As always, I will give you a brief bit of history about my experience when this movie first came stateside: I was on the tail end of my initial Pokémon fandom by then, and as a result, I didn't really enjoy this movie when I was 12. My brother, who was 7 at the time, did. Given how this was when the anime began its habit of periodically rebranding to match the games they were selling, I can easily suggest this whole turnover is more based on how kids are than any genuine fault with the whole thing. While I have seen worse material associated with the series since then (looking at you, Chronicles), and the AG films thankfully get better from here; after all these years, I still consider it to be my least favorite entry in all the movies. So, let's open it up.
While I didn't cover the "World of Pokémon" segment in my look at the last movie, it bears mentioning how it's been modified this time with the transition to Hoenn.
Also, before the OR/AS anime trailer and Generations shorts that featured him more than a decade later; this is the only anime appearance of Ruby AKA Brendan. Even as someone who played the Ruby and Sapphire games quite a bit (been meaning to pick up my copies of OR/AS again, as soon as I can pry myself away from my copies of Sun and Moon), I didn't really care for how Special/Adventures made him more flamboyant. My headcanon of him as well as Advanced Ash is heavily influenced by characters like Spider-Man (with focus on the Raimi film version and '90s animated version) and young John Connor in Terminator 2.
So, the narration by my good friend Mike Pollock goes on to say how like all great power; some want it for good, others for evil. In this case, it details how Team Magma wants to harness the power of Groudon, which I submit would have made a more interesting movie than the one I'm watching.
Our proper opening after the title card is also decidedly less impressive than the previous films. Mewtwo Strikes Back? Mewtwo awakening and declaring his aim against all non-clone life. Power of One? Lawrence III trying to steal the Legendary Birds to draw out Lugia. Spell of the Unown? Spencer Hale going missing and Entei showing up to take care of his daughter Molly. Celebi movie? Celebi meeting Sammy and taking him through time. Latios and Latias? Annie and Oakley stealing the information they need on the Soul Dew and DMA. However, this movie? Just Ash, Brock, May and Max trying to find where the festival of the Millennium Comet is being held. To think people wonder why the series went to DTV releases from here on. If I had seen this in theaters, I'd already be asking for a refund and asking the usher if there was still a showing of Shrek 2 I could get into.
They find the location in the valley, but because the festival doesn't start till tomorrow, they decide to set up camp for the night and have dinner. Not too bad, at any rate. Even though it's my least favorite Pokémon movie, at least the opening isn't beating me over the head with its premise like one of the Yo-Kai Watch movies would.
As the credits roll, we see the festival tents be set up. Even if the characters are impressed by early-2000s CGI, I am not. Also, even if "I Wanna Be a Hero" may not be my favorite AG theme; it doesn't even get a remix for the movie like the other songs did. Heck, even an extended version like the last movie did for "Believe in Me" would have sufficed.
Roughly 6 minutes in or so, we see the character of Butler. Based on what we find out later, this introduction doesn't really do a good job of establishing his character.
For what it's worth, the orchestral music is passable; as is the animation. Kind of loopy, not going to lie, so let's keep going.
After the credits, we see everyone enjoying some of the carnival rides on display; including Ash and Max in bumper cars modeled after Zigzagoon and Slaking!
Of course, we see a familiar couple of teenagers and a Meowth in clown getups handing out flyers for Butler's magic show. Just be sure to watch out for the Capsules, fellas. They made a mess of the freeway a few nights ago.
Naturally, they start hatching a scheme as Ash picks up one of the flyers while he and his friends partake in various carnival foods: Ash has a chocolate banana, May has a popsicle, Max a lollipop; and a Brock is enjoying a hot dog on a stick. Wonder if they've got any porkchop sandwiches.
Barely 9 minutes in, we fade from the flyer to everyone sitting at the magic show, no questions asked. That's probably a good assessment of this movie: No questions, folks! No questions!
