“My name is Keldeo, and I’m here to challenge you to a battle.”
A week ago it hit shelves and and it was a bloody corker. The latest Pokémon games, Pokémon X & Y are now 1 week old. Yesterday saw the premiere of the latest Pokémon movie and here are my thoughts on the newest instalment in an epic saga.
Director: Kunihiko Yuyama
Cast: Sarah Natochenny, Ikue Ootani, Jason Griffith, Eileen Stevens, Vic Mignogna,
Plot: Legendary Pokémon Keldeo wants to join the Swords of Justice, an elite group of Pokémon who serve as protectors of nature. To do this he must train and then take on the dragon Pokémon Kyurem. But what happens if Keldeo takes on Kyurem before he’s ready?
After presenting us with the legendary Pokémon Reshiram and Zekrom in the previous instalment of the Pokémon saga, it’s now the turn of Kyurem, the most powerful of all Pokémon (according to this film). POKEMON THE MOVIE: KYUREM VS. THE SWORD OF JUSTICE decides to take a simpler plot, and instead focus on the exploration of character traits that can be seen in many young people. It’s a tale of ambition and persistence, but also looks at the dangers of overconfidence and lack of preparation. Despite rather engaging themes, the anime differs greatly from the plot of the games. Although this has been the case for a very long time, Pokémon Black & White had one of the more interesting plots.
The games of Pokémon Black & White focused on whether or not battling the little creatures was right or wrong. It was something that was emulated in the actual battle between Pokémon and animal activist extremists PETA, who for some reason decided (and continue) to direct negative attention at Pokémon with humourless and misjudged parodies. Had they played the games they may have seen that the world of Pokémon does address the morals and ethics of Pokémon battles. Still, this is something the anime and films have stayed away from for the majority of the time.
Keldeo is a trainee Pokémon who wishes to join the Swords Of Justice, a group of Pokémon dedicated to bettering themselves and protecting the less fortunate. However, Keldeo is young and impetuous, and like all teenagers he believes he knows best. Despite his training going well, he is told he is not ready to battle Kyurem, and as you can imagine he goes ahead anyway. Keldeo’s confidence is clearly his downfall, and doesn’t realise the guidance that he perceives as criticism is actually in place to protect him. These opening training scenes are handled with delicate and calming sensibilities. CG grass is used to allow the Pokémon to gallop through, while there are parts when the music truly stands out as a relaxed moment of peace. It’s in stark contrast to the rest of the film, which is essentially a non-stop chase through different locales.
In comparison to the peaceful and serene locations that the Swords Of Justice find themselves in, Kyurem makes his home in an abandoned place known as Full Court. It’s cold and dark, just like Kyurem himself, who happens to be an ice Pokémon. As Keldeo challenges Kyurem, he lies and claims he is already a Sword Of Justice. What follows is a gruelling battle in which Keldeo learns what a foolish little imp he’s been, resulting in the breaking of his horn. As the other Swords Of Justice attempt to help Keldeo, they are frozen. Keldeo runs away, but Kyurem gives chase. The chase aspect is the biggest part of the film, and is also an exciting one. Kyurem’s devilish design makes him very formidable as he furiously pursues his escaped prey.
It’s quite the epic set-up, and means we don’t meet our human heroes for quite some time. They’re introduced as continuing on their travels aboard a train journey. This is where the opening credits take place, but teh animators take this instance to have some fun with Ash and Co.’s Pokémon. What’s great about this current group of Pokémon is that they have a clear bond. Ash’s Pikachu and Iris’ Axew have great chemistry together, and it may help in the voice-over department that neither of these critters has had their Japanese voice-work dubbed over. The gang take a quick break to buy some lunchboxes, which turns out to be a needless but rather fun diversion. In a way, it sets up the normality of Ash’s life at this point, and how he has this particular adventure thrust upon him with little preparation.
The train journey is interrupted by teh arrival of a fleeing Keldeo, and he is soon followed by the aggressive Kyurem, who is a Pokémon that finishes what he starts. We can’t help but feel for Keldeo, even though his own arrogance got him into this mess. His need to run before he could walk has left him with a greater challenge than he expected. It’s a parallel moral that conflicts with a lot of children’s entertainment (and even Pokémon itself). You can try as hard as you like, but even then some dreams may be out of your reach. Time and experience are just as important as effort and belief. After getting Keldeo patched up, Keldeo decides he must return and unfreeze his mentors. With Kyurem in hot pursuit, we see the human characters risk their own lives in order to create enough diversions for Keldeo to return to the start of this story. It gives our heroes a lot to do without always resorting to Pokémon battles.
Like a snake eating itself, the film returns to where it began as Keldeo must finish his battle with Kyurem. It’s here we get to see Keldeo’s bravery, and how it isn’t finishing the fight that gives him strength, but rather the fact he takes responsibility. Best of all, Keldeo doesn’t win the fight, but instead earns the respect of Kyurem. Kyurem reveals himself to not be so unreasonable after all, but showing himself to have great pride and honour. It’s a fitting finale to the film, as it encompasses and expands on all of the thematic elements from earlier. Not to mention the fact that the battle is pretty epic, and although Keldeo is never shown as being strong enough to take down Kyurem, he is clearly trying his hardest.
Obviously the dubbed version, as always, is heavily edited; something clear from the running time. Fortunately for this effort, the plot manages to weave everything of importance into the action scenes that are present. Although we have yet another solid entry into the franchise, POKEMON THE MOVIE: KYUREM VS. THE SWORD OF JUSTICE, highlights that some of the adventures are also getting rather tiring in parts. Whether it is down to the fact that Ash Ketchum continues to journey on, or whether past adventures are quickly forgotten about, the Pokémon films are so stand-alone and of the moment, that it is becoming harder to enage fully with them.
Best Performance By A Pokémon: Keldeo is the clear victor here. He is a character that very easily could have been annoying beyond the point of redemption. Thankfully, he isn’t played as a bratty counterpart to the trained warriors, but is simply young, and has all the negative characteristics that come with it. He does manage to learn from his mistakes, and acts upon these lessons. It also helps that the film doesn’t raise him up as a hero come the end credits, but just shows him as a character who has gone on a journey.
Best Battle: The battles between Keldeo and Kyurem that bookend the film, are actually one battle, with the second bout taking care of unfinished business. It works so well because we see how Keldeo changes as a fighter, thus maiking his journey a memorable one. Kyurem also gives off a number of terrifying moves that look great when in animated battle .
PokéRating:
Come back tomorrow for our next PokéMovie Marathon article. Gotta read ‘em all here.
Pokémon X & Y released for the Nintendo 3DS are out now.
