5 Reasons Why the New Pokemon Movie is Pretty Awful

The poster itself is better than the movie

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It's amazing to think that the first Pokemon film came out sixteen years ago. The show itself has been going on for seventeen years. Sadly the anime jumped the shark a long time ago. The movies however are usually a breath of fresh air amidst mediocrity. They usually offer high budget animation, a grand plot, and somewhat good fight scenes. Unfortunately the latest one, Cocoon of Destruction, makes Pokemon 4Ever look like a masterpiece. Instead of this being a formal review I'm going instead list the five primary negatives, because there's not many positive things to say!

1. Length

Diancie isn't happy about being in such mediocrity

Wow, this "movie" is short. It's just a little over an hour. It feels more like a TV special. Because of its pitiful length, there's virtually no time to establish any of the new characters. (And there's quite a few.) Of course, a solid script could do wonders, but this is one of the most mediocre writing attempts I've seen in the franchise.

2.Marilyn Flame & Ninja Riot

Supposed to be an emotional moment

Who the heck were these two? They literally show up out of nowhere with no backstory. After chasing Diance and realizing it's a lost cause, Riot decides it's best to give up and be together with Marilyn. This would be a touching scene if this were any other movie, but these two are so poorly established the viewer feels virtually nothing.

3. Argus Steel & Millis Steel

Easily the worst design for a human antagonist yet

She is the unfortunate product of a good character ruined by a poor script

Same problem as above. These two get no backstory and their goal isn't even that understandable. It's an interesting dynamic that Millis is Argus's daughter, but since once again they're so poorly established as characters, it doesn't matter. I don't even remember what happened to them after Yveltal blew them away.

4. Team Rocket

Easily the most laughable characters in all of existence

Team Rocket is probably the worst written characters in the entire franchise by now. They literally serve no purpose here at all. They could have easily been written out of the script, but I guess there's some sort of rule that says they have to be in every movie and virtually every episode right?

5. The "Final Battle"

Such wasted animation

This is the big movie based on the X & Y games, so of course a lot of hype was on Xerneas and Yveltal since this would be their first movie appearance. Yveltal has some impressive destruction scenes, which in theory should set up for an epic climax between the two. We don't get that. Instead we get what is perhaps the worst final battle in Pokemon history. The two literally throw a few beams at each other, and then Xerneas wins by...we don't even know! Her final beam did something to Yveltal since it sent the latter flying away. It's not explained and then the deer transformers into a tree for hibernation. This is definitely what players of the game have waited a year for...

Pokemon the anime franchise continues to become more and more mediocre. This movie is an immense disappointment, especially for people that played through X and Y last year. You're better off watching the first film for the 10th time.

Pokemon XY Episode 3 'A Battle of Aerial Mobility!' Review

It's been quite a bit since the special 1 hour sneak peak of Pokemon XY, the latest Pocket Monster show. As a re-surged fan of the series thanks to the new games, I went into this show with mild expectations. I love the XY world, but the anime hasn't been quite 'good' since Advanced ended. But with every new season there's a chance for redemption. The two premiere episodes were solid, from there the show would either keep up the quality or deride itself into a repetitive mess. Thankfully if Episode 3 is any indication, XY could be the best Pokemon season in a long time.

This episode is separated into three points of views. First we have the main one which is on Ash, Clemont and Bonnie, second on Serena, and finally on Team Rocket. First we'll talk about Ash and friends. We see the protagonist update his progress to Professor Oak. I don't know when the latter's voice changed, but it's pretty awful. However, the action is when the Heroes go on their journey to the Santalune City Gym. In the beginning of the episode, Ash registered for the Kalos League. I'm going to assume this league will be in the climax of the season once he collects all the gym badges.

Before continuing, it's very important to mention the theme song. It's a fantastic remix of the original theme from Season 1! It gives the feeling that this season will be like the originals. Past all the cheesy friendship dialogue, we find the heroes in a forest when a Dedenne appears. These things are exclusive to X & Y and look remarkably similar to Pikachu. So naturally their brief 'encounter' proved fun enough. But, despite Dedenne's inclusion, the new Pokemon to watch for is Fletchling. Wow, if you ever thought that bird was a bit on the weak side, you'd have to watch the eisode. He plays the main characters for a bunch of fools. The battle between him and Froakie was fun with pretty smooth animation. The battles in this season are proving to be solid, I'm looking forward to the 'big' ones. So the two major things that come out from this part of the story is Froakie learning to trust Ash and the latter catching a Fletchling. The bird should prove to be a great addition, I already personally prefer him to Froakie.

