Synopsis:

An ancient legend comes true when Pokemon Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres are disturbed/abducted after centuries of rest and harmony. As the very forces of nature come unbalanced, life on Earth depends on the unlikely teaming of the mythical Pokemon Lugia and a mysterious "chosen one" (Oooh Scary) as foretold in an ancient legend. Can Ash ketchum summon the courage to save the day? See how one person can make all the difference. –Back of the box spin.

Audio/Video:

The audio is an ear blistering 5.1 that uses the surrounds and subs extremely well, actually almost too well. This is a very LOUD movie. Maybe it's because the film is geared towards kids. In any event they could stand to drop the decibel count just a bit for those of us without Pokemon to protect our eardrums! Good surround presence and the sub is really, really used.

The video is beautiful. It's really eye candy. There are all sorts of colors used in the print and they are all vibrant and brilliant. The film is presented in full frame and that's the only drawback from an otherwise pristine transfer.

Extras:

The extras are really, like the film geared toward a much younger crowd. The extras include trailers for the first three Pokemon movies (the third to be released next year), a behind the scenes look at the making of the soundtrack with a profile of one of the young performers, and three "live" videos of songs from the soundtrack performed by a bevy of young artists nobody has ever heard of before. All of these elements with the exception of the trailers are presented in 2.0 (trailers 5.1) Additionally, there is a 20-minute segment entitled Pikachu's Rescue Adventure. Evidently, it's a rescue movie as the title suggests but for the life of me, I couldn't tell you what was going on. In the whole of the production, no identifiable language was used. Only this pokemon gibberish spoken by the poke-people(?) and the whispering of the names of the Pokemon as you passed them on screen. 20 minutes of mind numbing boredom is the closest definition I can provide for that segment.

Overall:

I remember a news story about some Japanese kids that upon viewing the latest installment of Pokemon, fell out convulsing and vomiting. I share their pain. I know kid's programming for the most part leaves a lot to be desired but, this is just ridiculous. For all the parents of kids old enough to understand this Pokemon craze, you have my sympathies. My son is only 8 months old but by the time he's old enough to get into this stuff, there will undoubtedly be something equally or more obnoxious than this. I love anime and cartoons in general but this is a pox on the face of toons the world over! The animation is generally awful but there are moments when the CGI and anime blend to make a beautiful presentation however, there's definitely more to this movie than it's looks. If you have a child who even knows the names of any of these pocket monsters, you already have this and the previous one in your collection. If you have no kids, grand kids, nephews, nieces, there's really no reason to even pick this one up. Skip it