Also, some of the Pokémon he has are Kirlia and Mightyena. Not sure what qualifies them for magic above other species, but hey: gotta sell these characters to the target audience, you dig?
Butler summons his human assistant, and CGI meteor is CGI. Heck, they even used CGI for her hands! Was it that hard to just animate this traditionally? I can think of plenty of things in these movies you could use it for, but a woman's hands holding a meteor isn't one of them.
Also, a voice calls out to Max from the meteor. Max, you may want to gather up some nickels and see if Lucy still has Psychiatric help for that rate.
Max hears the voice again, and 10 minutes in; here is a key reason why I didn't enjoy the movie when I was younger: much of the movie's focus is on Max, a member of the cast that remains polarizing among fans to this day. While he is intelligent to a fault, he really doesn't add much to the group's dynamic besides being a foil of sorts for May and a viewpoint character for younger fans. This understandably met with mixed results among the target audience and new fans; and I wasn't terribly impressed with him at the age I was. Thankfully, he did get better as he went; though he's still pretty low among main cast members for me. In many ways, Bonnie and Clemont in the XY series were who I wanted this character to be. Hell, even Iris and Cilan at least had some useful qualities; condescending snark and eccentric hamminess be damned.
Then, through a series of confusing events, Ash and Max are roped into one of Butler's magic acts as they're made to disappear and reappear in the stands! This is the third movie where I've used this gag, but I think it fits.
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| Cocaine is a Hell of a drug. |
Of course, the "clowns" reveal themselves as Team Rocket and try to steal Pikachu, but Butler uses his Dusclops against them and sends them blasting off! Huh, that was fast, they got sent blasting off in the first act. Plus, that's part of my favorite Ghost type line, so that's a plus.
After everyone else leaves, Butler explains that Jirachi is sleeping inside the meteor. So, 15 minutes into the movie and we're just NOW getting to the Pokémon whose name is on the marquee. Has to be some of the longest wait to see the title character on a movie, and I've seen the Ang Lee Hulk.
That night, May buys a "wishing star" from one of the vendors at the festival, and for some reason, he looks like he's going to start singing reggae music towards them.
As Max falls asleep (no doubt mirroring an audience watching this movie), May sings him a lullaby that their mother used to sing to her when she was younger. This actually isn't that bad, and actually sounds like real character development; but the movie doesn't really do much with it, and I'll come back to this point later.
So, with 21 minutes in, a full quarter of the movie's runtime, we finally see Jirachi. I'm just going on record that Jirachi isn't a legendary I'm a big fan of among ones introduced in Hoenn. He just doesn't seem as appealing as a massive kaiju like Groudon, a big whale like Kyogre; or a dragon and space alien like Rayquaza and Deoxys. We'll talk more about those last two in the recap of the next movie.
Diane lets Butler know that Jirachi has awaken, and Butler is all too happy about this. I shall also point out that I just don't find Butler too be that interesting of a villain. In addition to my entries on my Top 13 Pokémon Villains, he doesn't stand out at me given how malicious villains like Grings Kodai or Chancellor Alva in later films would be, nor does he have the sympathetic qualities that I enjoy from Mewtwo or Molly Hale. I'm not saying every villain should be as cruel as Lysandre, or every story needs an antagonist at all, but I've gotten more mileage out of turning characters I don't like into hitmen for villain factions for the games than I have with Butler. He's basically Lawrence III minus the eccentricities that I enjoyed from that character.
Then, Max tests Jirachi's wish-granting abilities. He wishes for some candy, and as a result; the movie steals the "child protagonist wishes for junk food" bit from Kazaam, and I never thought I'd type a sentence like that on this blog.
Of course, Jirachi isn't actually creating the candy out of nothing, it just disappears from this vendor's stand to no-one's surprise but the clerk! (Laughs) OK, that's actually kind of funny.
