Pokemon Movie 03: Kesshoutou no Teiou Entei

I watched this as a child around 5-8 years old- and i remember it clearly- i have it on VHS and let me tell you-it was the bomb! it rocked my 6 year old mind. This was my favorite of all the Pokemon movies out at the time.

It Had Great sound,great artwork, a heartwarming story and as a kid it was just awesome.
They did a lot of character Development on Entei, showing his depth and he wasn't just the bad guy-he was the misunderstood villain,so much that i didn't see him as the true villian-he was the good guy to me.Entei was My ... Favorite character in the movie because the gave him so much depth,care and feeling to him.

A truly heart warming movie-Much recommended to any Pokemon Fan, Young or old. Overall: 9

Another Pokemon movie. Pokemon 3.

Even it has been a long time since I watched this one I still remember it.

Story: 7 . Many have given this movie a low rating. I am not sure why because I think has a very good story. There is some mystery and it is excting story too.

Art: 8 I think the art and sound is very good in this movie. What I can say about the art is that is a very beautiful art this time. Wonderful. Sound - as the other Pokemon movies.

The characters is this movie in Ash and co. but there is also a little ... girl which is a very good character. And Entei, the 'father' who wants to give his 'daughter' everything.

Enjoyment: I have seen movies many time and I think this was the Pokemon movie I enjoyed most. I thought it was an excting and touching movie too.

Overall: 8 because I think this is one of the better Pokemon movies out there

"Spell of the Unknown" stands as the odd one out among two dozen or so Pokemon movies. While most Pokemon movies are driven by plot and action elements, this one stands with a few that are driven by characters. Molly, an aquaintance of Ash has lost her father on one of his excavations trips related to Unown, a mysterious pokemon species. Finding herself all alone, she is given unfathomable power by the same Unown who pushed her father into oblivion. As the traumatized child reshapes the world in her image, Ash's mother is kidnapped by Entei - Molly's projection of a missing father. Thus Ash ... is forced to venture into the heart of her twisted fantasy and make her realize her folly.

Why am I talking about the setup of a Pokemon movie? Because in this movie, an intriguing premise is used to create a different experience. The most visible stand out in the movie are the twisted worlds Molly creates and manipulates throughout the movie. These locations keep the slow moving plot from getting stale. Spell of the Unknown keeps the plot really simple; the goal is to reach the heart of the twisted kingdom Molly is shaping and snap her out of madness. Throughout the movie, she'll appear before Ash, Brock and Misty, testing their strength as they and Delia slowly make the girl realize what she's doing is wrong.

We're given a very memorable fight between Charizard and Entei, a fight that ranks among the best in the series. Knowing that settling cerebral problems with a neat fight isn't viable in any self respecting work, the movie uses it merely as a catalyst for character resolution, instead of a resolution itself.

The movie isn't without its faults, though. One of the two major complaints I have is the mediocre soundtrack. While a valid critique, my the second complaint can't be helped - the middle of the movie feels slow due to underwhelming battles. These moments really show how the resources allocated for the movie got smaller since the last installment. Beyond this, I've got minor nitpicks about about the dialogue at times (it helps a bit if you watch the movie in Japanese).

Spell of Uknown is an interesting anomaly, a very subdued Pokemon movie. At its core it's a fine children's character story. While it drags on for a few scenes, it's elevated by great visual design, locations and atmosphere. The central character arc is resolved in a satisfying and not overly cheesy way. And there's a great Charizard VS Entei fight, too. What more could you want from a Pokemon adventure?

Standing out as a slower character work, I'd recommend this one to everyone interested in Pokemon.

*English is NOT my first language! Review will be edited... eventually!*

I can clearly remember, when someone older than me, and actual native english speaker - not like me - once described this movie, as a 'Silent Hill for children'. Linkara, was that you? Anyway, I can fully agree with him, because despite being about pokemon, this movie is dark. And sweet... like a salty liquorice!