It is interesting that this season is taking its time with having Serena and Ash being partners on the journey. She's proving to be a fun protagonist. I still miss her more serious in-game personality, but she could be worse. I'm sensing these two will be close friends as the show goes on, maybe something even more? Then again, it's easy to forget that Ash is still like 10 years old seventeen seasons later...which doesn't make much sense. Either way, I'm looking forward to seeing which Pokemon Serena picks. (Hint, it's Fennekin. The theme song spoils that surprise.)

Team Rocket...I just have to ask why? They serve absolutely no purpose. Thankfully they didn't have any run-ins with Ash, but their scenes were pretty filler-y nonetheless. But, we do learn one thing: Giovanni is still in business. Again, I just don't understand. In the theme song it shows Team Flare's logo, so why not just let them be the villains and Team Rocket take a break? Obviously the biggest thing from their point of view is that James catches an Inkay, who was trolling Team Rocket the whole time by stealing their food. Inkay must be some kinda weakling though if he could be captured without any attack necessary.

Overall, this was a really solid episode. Past the cheesy dialogue and filler Team Rocket, there's a lot of cool stuff going on. Fetchling has a lot of personality, even being as cool as the original Pidgey! The battle between it and Froakie was good, the animation is very nice.  The story so far is moving nicely, it remains to be seen if the pace doesn't falter.

4/5

Pokemon X & Y Episode 2 'Lumiose City Pursuit!' Review

The premiere episode of the Pokemon X & Y anime was pretty average. Ash Ketchum arrived in the Kalos Region, met two friends, and of course battled Team Rocket. Since I just played X, I found it mildly entertaining. It wasn't bad, but wasn't very amazing either. Episode 2 fixes many of the problems seen in it. There's a sense of danger, and Ash is actually pretty cool.

It starts out right from where the previous one left off, with Ash going to deliver a wounded Frokie to Professor Sycamore. The Professor's place of residence is quite a mansion, housing some pretty interesting research. Team Rocket pops in however, and manages to get a rage-inducing collar on a Garchomp living there. After he blasts a them away, he goes on a rampage through the city. Yes, the story is pretty interesting, especially when Garchomp goes on a rampage. If only every episode could be like this.

It opens up however with Serena. She appears to be an extremely light-hearted version of the character seen in the game. I suppose the anime is trying to make her more of a likable character, but I just don't know yet. I'll have to see how she interacts with the outside world because once again we only see her at the house with her mom. The action is over at Professor Sycamore's lab. It's cool how Sycamore gets to appear, his portrayal is lifted straight from the game. While the scene with the Professor explaining to Ash why every trainer returns Froakie to him is pretty emotional, (as emotional as the show can be) the best part of the episode is Garchomp's rampage through Lumiose City.

Team Rocket appears, and while they are extremely annoying, they are a catalyst to the biggest plot point in the whole thing. They manage to get a pain-inducing collar onto the Garchomp living in Sycamore lab. I can forgive their inclusion this time. So, Garchomp. He was first established as a very likable free-roaming Pokemon, so when he starts going into rage mode thanks to the pain-inducing collar, you feel for the guy. The actual rampage was pretty awesome to say the least. It reminds us how deadly Pokemon can be without a trainer holding them back. Hopefully we'll see some more renegade Pokemon like this as the series progresses.

Clemont and Bonnie don't really contribute much. The only thing Clermont does other than get tired from running, (seriously, how does his little sister run faster than him?) is use his science skills to open a door. Bonnie is just there to be the cute little girl. Still, they aren't bad side characters. Ash thankfully is not his annoying self from the previous episode. The whole scene on the roof of Prism Tower reminds us why we like the guy. The final act has the return of Mega Blaziken and his mysterious trainer also appears. You can bet we'll see them down the road.

Overall, Episode 2 of Pokemon X & Y is an improvement over its premiere. The entire rampage through the city is one of the very best Pokemon scenes I've ever seen. Ash is actually likable and not annoying. If the show can be like this consistently, we'll have a winner.

4/5