May asks that Jirachi "get rid of the problem," and Jirachi responds by shoving her into the mound of candy. Huh. Even with this trick, Jirachi doesn't really have the same appeal to me as later Pokémon. It lacks the laid-back attitude of Diancie, the mischievousness of Hoopa and the mystery and technical wonder of Magearna. I will talk about them all when the time comes, but first I want to get this out of the way.
Ash and Brock then dress up like clowns to help out with the magic show. Insert Stephen King's It or the Joker reference here.
To be honest, there's not a whole lot to this next stretch of the movie: it's mostly just Max and Jirachi messing around at the carnival, and the same can be said for a lot of the movie. Even though I try to make something out of what I recap, the plot is more or less a glorified plot summary on Bulbapedia: "Max befriends the Pokémon Jirachi and tries to help him elude a magician who wants to use his powers for his own gain."
That is incidentally my main beef with the movie that I had when I was younger: while this may have been a passable plot for a half-hour TV episode, the film clocks in about about 80 minutes of runtime. As such, it's a bit thin in that area. Moreover, while I usually like how dark the movies can get compared to the main anime; I'm just not feeling it with this one. I'm not saying you have to make every anime like Ghost in the Shell, but again; it would have been nice to see something like the other films in the series have done in terms of doing things they can't under the constraints of the TV anime. I pointed out in my look at Mewtwo Strikes Back that it was in a similar vein to the 1986 Transformers movie or the first two Ninja Turtles movies in that regard.
The only thing that really stands out at me is this whole scene where Jirachi plays keep-away with Max's glasses. Not quite as cute as the last movie when Latias did a similar thing with Ash's hat, but still pretty nice. The script may not be Hideki Sonoda's best work; but maybe I was a bit harder on this movie than I thought when I was younger.
Half an hour in, and Absol enters the space! Based on the Pokédex information about him, I consider him to be a seriously misunderstood Pokémon.
Butler doesn't even bat an eye at this, and uses the same trap door in his magic act to put him out of the way! (sighs) What a waste of Absol.
The second night of the festival passes, and May makes another wish on her Wishing Star. I personally wish I were working on one of my other projects, but first things first.
Roughly 33 minutes in, Butler is found out to have an ulterior motive as he puts Jirachi in some kind of machine! I don't even know what he seeks to accomplish with this, but trust me when I say it gets sillier from here.
Apparently, Butler was a former scientist for Team Magma who had failed to resurrect Groudon from a fossil fragment; and wants to use Jirachi for that end. Setting aside how Butler lacks the sympathetic qualities of Dr. Fuji or the malice of Vicious or Dr. Yung, again; I submit that Team Magma hunting Groudon would have made a more interesting movie than this. Instead, the plot is more or less "Adventures in Jirachi-sitting" or "Max's Day Out."
Just as Butler tries to open Jirachi's "true eye" (don't remember that from the Pokédex), everyone else wakes up and realizes Jirachi is in trouble!
Apparently, the "true eye" emits yet another beacon of light! Almost a decade before they became standard for climaxes in major blockbusters, no less!
As the gang tries to rescue Jirachi, Jirachi tells Max that he wants to go home! ... We'll talk when we get to the Genesect movie, and I might not say what you think I will when the time comes.
In the midst of battle, Diana hurries everyone into her RV and agrees to escort Jirachi to his home of Florina. To be honest, there's not a whole lot to this next stretch of the movie either: it's just driving around for days in order to get Jirachi home.
The most that comes from this part is something about Butler and Diane knowing each other as children, but other than that; the whole sequence basically amounts to waffle with May making more wishes.
As the film continues toward the finale, you may ask: "Steven, is there anything you like about it?" As it happens: yes, there is.
While this is technically an element added to the dub (I don't have any real desire to watch the Japanese version after this, to be honest), it's when Ash is consoling Max about Jirachi having to leave after the comet passes. Ash tells Max that Jirachi will always be with him, adding that he "had a good friend, I miss her every day; but I know we'll always be friends, forever." The scene doesn't directly mention who she is, but the message is clear: much like many fans, myself included might pine for Misty, but we will always enjoy the time we spent following her, as will Ash.