What I especially love about this movie, is that the setting for the story itself is actually in this time made... well, smaller, and thus more personal, than the first two movies. The first two movies - while still quite good ... - where all about saving the world, with rather bizzare messages and morals like, "the war is wrong, even though our entire franchise kinda sorta supports it", and "the power of one may sometimes be all that's needed... even if that one is kinda sorta pokegod" and so on, but this movie took it to the whole new direction.

What if the stakes, and motives, where actually personal, rather than universal?

Like say, a little girl is in mourning over her lost family, literaly whishing herself a new one, and thus endangering all around her, consuming anything and everything that stands between her and her illusions?

Now that's... rather good idea, I'd say!

It's all and good, if the heroe saves he world, or something, that is important to everybody, but what if he has to save something, that only he actually cares, and only he can loose - his mother! This plotpoint alone would have made this movie an awesome on it's own, but this is not actually the main focus, no! It's about a little girl, and her passion to life forever in this magical personal dreamland, where everyhting is beautiful and peaceful, everything she wishes or desires will happen and become true, and no one can never just come, then go, and leave you forever.

While the first pokemon movie was all about accepting one's birth as it is, and the second was... well, saving the world, this movie is about acepting the emotional pain of isolation and loneliness, loss of the loved ones, and how to let go of something that you love and treasure the most... which is for Molly, her family. That's a real pickle, even for some of us adults to handle, but for a little girl...damn!

The music, and the art in this movie, are both just breathtakingly beautiful, and precise. The music fits perfectly for every scene, and in every picture, packing every frame with absolute emotion, that I can only adore. When you want to cry, you cry. When you want to feel the adrenaline, you will feel it! "If that is what you wish" is still one of my favourite pieces of musical soundtracks, even on this very day! The action - a.k.a the actual battles - are also finaly done right, right from the opening credits! The battles themselves aren't overly done, or even on the majority of the runningtime, but substaine both entertainment, and focus to the plot, without feeling forced. The main characters are the very same nuckleheads that we pokemaniacs know and love - gotta love that ol' Brock - and even the ever so obnoxious Team Rocket gets a fairly decent amount screentime and some laughs in, and even some of their most heroic moments are captured in. Nice!

The story itself... well, it's good and all, but it can be mayde little bit too cheesy or horned in sometimes - remember, we have to sell this movie outside of Japan, so we can't be too subtle, now can we - and the lessons a bit corny as well for my taste, but hey... it's a 90's anime series for ya, so what did you expect, really? Also, if you didn't like the desings of the little critters, after the first genertion, then you may not like all these new little monsters you see here either - Aipom is actually kinda creepy!

As a child, I didn't really love this movie, because of the story - I just liked the Entei, music, and the awesome battles... just like any stupid child would. Also, I never really liked that Casey-dude, so I was more than thrilled, that they left him to rot somewhere, after the second movie! Now, as an adult, I can see the themes, the personal stakes, threat of the situatuon, and the contradictions of the morals of grief, loss and sadness, and now, I love this movie even more! This is everyhting, that pokemon is to me, when done right, and I would recommend this to anyone, who at least knows, what the pokemon is!

If you still like pokemon, you are not too old to enjoy this movie, and you should... if for nothing else, but for nostalgia.

Story: 10
Art: 9
Sound: 9
Characters: 8
Enjoyment: 9
Overall: 9

This is far and away the best Pokemon movie.

It has some hilariously terrible lines, some of the worst lines I've ever heard, but they are so bad that they are all time classics. I'm talking about the English dub here, I can't promise the subs capture that The Room essence of so bad it's good, and who knows, maybe in the original Japanese they are actually good lines (Who am I kidding?).

It also has a plot that just gets more messed up the more you think about it. It's like the Evangelion of pokemon movies. I see a lot of people calling it heartwarming, ... and yeah, it kinda is but if you actually stop and think about it, it's really not at all.

