midair, but nothing anyone does appears to have any effect at all to stop them. That's when Ash and his mom figure out that since everything in the alternate dimension acts and exists according to what the little girl thinks and feels, then Entei and the other pokémon can stop them if she thinks they will. Digging deep inside and believing with all her heart that Entei and the others can stop the unknown pokémon, the little girl helps them break the force around the swirling pokémon mass and sets everything back to normal again! Her father is returned back to her, and he reveals to everyone that the unknown pokémon was a massive group appropriately called "Unown". (Get it? >_< ) They were psychic pokémon that were released when the archaeologist disturbed the magic stones containing them. Well, the world is saved and everything's back to normal, so now Entei disappears, promising the little girl that they'll always have each other; all she has to do is look inside of herself.
          It was entertaining, charming, and had an EXCELLENT plotline. Even for those people out there who aren't into Pokémon as a whole, I would say "Go for it"!! If it wasn't an animated feature about Pokémon and the plot outline had been transferred over to a live-action movie with different characters, but same everything-else, that movie would be a smash hit the likes of which The Sixth Sense and The Lion King couldn't compare to! I REALLY believe that it was THAT good! It wasn't cheesy, wans't mushy-gushy, wasn't cutesy. It was perfect, so much so that at times I forgot it was a Pokémon film I was watching and thought I was seeing a new anime of atounding proportions!! A definite 5 stars out of five!!!

Overall Rating: Oh yeah, 5 stars out of five, baby!! LOL, seriously, if you haven't seen this one yet, then what on earth are you waiting for?! GO SEE IT!!! NOW!!! This series keeps getting better and has finally achieved the desired end-result. The first movie had a great mini-movie but bad main film, the second had a bad(?) mini-movie but excellent main film, and this third one has both the mini-movie and main movie in the "Superior" category!!
         

Audience comments:
"It made you feel warm inside. We liked it! We liked the whole thing!"- Sharivan Staise, mother of two (PLEASE please forgive me if I spelled your name wrong, ma'am!!)

Mini-Movie:(Name Unknown)
Err, I haven't seen the mini-movie yet, sorry! ^^;;

Main Movie:
          Okies, the main movie!! I know I didn't have time to see the mini-movie, but at least I caught the main film...Well, back to formula again, *sigh*. Brock's back, though!
          Ash, Misty and Brock are travelling through the forest on an island when they run into a mysterious kid named Sam. Surprisingly enough, Sam claims to be from the past and is a time-traveller!! What's more, he brought along a "new" species of pokémon: Celebi, a forest spirit pokémon thought to be extinct! How it came back to life again and how Sam ended up in Ash's time is a mystery to everyone, but Sam and Celebi soon become fast friends with everyone. Of course, soon word gets out that an extinct pokémon has resurfaced, and who else would go to capture it but Team Rocket. Jessie, James and Meowth have a "tagalong" in the form of a masked Team Rocket team leader, but soon he reveals that he's taking Celebi for himself and has NO plans of letting Giovanni and the rest of Team Rocket share in his new catch. To make matters worse, he's got some sinister pokéballs that allow him to turn any captured pokémon into dark, mindless slaves that only obey him! The "new Team Rocket" catch up to Ash and the gang, then the masked menace captures Celebi from under their noses and turn it into a dark Celebi thanks to his DarkBall pokéballs and mind-controlled pokémon. Dark Celebi now becomes the weapon the masked team leader uses to try and take over the world, starting with the island everyone's at! The forest gets blown into matchsticks, and though Ash and Sam try their best to stop it, Dark Celebi proves to be invincible. The masked leader takes Jessie hostage and tries to get Dark Celebi to wipe out everyone else, but yet another mysterious pokémon shows up to save Ash and the crew: Suicune- another "mythical" pokémon! With Suicune's mystical water powers and the assistance of Brock, Misty, and all the wild forest pokémon, Ash and Sam are able to get close enough to Dark Celebi in an attempt to jog its memory and snap it out of the mind control. At first this fails miserably, but then Jessie, James and Meowth step in and help to get Ash and Sam safely close to Dark Celebi again. Sam and Ash climb up the structure holding Celebi captive, and Sam breaks through the barrier of energy surrounding his old friend and hugs Dark Celebi. This causes Celebi to finally break free of the mind control, and as the structure surrounding them comes crashing down, Celebi uses the last of its energy to fly Ash and Sam to safety. Ash and Sam reunite with everyone else, but it now appears Celebi has died saving them and the forest. Since Celebi is a forest spirit pokémon, the gang tries everything from Ash picking its favorite berries and attempting to feed it to Suicune purifying the forest's lake waters that had become polluted during Dark Celebi's rampage. Nothing helps, and Celebi shrivels into a dry husk. Just as the gang loses all hope, their tears and the cries of all the wild forest pokémon summon a powerful magical energy from long ago, the same sort that brought Sam into Ash's time. It's a whole flock of Celebis, folks, and they recharge Celebi's powers to bring it back to life! Don't celebrate yet though, folks. Just when you thought that was it, that masked Rocket leader pops up and tries to steal Celebi yet again by flying away with his catch! Ash isn't having any of that though. He has Pikachu attach itself to the jet pack and blow it up, bringing the bad guy down to earth HARD and saving Celebi. The wild forest pokémon beat up the masked bad guy for all the trouble he caused, and Celebi takes Sam back to his own time after tearful goodbyes all around from the gang. The movie ends with Ash, Misty and Brock reporting back to Prof. Oak everything that happened. Instead of not believing their wild story, Prof. Oak asks Ash what the matter is, as Ash is still feeling down about Sam leaving. The professor tells Ash not to worry, as he's sure Ash and Sam will be good friends forever, no matter what separates them now. The ferry home is about to leave, so they hang up on that note, but Misty and Brock wonder how Prof. Oak accepted the story so readily and how he knew the boy's name was Sam even though they never mentioned his name while they were explaining thing to him... Are you ready for this folks? Professor Oak was Sam, and he's still good friends with Ash after all!!
          Well, well, this was certainly interesting, although a bit formula-driven at times (the "evil bad guy wants to catch the rare and powerful pokémon to take over the world" thing's been done to death with the first two movies). This movie also focused more on the human characters themselves and not as much on pokémon other than Celebi and Suicune, which I thought was odd and a bit of a shame. Interesting twist there at the end... and for once, nothing bad happens to Team Rocket by the time the credits roll! Just after Sam's identity in the present is revealed, James and Meowth paddles over to "save" Jessie, who had fallen into the forest lake during Dark Celebi breaking the mind control. Jessie turns out to be fine! She's floating in the purified water (Suicune purified it trying to save Celebi, remember?), and it's healed her of all her scratches and bruises. She doesn't even feel pain! As James and Meowth think about this, all of the masked team leader's mind-controlled pokémon come to their right minds again and make a break for it, busting up the raft James and Meowth are riding in the process! They jump into the water next to Jessie and discover that they too now are healed and feel no pain! They float together happily in the water and sigh, "Team Rocket's floating away! Ahhhh!!", and that cues the credits! Much different outcome for them from the previous movies, lols. 4 out of 5 stars!

Overall Rating: I can't give one until I see the mini-movie!! ^^;
         

Audience comments:
"Definitely different than what I expected. I wasn't expecting a pokémon movie to be any good, but I liked it a lot."- Jamie, Fredricksburg, VA