Top 10 Best Pokémon Movies

Today we will discuss the films that mark the franchise in general. It is worth noting that the choice of the top 10 of the best movies ends up having a bit of personal taste involved, it is not like an absolute truth. If you have suggestions, I'm available in the comments at the end of the article!

The important thing is to participate and learn a little more about the franchise!

Pokémon 4: Time Travelers released in Japan on July 7, 2001, and the North American adaptation was released on October 11, 2002, in limited screening, but then went to theaters with the premiere version on October 25 of the same year. The film was produced by 4Kids Entertainment and distributed by then-Disney subsidiary Miramax Films.

Here, the stars of the movie are the Pokémon Celebi and Suicune.

The movie takes place right after the episode between 205, 206 and 207 of the Johto Journeys series.

Summary:

“Forty years in the past (considering Ash's lineage), there was a young artist named Sam who liked to draw Pokémon in the woods near Arboville, and he spotted a Celebi in the middle of his walks, until he encounters a Pokémon smuggler. Celebi uses its power to travel back in time and flee the location.

After 40 years, a tall member of Team Rocket known as "The Iron-Masked Marauder" interrogates this old hunter about the whereabouts of the Celebi and coerces him into destroying his home with a display of power using his Dark Ball, a PokéBall that corrupts the Pokémon caught in it, thus catching a Tyranitar from that hunter, making it evil and using the Hyper Beam attack to frighten the old man, who provides the information to the villain.

Then Ash, Misty and Brock were going to travel to that same region, as they spotted a Suicune and would investigate, until they arrived in Arboville, where they found Sam.”

It's a simple story of good versus evil, but what stands out is precisely the villain "Iron Mask Marauder" introducing the concepts of corrupted Pokémon and that this reflected in the Pokémon TCG (both in the VS expansion, with his own cards with his signature Pokémon like Tyranitar, Sneasel and Scizor) as well as in the west with the American expansion the Ruby/Sapphire - EX: Team Rocket's Returns.

This was precisely one of the best times for me, where there was the Dark Pokémon, that is, with the dark type plus the main type of Pokémon. Tyranitar was one of the standout cards at the time (and that even participated in the world champion deck in 2005):

Pokémon the Movie: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages (Pokémon the Movie XY - The Archdjinni of the Rings: Hoopa) is the second film of the X/Y era and the eighteenth of the film franchise overall.

It was released in Japan on July 18, 2015 and aired in the US on Cartoon Network on December 19, 2015.

This movie takes place after episode 81 of the XY series.

Summary:

“When Ash and his friends visit a deserted seaside town, they meet the Pokémon Hoopa, which has the ability to summon things – including people and Pokémon – through its magic ring.

After a frightening incident, they discover a story about a brave hero who stopped the rampage of a terrifying Pokémon long ago. Now, the threat that has been bottled up for years is in danger of breaking free of its prison, can Ash help his new friend overcome the power of the inner darkness contained within that bottle...or a dangerous secret will explode in a never seen before Pokémon clash.”

For me, this film is an exception to exceptions, as it is the only one from the XY era that is worth watching.

The plot gains prominence for appearing practically all the legendary and mythics from the previous films and even with mega evolutions, such as Mega Latios and Mega Latias, Mega Rayquaza, Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre (their first appearances).

Pokémon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior (Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl the Movie - Giratina and the Sky's Bouquet: Shaymin) is the 11th feature film of the entire franchise, being the second of the Diamond & Pearl saga. It was released in Japan in theaters on July 19, 2008 and in the United States it was broadcast on Cartoon Network on February 13, 2009.

This film is part of the sequel to the trilogy of films from the Diamond & Pearl era and for me, even with the notorious participation of Giratina – one of my favorite ghost/dragon Pokémon, this film is one of the weakest of the trilogy – but it has a lot of importance in the events of the lore.

The movie takes place right after episode 86 of the Diamond & Pearl series.

Movie summary:

“Shortly after the events of the first film where Dialga and Palkia ceased their fight, the events of the space/time shocks affect the Reverse World, where Giratina freaks out and tries to create a new battle against Dialga in its advantage territory.

Shaymin, who was walking around the place in the normal world, is dragged through the portal created by Giratina, entering a conflict he didn't want and being attacked from all sides, until, in a moment of distress, he awakens a type of power that manages to break a barrier in the Warped World and escape from there.

Dialga took advantage of this gap to flee, and Giratina was trapped in a displacement loop in its own realm. All this was observed by a mysterious boy obsessed with the legendary named Zero, who travels in high-tech machinery, who has the desire to have the same power to cross dimensions. As a result, Ash, Dawn, and Brock, who were traveling nearby, find Shaymin and witness one of these anomalies.”

