Hello everyone. As work on my full recap of this movie is officially underway, I shall give you some of my thoughts on Pokémon The Power of Us after this evening's viewing from the Disney XD premiere. This includes some details I didn't already address from the theatrical viewing, but everything will really be addressed in the full recap on Christmas Eve.
Before I begin, I shall address the errors the Guardian and the List made in their articles on the movie. First, they mistakenly added the highlight reel and behind-the-scenes content of Detective Pikachu to the film's runtime. Second, they were under the impression that the art style was the same as the show when it was a major selling point that Studio WIT (Attack on Titan, Seraph of the End) was helping OLM with the animation. Third, in the case of the List, they mistakenly thought that Callahan was a rival to Ash rather than just a braggard who was in the same catch race. Now that I have that out of the way, let's continue.
I still feel the movie is an excellent follow-up to the last movie; and another strong entry into this new continuity. Tetsuo Yajima did a great job with his first outing not handled by Kunihiko Yuyama (who remains in an advisory role), and had significantly more effort put into it than most other video game movies (even as someone who isn't a big fan of Monster Hunter, I think the movie of that looks terrible).
Some scenes I missed in the theater when I was in the can (Coke Zero Sugar goes through me like Han Solo through the Kessel Run), and they did help provide some levity to what's once again a darker story than the TV anime usually does. Still, it does have plenty of hopeful moments; and the humor still remains in spades.
Each new character's arc is tied directly to their personality traits, and in order to explain this; there will be some brief spoilers; so I will give you some moments to lookup something else. Otherwise, I will continue in 3, 2, 1: Here we go.
While a running gag in the movie is Harriet not liking Pokémon, like the last movie; this stems from a trauma when she was younger: she used to have a Snubbull, but it died in a fire that parallels the climax of the movie and burned her hand, hence the glove she wears. To quote Rizzo the Rat: "He died?! This is supposed to be a kids' movie!"
Still, tonally and structurally; the film builds upon the last movie in style and tone; and not only does it evoke memories of the earlier movies for me, but also of the 1986 Transformers movie and the first two 1990s TMNT movies. Even when writing for children, they still take their audience seriously. The intensity is also not too bad, if a lot of kids these days can handle a typical Star Wars or Marvel Studios movie; this is no trouble. I also overheard someone say in theater when I was leaving the showing I got into saying words to this effect: "I didn't know what to make of the Pokémon thing before, but I get it now." Definitely the reaction that they were going for.
Even though Zeraora may not have been as powerful as it was in the games, it still was bringing the thunder and lightning for the film's final battle. Like Ho-Oh in the last movie, Lugia is less of a plot device this time around more of an inspiration to everyone in the city. One of my favorite parts of the series ever since I was very young was the world-building, and no matter how the world is portrayed; I'm glad to be a part of it. No matter how much Ash and Pikachu have been around, I submit they work off the other characters perfectly. Though Risa apparently is reluctant to run again after a leg injury, she does take the leap in the finale. Insert Sonic Forces or "You Say Run" joke here.
With this, I shall state that I am around one or two thirds done with my work on the full look of the movie; and my goal is still to have it done and posted by Christmas Eve, along with some other stuff I'm working on. That will be all for now. Later.
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