Anyway. You should watch it, I'm not even entirely joking when I say this is a great movie. It's terrible of course, it's a pokemon movie, but it's also kinda good. Anyway, I have to give it 10/10 for sentimental reasons.

The movie starts off with a slightly ridiculous but cute short film about Pikachu's adventure with the Pichu brothers. (It's actually the lenght of a normal TV episode, about 20mins, so no wonder it felt so long!) While that one was okay, it was a bit childish, not to mention felt a bit drawn out.

The actual movie itself was better than the second Pokémon movie. The plot was calmer and more detailed, the art was beautiful, and I liked it quite a lot.

Sometimes the events did get a bit repetitive, and when the plot had a few crucial turns near the end, I wasn't sure ... how exactly certain things happened: a Pokémon called Unown is able to create a world from a little girl's imagination, and whatever she wants to happen, they make happen. From that imagination is also spurred Entei, a legendary Pokémon, who represents to the little girl her missing father. And when the little girl decides she wants everything to go back to normal, the Entei suddenly acts as if it is completely separate from the Unown...

Either way, the story was quite good. It just sucks that certain things that could have been explained in the movie were shown only in the ending titles.

Also, there were once again characters in this film that didn't really contribute to the plot itself, but hung around for the action.

I watched this when I was a child on video and back then I liked it but I didn't think it was that great. I think this was mainly because I didn't fully understand the storyline.

Now, I think that this movie is amazing! The story is amazing and it was very mysterious. I was literally glued to the screen watching this.

I have been watching the entire Pokemon Anime in order and this movie slits into season 3 of the anime which is where I am up to, it is a perfect accompaniment ot the anime.

I would highly recommend this movie, the music is also ... very good. I loved the rendition of the season 3 theme tune!

It's time to look at the Pokemon franchise yet again. From back before they traded a good portion of their Pokemon for Galar's mostly shit ones. Yes, I'm still a bit salty about the Dexit fiasco. In any case, I've talked about the first two Pokemon films already. And it's time to look at the third. 

Story:

We open with a young girl named Mii. Her father is a researcher studying Unown. He's at the ruins when he vanishes. Mii receives a box with Unown tiles which she uses to accidentally summon the Unown to her home. They quickly go to work granting her wishes which results ... in them sealing her off, crystallising the area around her and giving her an illusory Entei. Satoshi, his companions, his mum and Professor Ookido all arrive on the scene. Illusory Entei captures Satoshi's mum to take on the role of Mii's mother. While Entei plays the role of Mii's Papa... At least Entei can't have eggs so Satoshi doesn't have to worry about any half siblings. Putting that detail aside, Satoshi and his friends have to break into the crystalline area to save his mum. 

There are a couple huge problems with this film. The first is that it makes this huge deal about being Entei-focused, but we don't even get a real Entei. We get the illusion of Entei created by Unown. Which eventually turns against the Unown even though they created it and are, theoretically, sustaining it. Why don't they just blink it out of existence the moment it goes against them?

Another big issue is that the antagonists are Unown. Yes, it's expected that the Pokemon anime doesn't follow the game mechanics. But it still doesn't work when you have a Pokemon that everyone recognises as incredibly weak in the role of the big bad. It would be like having a Caterpie, Weedle or Magikarp in that role. Unown literally learns one relatively weak move and that's it. 

It doesn't help that the plot is basically stolen from Star Trek Next Generation's The Bonding. Wherein an alien life form decides to take the role of the mother of a child who lost his mum during an away mission. Except that episode had much stronger execution and the main characters appealed to the aliens offering the illusion rather than to the child taking comfort in the illusion. 

Aside from that, the plot is... tolerable. It's very sanitised, basic and not all that interesting. It's all about going out and making connections because sitting in an enclosed room with illusory Entei just isn't the same as having real friends. 