Everyone has almost reached Florina, but the formations of rock are apparently too treacherous to continue in the motor home; so everyone heads out on foot to continue the last leg of the journey.
The last night of the festival is drawing near, and Max lies down near Jirachi. I'm not going to question anything, but I am going to link to this storybook narration.
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| The cats nestle close to their kittens, the lambs have laid down with the sheep; you're cozy and warm in your bed my dear. Please, go the fuck to sleep. |
The last day of the festival is upon them, and the gang is greeted by a Flygon as they go through the valley. Even though I'm not as peeved as some other folks that it didn't get a mega evolution, I can relate.
Jirachi, however, thankfully reassures Max that everything will be all right. Just about half an hour left to go, I can do this. Even if this movie is kind of weak, it's at least better than other stuff I've covered; least of all The Legend of Thunder. Still, what is it with potentially good stories about underrated Legendary Pokémon getting shafted?
Of course, because Butler was able to track them (despite an earlier scene showing that the tracking device he planted on Diane's camper got knocked off on the way there), he has a trap set! Of course, if it were any more of a trap, you could hear Admiral Ackbar.
Butler forces open Jirachi's "True eye", and the beacon that would not be out of place in a Marvel Studios film is once again activated. Also, CGI machine, Jirachi and tracking shot are all of noticeably lower quality than my video game systems.
Then, Absol starts destroying Jirachi's bonds; and Ash and Max mount on Flygon to start attacking the machine!
Honestly? Butler has a SALAMENCE in his roster as well?! Why is it that this villain has some of the dullest goals and characterization but so many great Hoenn monsters? He may not be as lifeless as Alain, but he comes close.
Through a sequence of confusing events, they're able to rescue Jirachi just as his "true eye" closes. I don't even care anymore, so let's just finish this.
So, at the 58-minute mark; Butler is able to resurrect Groudon! Even setting aside how it's like an early version of his Primal Reversion form; it would have been interesting if this were the Pokémon the movie was centered around, but instead he's basically shoehorned into the third act with 22 minutes left.
Even as Groudon absorbs May, Brock, Diane and Team Rocket; it's hard for me to get invested in an attack in an uninhabited valley. Maybe if he had been resurrected closer to the festival and attacked where there would be civilians, the stakes might be a bit higher.
As the final battle continues, I never thought I'd type about how boring a battle between Salamence, Flygon and a mutated Groudon clone would be; yet here I am.
Even the way Groudon is defeated and their friends are rescued is anticlimactic: all that's done is that Butler's machine is deactivated and Jirachi just wills the creature out of existence. The one plus, however is that it makes the movie shorter.
With everyone reunited, there's just one thing left to do: May sings the lullaby again to help Jirachi return to sleep until the next time he awakens! So, what could have been character development is instead a meager call back to the beginning of the movie. Least it's better than the final act being dragged out like in other movies I've covered recently.
So, we close on the hippie vender from before giving everyone a ride back to town. Not the worst movie I've covered here, thankfully; but I've also seen better.
"Pokémon Jirachi Wishmaker" is my least favorite of all the films they have released, and the weakest of the Advanced Generation films. Thankfully, it's also the shortest.
Despite some nice pieces of animation and the dub adding a scene that's surprisingly heartfelt, the film is basically a glorified escort mission with very little action. I am glad that the AG films get better from here, and I will do the other ones fairly soon from the Deoxys movie onward to address this. Otherwise, unless you're a big fan of Hoenn or have small children, you won't miss anything from skipping it.
As for what I will do next: once I'm done with this assignment I have for health, I will be changing things up once again. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I will once again have to delay my next Code Geass R2 recap and replace it with something a bit lighter until I can rewrite it. The Deoxys movie should be done later this month, as well as a surprise before that. You'll just have to wait and see what it is. That will be all for now. Bang.
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