Pokemon Lucario and the Mystery of Mew (2005)

Plot: Centuries ago, an aura-guiding Pokémon named Lucario sensed two armies about to clash at Cameron Palace. He tries to help his master Sir Aaron save the kingdom, but when Lucario finds him, Aaron sealed Lucario in his staff and flees. Sir Aaron's Pidgeot returns to the queen of Camron with the staff as the two armies mysteriously stop fighting and return to their homes. Cut to the present as Ash and his friends come to Cameron to celebrate the life of Sir Aaron who has been declared a hero. Ash wins the Pokemon competition and is rewarded with the privilege to hold Sir Aaron's staff. But because he's dressed like Sir Aaron, Lucario releases itself from the staff and informs the group that Sir Aaron might not be the hero that they think he is. But while that's going on, Pikachu and the other Pokemon encounter the rare Pokemon Mew and after a failed attempt of being captured, Mew teleports itself as well as Pikachu and Team Rocket's Meowth to the Tree of Beginning. So the group has to travel to the Tree of Beginning with the help of Lucario to retrieve Pikachu. 

So this is the one that a lot of people considered to be their favorite of the Pokemon films. And what do I think? It's...okay but nothing spectacular. *viewers booing * Alright alright, let me elaborate. When I say it's not that great, I'm not saying that I don't see why some people view this as their favorite of the Pokemon films. But some of the other elements hurt the film enough that I didn't enjoy it in the same extent that I enjoyed Pokemon 2000 or Pokemon Heroes.

I'll start by talking about what is by far the best part of the movie: Lucario. Lucario is the most awesome and interesting Pokemon in the Pokemon movies since Mewtwo. His design was cool, the fact that uses telepathy to communicate just like Mewtwo is great, he's brooding but still has a sense of honor and a good heart, and he has these cool aura powers. Plus the story about him and Sir Aaron is interesting. You care about  how much Sir Aaron meant to Lucario and how torn he is that Sir Aaron might have betrayed him. Sir Aaron is also an interesting person even though we see little of him. He's practically a Jedi given that he can use aura powers just like Lucario. Also his suit was really cool. I remember whenever I saw Ash wearing it early in the film, I could help but think "wow, I would like to wear that too." The first scene of the movie where we find out what happened between Sir Aaron and Lucario was also enjoyable...if not a shame that we didn't really see much of a the war. In fact Il Neige made a good point that arguably that whole thing with the war could've been its own movie.

So where does the movie fall flat for me? Well to be blunt, it's the plot. Not the parts that have to do with Lucario and finding out why Sir Aaron disappeared - I stand by saying that it's interesting. I'm specifically talking about the quest that Lucario and Ash and his friends are going on. When you really think about what they're doing, you realize that there isn't really anything at stake while they travel to the Tree of Beginning. Yeah, they're worried about Pikachu and Meowth, but you can figure out pretty quickly that they are in no danger whatsoever. The film keeps coming back to the two of them and Mew, and all they're really doing is playing. Granted, the group does come across dangerous obstacles such as the tree's white cells (which I thought it's kind of neat), and coming across Regice, Regirock and Registeel (the latter of the two I thought had pretty cool voices.) But ultimately, their mission is really just retrieving Pikachu who isn't even in any sort of danger. In fact, nothing really dramatic or terrible happens until the climax which unfortunately was just like Destiny Deoxys in that it was a forced raising of the stakes just so that we can have a conclusion of Lucario's story just like with Tori. Granted, this is done slightly better given that the stuff they do for Lucario leads to a well delivered, bittersweet ending. But it's still annoys me that the climax in general came completely out of nowhere with an incredibly forced explanation. On top of that, Mew is kind of a selfish twit. When you really get down to it, all of the danger that the characters go through and all the harm and so on it's completely his fault. People are risking their lives just because Mew brought Pikachu to his home just to have someone to play with. Honestly, I choose to believe that this is a different Mew from the one in Pokemon: The First Movie where I could admire that one for beingplayful but also having a sense of wisdom.

And that's my review for Pokemon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew. The fact that Pikachu didn't really need saving and that all the bad stuff is out of Mew's selfishness really bothers me. But when you put that aside, it's still a decent film mostly because of Lucario and his mission to find out more about Sir Aaron if not anything else. It's just an okay film for me, but I can see why people consider it to be their favorite Pokemon film.

Rating: 65%