Pokémon 3: Spell of the Unown (officially also known in Japan as "Lord of the 'Unknown' Tower") is the 3rd feature film of the entire franchise that had great prominence on the world stage, as well as its predecessors. It was released in Japan in theaters on July 8, 2000 and in the United States it was in theaters on April 6, 2001.

It is known by many as one of the darkest films of the entire franchise since its prologue, and throughout the narrative, when the film is analyzed as a whole by the motivations of the character Molly. It is here that everyone first met the beloved Entei, one of the three legendary beasts.

The movie takes place right after episode 157 of the Johto Journeys series.

Movie summary:

“In Professor Spencer's mansion, in Greenfield, he spends an evening with his daughter Molly telling about the stories of the legend of Entei, taking some of his spare time from work and chores with the research of the ancient ruins where he and his team found Unown hieroglyphs, a type of Pokémon that served as an ancient script. Mysteriously, on the same night, Spencer disappears through a dimensional portal created by these Pokémon.

Now, in addition to not having her mother and now losing her father, it seems, Molly goes into a deep depression and by chance, she finds her father's research and belongings, until she finds a mysterious box with Unown hieroglyphs. As she cries before the rocks, wishing his father back, something unexpected happens.

Later, we see Ash, Misty and Brock arriving from Greenville for a break from their travels, where they learn about a mysterious freezing of the green fields of the city by a supernatural phenomenon, and everything indicates that this freezing comes from Professor Spencer's mansion. ”

Particularly, I just have to say that Entei and Charizard's fight is excellent. The film is worth checking out!

Pokémon Heroes: Latios and Latias (also known in Japan as "The Guardians of Altomare") is the 5th feature film in the franchise, ending the Johto era. It was released in theaters in Japan on July 13, 2002 and in the United States it was released in theaters on May 16, 2003 with limited duration.

This film has a great affection for four factors:

1) the opening of the film, which is the version of the “Advanced Battle” that would be used in the Hoenn era;

2) the setting of the film, that refers to Venice, being a place that is very close to the reality of our world in terms of architecture and urbanism;

3) the villains of the story are incredible – Annie and Oakley, especially Annie with the incredible Brazilian dubbing by Adriana Pissardini (which also gave her voice to Alcina Dimitrescu in Resident Evil Village);

4) the reference in the post-credits scene where they read a Bingo Book in prison with the arrested criminals and one of them is Lawrence III, from the second film of the franchise.

Summary:

“There is a rare jewel called Soul Dew, which sustains the harmony of the waters of Alto Mare, a “submerged” city. However, the thieves Annie and Oakley want to steal the jewel for financial purposes, without knowing the consequences that this can bring. This jewel is protected by two guardian Pokémon: Latios and Latias, which have existed since the city's foundation, preserving the jewel and its hiding place so that it does not fall into the wrong hands.

Ash, Misty and Brock go on a trip to this town during the high season for water racing competitions. Latias gains affection from Ash and Pikachu, and this is where the heroes' story comes together with the jewel's legendary and human protectors: Lorenzo and his granddaughter Bianca.”

This one is the 10th feature film of the entire franchise, being the first of the Diamond & Pearl saga. It was released in Japan in theaters on July 14, 2007 and in the United States it was broadcast on Cartoon Network on February 24, 2008, published on DVD on May 27, 2008.

The curious thing is that in this movie the biggest highlight would be between Dialga and Palkia because of the title in Japanese and Darkrai would only be a “supporting”, a piece that would connect the plot to involve the two legendary ones, but he has a highlight as big as the other two.

The film takes place right after episode 39 of the Diamond & Pearl series, and is part of the trilogy of arcs that took place in Sinnoh, respectively in this order: "The Nightmare of Darkrai", "Giratina and the Knight of the Sky" and finally “Arceus and the Jewel of Life”.

Summary:

“Dialga and Palkia awaken and find themselves in the confines between space and time and, from these collisions, create an anomaly in spacetime. At this, an injured Palkia flees from Dialga.

Ash, Brock and Dawn are in Alamos, where they meet a royal woman named Alice who guides them around the city, and also meet Tonio, a scientist who is friends with Alice and Alberto, a pompous baron.

In this, they realize that the place has incidents, strange phenomena regarding small and large objects, from simple pieces of architecture such as balusters and pillars to larger proportions such as a large urban area in the city where reality and dreams/illusions intermingle, and Alberto blames Darkrai for it. Soon, the heroes, along with Alice and Tonio will investigate about these anomalies.”