Characters:

The usual cast is in play. Satoshi, Takeshi, Kasumi and Team Rocket all make their appearances and have their usual, bland personalities. Mii is just a lonely kid. The Unown have no apparent motive behind their actions. They take her father because.... they needed him to get a pokemon to baton pass them some nasty plots and agilities to make them viable. They show up at her house because.... Code of Hero is the best Transformers episode. 

Art:

The artwork is pretty well done. The Pokemon look good. The under-stated CG effects used with the Unown give them an otherworldly feel without making them look out of place. The action sequences look pretty nice. About the worst you can say is that the crystalline backgrounds are a bit boring. 

Sound:
You can't really fault the acting in the Pokemon franchise. Iizuka Mayumi, Matsumoto Rica, Ueda Yjui, Hayashibara Megumi, Miki Shinichiro, they're all very talented professionals. Even if this won't be listed as one of their best performances, it's certainly one where they're all performing well. The music is pretty nicely done too. 

Ho-yay:

There isn't any. The closest thing we get to romance is Satoshi's mum playing house with Illusory Entei. 

Areas of Improvement:

If you're going to make a group of Unown the antagonists, give them some personality and motivation.
If you're going to focus your advertising on Entei, make it a real one instead of Illusory. 
If you're going to lift your plot from Next Generation, at least do it right. Put in some stuff about dealing with loss and have Mii have to move on like Jeremy had to. 

Final Thoughts:

I'll be honest, this is the worst Pokemon film so far. The first one was okay. The second was mediocre but basically passable. This one is a bit shit. Not horrendously so, but a bit. With antagonists that any fan of the games is going to have trouble taking seriously as a threat, the big draw character (Entei) being an illusion and a plot that was done in a vastly superior fashion by Star Trek,  I'm giving it a 3/10. 

the third pokemon movie, spell of the unknown~ just wow. i must have watched this sometime in the past as a child because i feel like i've seen it before but it was so long ago i couldn't remember what happened. here i am again to review yet another pokemon movie. the movie had this sort of lonely sad aura about it for most of the time. mostly because of one of the main characters molly and what she had to deal with throughout and before the movie. so far through all the movies i've watched, the sense of friendship, determination, and believing in what ... you love was even stronger in this movie. the use of entei, the legendary fire beast pokemon, made it all the more epic and powerful. the pokemon battles are hot and so are the emotions. overall, this movie had me on the edge of my seat and eager to see what would come next. this is thus far, one of my favorites in the pokemon movie series. the art in this case was just as classic and beautiful as the previous movies and looked great in my eyes. the only thing i found a little odd was the unknown animation. it seemed like they were a little too 3d to fit the rest of the movie. i didn't mind too much and that was only at a few small points in the movie. sound effects were awesome. the music was great. it was intense and fit perfectly to the scenes and mood of the point it played. all the voice actors are present from the original english dub, making it nostalgic to the previous movies and series. i really liked the choice of entei's voice of dan green, he just seemed to fit the part and made entei sound epic. all the characters therefore are powerful and tie greatly into the pokemon series. the use of a legendary pokemon in this case was amazing. it was great to see another classic legendary pokemon play a major role in a movie. overall, i really enjoyed this movie for it's epic points and fire hot pokemon battles. so far, this is one of the best pokemon movies in the series and i would suggest it to pokemon fans :D

Watched years ago when i was like 8 or something, now with 25 i rewached just because i was wanting to watch something related with pokemon and this movie was one of the nuch that camse to my mind.

Now pokemon its an series that doesnt stand out by the complexity of his argument or their characters, almost everyone knows it or at least saw some caps of the series or one of the more than 20 movies that there is to the date, i gonna review the move based in the genere and the audience that its aimed the overall franchise of pokemon and ... not put it at the lv of others series that doesnt have anyhting to do not only for the genere but the general goal of it.


