Annunal Pokemon sequels bumped up animation slightly with almost every release. What caught me off guard, however, was a massive improvement with these two films. One thing that can't be understated is how nice Reshiram & Zerkrom look. For this reason alone, it's a joy to watch the films. But these two aren't an artsy audio-visual extravaganza. While the best thing I can say about audio production is that it did its job, I can't be as forgiving to other elements.
These films can be split into two parts. The character driven first and plot dirven second half. Both focus on different elements and both come up short in their own departments.
Throughout the first half, we're treated to quite a few neat situations. While watching, as I try to enjoy them, something rushes through my mind - images from previous films. Therein lies the problem. There's very little originality here. A garden with tastly berries? Already done in The Rise of Darkrai, better too. Running through the packed streets of an old town? Fifth film. Pokemon waking up Ash to enjoy the local sunrise? Almost every series did it multiple times. I could go on, but I think the point has been made. Black & White are plagued by moments already done better before. The battles at display here aren't very memorable, either.
Where the films really starts to fall, even for someone not familiar with the better works in the franchise, is the second half. The dialogue turns into a complete disaster. Characters won't talk to each other. They'll arbitrary decide to withold key information, just so the plot can go the way director envisioned. Baffling behavior of this kind creates numerous frustrating contrivances.
For films centered around Reshiram & Zerkrom, there's very little build up of them as legendaries. After all is said and done, they feel more like rare local pokemon, than legendaries. Their themes of Ideals & Truth, Yin & Yang, are barely touched by the films. Twice blurted out in expositional fashion, these lines feel like trailer material. Making the two virtually identical and replacing one with the other in each film creates a questionable statement. Equaling truth to idealism and implying they act the same is very confusing. Then again, these two films don't even touch the subject.
As the mysterious dragon force raises the sword castle into space (yes, this actually happens), we're left to wonder about its nature. How does it work? Where does it come from? This isn't explained. We see this force supposedly almost destroy the world through a few very brief and nonthreatening scenes. The fact that the force acts as if powered by Yveltal and Xerneas is a mere curiosity for Pokemon fans. The truth is, this force is a here for plot reasons and won't be mentioned ever again.
Lastly, there's Victini. This little creature is pretty damn cute. Throughout the films he's been handled well. Until the end, that is. Near the end he's treated to a faux death scene. I'm sick of these. Ash in the first film, Celebi in third, Darkrai in tenth, Giratina in eleventh and Zoroark in thirteenth. The death fakeout has been overused and the manipulative nature of Victini's death is pathetic.
Ultimately, I would recommend these films to people craving some more Pokemon. It doesn't survive close up scrutiny, but looks pretty good. Enough for most Pokemon fans to enjoy, in any case.