The third film produced during the 4th generation of Diamond & Pearl. It opened in Japanese theaters on July 18, 2009, in honor of the 11th anniversary of the release of the first film in the franchise. On the Australian Cartoon Network it was released in 2009, on November 6th, and then on the American broadcaster on the 20th of the same month.

The film takes place between episodes 135 and 136 of the Diamond & Pearl series, and is part of the trilogy of arcs that took place in Sinnoh.

Summary:

“Many centuries ago, there would be a meteor that would collide with the Earth and destroy everything. Arceus interfered with this issue, was severely injured on impact, and nearly died, losing all of its plates (each symbolizing a specific type of nature Pokémon).

Arceus had help from a local resident named Damos and, upon seeing the wreckage in the city of Michina, in the Sinnoh region, Damos asked the Pokémon God for mercy to grant 5 of his 16 plates to help in the restoration of the place, giving the plates of water, grass, earth, electricity and dragon, which united, created the Jewel of Life , trusting him and putting his life in danger. At the day of the delivering the jewel to Arceus, as agreed, he betrayed the Pokémon and Arceus swore revenge.

And so, in the present moment, Brock and Dawn would witness an event out of the ordinary and of unprecedented magnitude.”

In summary, this film needs no introduction and is well worth checking out to be surprised by a good story full of twists.

This film is one of the best, in my humble opinion, for two reasons: the appearance of Lugia and the villain Lawrence III (in Japan, his name is Gelardan), who is an atypical villain who is just a fanatical collector rather than desiring global domination.

He introduces himself with a statement for heroes that started it all with a Mew card – part of my personal inspiration as well to start collecting Pokémon cards.

And in case you wonder, yes, it was Ancient Mew's, which exists in real life:

The movie takes place after episode 107, of the Indigo era.

Here, the synopsis is simple and engaging:

“A Pokémon collector has holograms of the manuscripts of the Shamoutti Islands prophecies tablets, which spoke of the harmony and imbalance of the elements, where a king would emerge in the face of the chaos of these forces. And with that, he deduces that these elemental forces are the legendary birds of Kanto: Moltres, Zapdos and Articuno.

He decides to capture them to unravel the “enigma of the king of the seas” and having them as part of his collection, which leads to a cataclysmic event that involves the entire planet in disharmony with the environmental issue. So, Ash, Tracey, and Misty set off on their immersive journey into the Orange Islands arc (Season 2 of the Indigo arc).”

Other than that, the film's soundtrack is also one of the best! How not to get goosebumps with the Lugia theme?

And another point of mine personal to love about this movie is the ending song by Donna Summers. Her voice is so powerful to penetrate the person's soul when she sings in the part that rightly refers to Ash's journey to save the world and the weight of responsibility on his shoulders:

“The power of one!

Begins with believing!

It's starts in the heart

Then flows through the soul

And changes the world!”

With the honor deserved for stirring the feelings of many of us in childhood, being the first animated film in the franchise. Here we have the majesty of Mewtwo and also the Ash scene that made everyone cry at the theaters.

But here we have a special case, as we will delve deeper. In addition to the vision of the films, but as a multimedia narrative element that even had a prequel short film that is unknown to many, a six-episode radio drama released in Japan that complement the film, and one more film after the events. of the main movie.

It is worth remembering that the film takes place after episode 67 of the Indigo League arc.

First, we'll start with the synopsis of the main movie:

“Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket, wants to use his new Pokémon for a world-dominating war force, the genetic Pokémon Mewtwo. However, Mewtwo rebels against its “owner” and wants to revolutionize the world to prove its worth as the best Pokémon master of all time, challenging humans and showing its sovereignty above this creation status and as something subjugated as a Pokémon.

Ash, Misty, and Brock receive an invitation to a mysterious castle with someone who calls himself the “greatest Pokémon master of all time.”

And before that, we had a short film called The Uncut Story of Mewtwo's Origin (Japanese: ミュウツーの誕生 The Birth of Mewtwo).

The Uncut Story of Mewtwo's Origin - The Story of Mewtwo's Origin

The Japanese theatrical release of the first film opened on July 18, 1998, where it did not include this prologue, which was only included in the kanzenban version.

It was first shown on TV Tokyo on July 8, 1999, while its first home video release was on VHS on November 12, 1999.