The plot of the movie its pretty simple and sure it might not be the most epic in comparasion with mewtwo or lugia but i think it was one of the good litters of installments that had before it started to actually burn out the same formula over and over again, even more when this one had an approaching kinda refreshing in how they wanted to take the story rather more simple without too many flashing lights and fancy things (if you know what im mean). I liked the fact that in this case the characters has a relationship with our protagonist although was really shame that didnt delve more than an mere mention here and there, the duration wasnt really an problem but i think was wasted in a way focusing in the cclasics pacing that we are used to in this movies it could be nice delving more in the unown, the story of snowdown mii and her mother (that only appears in the last couple minutes without any kind of explanation), or a little glimpse in the relation between ash and mii rather than the two only photos we can see, getting a view a little bigger of Greenfield and their surroundings.

I think that many of the movies of pokemon even thourgh are pretty simple and have a clear message i find it frequently (sadly) that somethimes presents ideas interestings but just touch it really superficially and make me furious i mean not because most of your audience are children has to have such formulatic and served in silver plate per say the story and characters, even then i can percive those little touches from time to time adding a litlte more of spice and interest although never are really carried until the end and end up like just mere wasted potentials, movies like the one of celebi (time travels) ,deoxys (the pokemon itselft as well as the city where happen everything has so much interest to delv into) or lucario (with the war between kingdom that was bassicly wasted ) and many others more.


One thing that i find beautiful in this movie are the backgrounds and i mean are mesmerizing, like many anime of begginings of 2000 the animation in general looked so much better (at least in my opinion) this just make me fall in love with eveything about it, was clean ,crisp and with so vivids colors.


RESUME

As i mentioned above this movie is of the few that were pretty nice in the overall scheme of what is pokemon, it has his problems (like every single pokemon movie) but still i think i could appreciate many things of it. If you like pokemon or at least have some interest to watch something related i could reccomend it , just dont expect anything crazy about the story or characters, i like to delv in the little details that are portrayed in the movies(not only of pokemon but others anime too) and pay attention to the settings and little ideas that are propose (but never are really exploited hehe).
I give it an 8 based in the other movies that i could see of pokemon this one at least deserve an try to watch once and see if you like it.

"Haven't seen so many strange letters since the last time I placed a personal ad"

You're right there James. Being a Pokemon fan as I kid I enjoyed watching this movie....

It is a family film to be enjoyed by adults and children alike and one-liners like the one quoted above will keep the adults amused while the kids enjoy it for the hell of it. There are times when the 'fourth wall' is broken too that made me want to jump up and high-five someone.

But if you are the grumpy kind of person that wants this movie picked apart......then fine....here it is......I must say a couple ... of things from an adult point of view too.

Although this movie plays a bit deeper into it's characters than the first two movies, unlike it's predecessors, the third instalment just seems like an extended episode of the TV series......which.....if the first two films were like this too....would've been expected and acceptable. The only time when it really feels like a movie is during the prologue and the title sequence.....but once that first Pokemon battle starts over the opening credits.....you know you've really seen all this before.

I also have a bit of a concern with the campaigning of this movie also.....the movie's subtitle contains the word 'Unown', so you assume that the whole thing is going to be focused on the Unown but, somehow, as the film goes on, you find yourself tricked into accepting Entei as the main villain, even though deep down you know that Entei isn't....then finally...at the end....you awake from the trance.

So there....I managed the impossible.... I picked apart a Pokemon movie down to the bone. Thank you MyAnimeList for making me rip apart my childhood. It's done.

If you're like me and had a good childhood because of this franchise then you will only read the first two paragraphs......

........if you regret your childhood and everything about it ever since Santa didn't get you that present that you asked for for Christmas.......take advice from the rest.

I remember when I was a kid that I love love LOVED this movie. I used to watch the DVD over and over again when I was younger.

So, I decided to rewatch it and... it wasn't as good as I remember.

Don't get me wrong, it was still a solid movie and made me remember that excitement from a kid. It's corny and some of the voice acting is kind of iffy, mainly with Spencer Hale. However, most of the VAs did a great job, so they should get full credit.

