Ranked #2497

Pokemon: Pokemon Ranger and The Temple of The Sea

The ninth Pokemon move - "Pokemon Ranger and the Prince of the Blue Waters", or "Pokemon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea" in the English dub. I watched the dub version, so that's what my review is based on.

Story
Basically, a Pokemon Ranger is sent to protect a Manaphy egg from pirates. He runs into Ash and co., and May accidentally hatches the egg, leading Manaphy to believe she is its mother. The group has to help return Manaphy to the legendary secret Sea Temple and stop the pirate Phantom from stealing its power. It's simple, and fairly predictable, but very well executed. I like it.

Art
The movie used a combination of traditional animation and 3D CGI effects. Most of the time, these are blended and combined perfectly for amazing results - but some parts are pretty poorly done and remind me of the graphics from Final Fantasy VIII more than anything.

Sound
I don't know about the Japanese soundtrack - because as stated, I watched the dub - but the music in the English version is beautiful. It is all set perfectly to the scene and really reflects the emotions of the characters and Pokemon.

Character
Like the story, the characters in Pokemon are not too deeply explored, but they are still lovable and fun. Being an Advanced Generation movie, this film features May and Max accompanying Ash on his journey. Several new characters are also introduced, the most important of which are the Pokemon Ranger Jackie and the pirate Phantom. Jackie is a lot like Might Guy from Naruto - he's a funny guy, but can be serious when he needs to, and is determined to see his job through to the end without hurting anyone - and you just can't help but love him. (He even sounds a bit like Guy. xD) The primary antagonist, the pirate Phantom, is like most Pokemon villains - steal the legendary Pokemon and use it to gain ultimate power, blah blah blah. Still, he's likable enough.

Enjoyment/Overall
I really, really liked this movie. Seeing so many different kinds of Pokemon, May's interaction with Manaphy, Team Rocket's rather small but still hilarious role... it's all just great. If you like Pokemon, even just a bit, this movie is definitely one to watch. ^_^ read more

In the long list of Pokémon movies, this is not the worst nor the best.

There were many elements I thought were very computer game-ish; I could see that if they wanted to turn the movie straight into a game, there would be many scenes directly translated to that with all the jumping, fighting and moving around.

Our main character Ash, Brock, May and Max are joined by a Marina Group, who put on a beautiful show with water and psychic Pokémon. None of the new characters stay as strangers and they become part of the story very nicely.

Although the Pokémon Ranger Jack Walker is kind of annoying, he remains fairly professional and doesn’t ruin the whole thing. Pokémon Rangers as a whole are not explored all that much, when Ash - and especially May - end up being the big heroes.

The music in the film was kind of disappointing. You could listen to it for a bit, but then it just seemed to repeat itself instead of remaining entertaining. The art was top notch again, although I’m not a fan of computer animation being mixed into the usual animation style - they just don’t fit together that well.

The plot was short, making the movie feel slightly too long. It wasn’t boring, though, and remained quite well balanced. It also captured some good, strong emotions of taking care of someone and then having to let them go.

I wouldn’t resist watching this again, but the story was a bit weaker than in the best of Pokémon movies I’ve already seen. read more