In the United States, the kanzenban version came a little late, on November 12, 1999, but there was also this cut from the prequel, even using the CGI changes that were left in this kanzenban version in theaters. On March 21, 2000, Mewtwo Strikes Back was released to Home Video and both the VHS and DVD included the first two minutes of the short dubbed in English as The Story of Mewtwo's Origin on the VHS, these scenes were added to the beginning of the film; on the DVD they were included as a special feature.

The part of the concept of Mewtwo's creation is deepened further, showing Doctor Fuji's expedition to "South America", through the traces and DNA of Mew, the Pokémon that would be responsible for the universal genetics of all existing ones. These researches were led by Team Rocket with Giovanni's endorsement as a "sponsor" searching for the most powerful Pokémon, and in parallel, Doctor Fuji wanted to create a body genetically similar to his late daughter, Amber, through cloning, where the Mewtwo project it would be a two-way street to help in the process of creating a body.

(A note: in the anime timeline, Mewtwo is a creation of Team Rocket, while in the games it never had that relationship or type of mention, just being a personal endeavor of Doctor Fuji on Cinnabar Island on his own.)

On DailyMotion, we have the American version without subtitles with this short film,:

And to go deeper, we also have the CD/Radio Drama that deepens this story even further, with the emergence of The Birth of Mewtwo(ミュウツーの誕生):

Radio Drama: The Birth of Mewtwo

Written by Takeshi Shudō (one of the main scriptwriters of the Indigo era of Pokémon for the first 3 films, one of the great geniuses of the time - responsible for the request for the creation of Lugia), it was broadcast on Japanese radio for five Sundays before the premiere of the premiere. of the first film, which ran from June 7 to July 12, 1998. On February 12, 1999, Pikachu Records released a double CD containing the soundtrack there is a soundtrack from the film accompanied by a small book and this CD with the five episodes of the telenovela.

This media contains 5 episodes:

1) The Mythical "Mew" (幻の「ミュウ」 Maboroshi no "Mew").

2) The Birth of Mewtwo (ミュウツーの誕生 Mewtwo no Tanjō).

3) Mewtwo and Amber (ミュウツーとアイ Mewtwo to Ai).

4) The Strongest Pokémon in the World (世界最強のポケモン Sekai Saikyō no Pokémon).

5) Mewtwo Strikes Back (ミュウツーの逆襲 Mewtwo no Gyakushū).

Mewtwo Saga - Mewtwo Returns

Mewtwo Returns (ポケットモンスター　ミュウツー！我ハココニ在リ　MEWTWO SAGA Pocket Monsters: Mewtwo! I Am Here - MEWTWO SAGA) was the anime's first exclusive feature film, which premiered in the Indigo league region's final arc season of the Indigo League region. Johto, released in Japan on December 30, 2000 and in the US on December 4, 2001 on DVD.

This animation is the sequence of the events of the main film, where Mewtwo, with its cloned Pokémon, travel to a safe place and away from human eyes and Team Rocket, finding an area in Johto known as Mount Quena.

In the crater of this mountain there is a habitat untouched by humanity, and Ash, Misty and Brock who passed through the place to know this mountain as a tourist point guided by Luka Carson and environmentalists Cullen Calix and Luna Carson (Luka's sister). There was also an undercover agent of Team Rocket called Domino who is said to be altruistic for the environmental cause along with the Carsons, but is there to gather information and try to find Mewtwo's whereabouts for Giovanni.

The movie takes place right after episode 180 of the Indigo league (already picking up the Johto era).

On DailyMotion, we have the American version without subtitles with this short film:

Detective Pikachu

This film is sensational for being one of the best video game adaptations with human characters, based on the non-canonical Nintendo DS game of the same name.

The film was released on May 3, 2019 in Japan and May 10, 2019 in the United States.

Synopsis:

“A young man joins forces with Detective Pikachu to unravel the mystery behind his father's disappearance. Chasing clues through the streets of Ryme City, the dynamic duo soon uncover a devious plot that poses a threat to the Pokémon universe.”

Here for me, it has the pinnacle of Pokémon art with 3D, it should even be one of the definitive arts of the franchise because one of the concept art illustrators was famous in the Pokémon community for his realistic drawings, RJ Palmer.

Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution

It is the remastering of the first Pokémon movie in 3D. It was distributed in Japan on July 12, 2019 and on February 27, 2020 for the rest of the world by Netflix.

Dispensing with introductions, it's the same plot as the first film, with a very nice graphic to look at, and it's really worth the experience.

And then? What did you think of the list and curiosities? Do you agree with the list? Leave here your comments about your experiences with the films of the franchise, and share your memories or significant situations that marked your life watching them.

See you next time!