Most of all, I really enjoyed the background music, especially the opening Johto song. It might ... also be my own preference for crystalline art, I loved the design of the crystallised mansion.

Not QUITE as good as the first movie, but pretty darn close.

The storyline was very interesting. Not as good as the epic story of Movie 2000, or the deep one of the first, but still a strong one, and the conflict was pretty dark, thanks to it being much more personal, and the lack of a clear villain, the conflict instead centered around an innocent young girl who lost her parents, if anything made it more interesting.

The comic relief was very good once again, with some nice jokes, and there was quite a few very cute/sweet family moments. But once again, above all ... was the action, animation, and direction. The animation was super lovely, pretty much every scene had beautiful animation, and the direction was top-notch. All the fight scenes were great, and the climactic scenes were absolutely jaw-dropping.

As a whole, another great Pokemon movie, one i'd recommend to any fan.

Please keep in my mind that I have 0 nostalgia for this flick. I never watched it as a kid; Clips I found on Youtube, while I was still under 12 (I'm now 18), didn't interest me; Etc.

So, take it as you will when I say that this is EASILY the best movie that Pokémon has to offer.

The art and animation are both great (nothing groundbreaking or anything but still remarkable in their own right); The sound design does its job well enough; The soundtrack is surprisingly captivating, and the way it's used during scenes really helps elevate the emotions within them;

BUT

The place where the ... movie truly shines... Is in its writing. Not only does it bring us a pretty interesting look at how someone uses fantasy as a means of escapism, as it also brings us two great characters along with it. Said characters being the intimidating Legendary Dog, Entei (I mean, it kind of is him, I guess), and the poor lonely thing in a dire need of a hug, Molly (Mii, if you're japanese).

To summarize, the 5 year old Molly Hale loses her dad when he goes on a work trip to study the mythical Pokemon "Unown" (leaving her alone, with neither a mom or a dad to care for her. Well, she still has buttlers in her mansion, but you know what I mean). When she finally receives the news of her dads disappearence, along with it come some strange items product of his research that can be used to summon the aforementioned "Unown", which Molly ends up doing, accidentaly bringing forth a rather bizarre ocurrence. Now, her house, along with its surrounding areas, has been turned into crystal, and whatever she wishes for, inside this "fantasy land", ends up coming true, as long as it doesn't exceed Unown's capabilities. She then proceeds to recall how she once compared her dad to the Legendary Dog Pokémon, Entei, leading a fake version of one to appear right in front of her and become her "papa", as she calls him.
This all goes unbeknownst to Ash and his friends who were already on their way to that area, and are absolutely dumbfounded at what they see.
Also, for reasons unecessary to be stated in this review, Ash's mom ends up there as well, and when Molly begins longing to complete her family and get herself a "mama", Entei kidnaps her, so she can play the part.

Thanks to all this we now have ourselves:
A. A pretty interesting villain with an arquetype we're not used to seeing.
B. A nice dealve into the concepts of "escapism" and how one deals with grief.
C. A senseful reason for Ash to jump into action. (FINALLY!)

What about the movies shortcomings?- You might be asking- Does it have any?

Well... Sadly, yes. Its pacing and structure. The movie is at its best when it's focusing on Entei and Molly and everytime the movie switches between them and the main cast, everything starts to drag. This problem stops around the 40 minute mark when the confrontations truly begin, but before we get there, there's already been a lot of "meh-iness" coming from Ash and his team that we've had to deal with.

There are also some "twists"—and I use that term lightly—that almost ruin the struggles resolution a bit. But it's nothing too bad and it isn't as if they weren't hinted at during the movie.

That's why, my final rating for this movie... Is a 7 out of 10. The pacing almost brings it down to a six but, thankfully, everything else is just too good.

If you're a Pokémon fan, this is a must watch.
If you're a fan of Satoshi Kon's works and miss seeing similar concepts being portrayed, this has my recomendation.
Even if you don't fit into any of those categories, I'd still recommend you to go and give it a watch. It's only an hour and 13 minutes long and, who knows, you might end up enjoying it.

Spell of the Unown, featuring a new legendary and mysterious Pokemon, amply lives up to the previous two movies of the series.

Even though the movie still suffers from the same staging issues, such as poorly-textured CGI and backgrounds standing out of the 2D elements and creating awkward camera work in some shots, the movie amply makes up for it with it's great characters/pokemon acting and it's attention to detail.

While the other Pokemon movies mainly revolved around legendary pokemon, this one focuses on the new young girl, Mii, and most specifically her psyche, in a great way. All the backgrounds/pokemon appearing are the results of her ... manifesting her thoughts and dreams, giving them solid form, which created interesting settings and lighting effects throughout the movie. Furthermore, the movie did a great job at handling the movement of physical elements and fluids, such as the fire or water, with great timing and exaggeration making a visually stunning impact.

Even though some elements were left shrouded in darkness, such as the origin of the Unown or the true nature of Entei (maybe it was her real father all along?), this third movie showed great creativity and took full advantage of elements of the Pokemon universe to develop a simple yet interesting storyline. Great movie !

I apologize for the short blurt nature of this review. This film is part of a Pokemon film rewatch series I am doing with some friends.

We decided to thrown this film into our movie night because "hey lets get that really awful 3rd film in now so we say we watched it". This film is...hard to call a film. Its visual quality is on-par with a tv episode, the soundtrack/score for the film is quite simply awful, and the plot is extremely boring. The Unknown Pokemon are inherently interesting but they are used in such a way that trivializes their uniqueness.

Overall this is ... a hard pass in my opinion. The Pokemon films worth watching, to this day, in my opinion, are the first film, maybe the second, all of the "Advanced" generation films (the ones with May essentially) MINUS Jirachi the Wish Maker, and The Power of Us. Literally everything else is either very borderline average or just flat out awful. Pokemon The Movie 3 belongs with the latter.

Enjoyment: 1.5/10

Overall: 1.5/10

I am always going to have a soft spot for the third generation of Pokemon, especially the anime from around that time. Pokemon Heroes, Jirachi Wish Maker, and Destiny Deoxys are some of my favorite childhood movies, possibly the movies I rewatched the most. But looking back on them now as an adult, they're not anything special. I can enjoy them now only because I enjoyed them as a kid.

Spell of the Unown is a much different story. I did watch this as a kid too, several times, but not quite as much as those others. Yet as I grew older, I'd remember it as ... the greatest movie. Now that I finally took the time to rewatch it, it's very easy to see why. The movie is genuinely fantastic, and manages to tell a gripping story that is full of the imaginative wonder of the Pokemon universe with a stunningly mature and thought-provoking plot, with one of the most unique and realistic conflicts in cinema, let alone those meant for kids.

Therein lies the single greatest achievement in this movie: how it creates a believable and threatening character-vs-character style of conflict without a villain. Molly, Entei, and the Unown are collectively the movie's antagonists, but I don't think it's accurate to call any of them villainous, spiteful, or malicious in any way. Entei was created to be a father towards Molly, and naturally sees Ash and the protagonists as a genuine threat to her, attacking them solely to defend his "daughter". Even when the heroes make it into the heart of the castle and confront Molly, Entei gives them multiple chances to turn back and leave them alone before attacking, giving the impression that he's a not a single-minded beast, but a rather a reasonable guardian. Even though he kidnapped Ash's mom, this was again just because it meant a lot to Molly, and as a corporeal illusion created by the Unown's power, it's not as if he was knowledgeable enough to realize how this was a wrongdoing. As for the Unown, even though it's their powers that cause all the disaster and calamity, it's heavily implied that they don't have full sentience and control over their own spell, and I personally see this as just a sequence of unfortunate happenstance. The Unown just so happened to be uncovered from a sort of statis, only to immediately resonate with the unstable emotions of a young child with a tragic upbringing.

That child being Molly... Molly is just a lonely, confused, and emotionally vulnerable little girl, and all she wants is a loving father and mother figure in her life. This wish directly yet unwittingly sets off the eponymous spell of the Unown, creating a veritable safe haven for her at the direct cost of the entire surroundings, but given the tragedies in her young life it's difficult to say that she doesn't deserve this. Even when she initially sees the disastrous effects of the Unown's powers firsthand, she still clings to her fantasy, wishing for it to continue in spite of it all. Yet this doesn't come off as malice or hostility, but rather as a self-defense mechanism. Being so young that she can't fully comprehend the situation, she crawls further back into her shell and the presumed warmth and safety that Unown and Entei give to her. And it's incredibly difficult not to feel genuinely sorry and empathetic towards her - and I say this as someone who's barely emotional at all. The writing in this movie isn't deep, but Molly's character and the story surrounding her proves that it doesn't need to be deep or complex to leave a powerful impression on the viewer.

Also, I can't praise this movie without mentioning Team Rocket. As could be expected of the trio, they absolutely steal every scene they're in, with some of the most striking quotes from the movie. Meowth sarcastically predicting "About three seconds if we jump" down to the bottom of a crystal pit gave me a genuine chuckle. James seeing the Unown and exclaiming "I haven't seen this many strange letters since I the last time I placed a personal ad" makes me question how that cleared the age rating but I'm glad it did. And how they all save Ash from falling out of the fortress window, by Meowth justifying, "If anything ever happened to you, we'd be out of show business!"

All of this is amazing, and is why I can praise this movie in retrospect, but there are a few issues that drag the movie down, and possibly provide the final clues as to why kid-me ranked it below the third-generation movies. Firstly, for a "Pokemon" movie, the actual Pokemon battles are pretty underwhelming. Ash battles a random trainer at the start during the opening credits, but the fight choreography is nothing special. Brock and Misty get a chance to battle Molly while they infiltrate her crystal castle, but she curb stomps both of them, on the basis that the Unown's illusory Pokemon are more powerful than real ones would be. The movie is short, and these fights could have been prolonged - this may slightly dampen the mature storytelling aspects, but it would have been more fun and memorable to kids. Another minor issue is how most of the movie takes place inside the crystalline fortress created by the Unown's spells. At first, it's gorgeous, equally beautiful and unsettling, which perfectly matches the tone and story. But as the movie reaches its end and everything is still made up of the blue-ish hued crystal, it blends in on itself and loses all of its impact. Not to mention how the end of the movie is horribly anticlimactic regardless. I won't spoil it, but it's no surprise that I could never remember the ending.

It's easy to see why I didn't rewatch this movie more often as a kid. It's dark, tense, and surprisingly mature, not quite as fun or as colorful as the rest of the anime I revere so much. But it's because of all of those reasons that I can look back on it as an adult and confidently proclaim it as the greatest Pokemon movie of its time. Despite its minor issues, Spell of the Unown has aged phenomenally compared to its counterparts, and remains a wonderful memory to both kid-me and adult-me.

This is going to sound harsh but it's just on my personal enjoyment, I'm not trying to talk on the objective quality of the movie or challange someone's opinion. Disclaimer has been placed.

Spell of the Unknown is a borderline emotionally-manipulative movie for simple minded buffoons. It's just trying to hit simple uwu emotional beats but if you're a little cynical like me, you'll see how mind-numbingly basic & uncreative the story is. No, SotU, pulling heart strings is not enough to have merit as a movie, you gotta try a little harder than that.

The "villain" girl is self-righteous, unreasonable & just aggression inducing ... to watch. Reminds me of my past younger child sibling, who was too dumb(to put it plainly) to ascess a situation correctly & then threw a tantrum to add insult to injury. I get it, they're just kids but why make a movie out of that?