Pokemon Movie 09: Pokemon Ranger to Umi no Ouji Manaphy

This was the cutest Pokemon movie ever. Pokemon Rangers are set out to protect Manaphy, "the prince of the sea."

After it hatches, it sees May as its mother, thus making a strong and painful bond for them.

After evil comes to capture Manaphy, Ash is the hero once again. For the kids that don't know this generation, this will show how Ash has come along. For those that have seen this, couldn't hurt to watch it again!

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.

Manaphy: The Movie is the fourth and last film in the Pokemon Advance series. While the film series continued onward with annual releases under a slightly different name, this was the last we saw of May and Max. The first Advance film gave Max some focus, but both characters were generally reduced to supporting roles. Luckily for May, Pokémon Ranger and the Prince of the Sea: Manaphy decided to focus on her. And lucky indeed she is, because the fourth Advance film is the only of the four I can consider good without reservations.

While the slapstick antics of the titular ranger, Jack, did initially turn ... me off the film, they're used sparingly. Phantom and his pirate crew border on the ridiculous as well, but just like Jack, they're used in moderation and mostly in good taste. Mostly.

One of the major things that make this film stand out from most Pokemon sequels are interesting side characters. The family Ash and company come in contact with this time aren't exceeding strange or special. They feel like normal people and as normal people, they have small quirks which the film uses to flesh them out as unique and interesting - the ways they dress, talk, walk and think. The film succeeds at painting the relationships of the supporting cast as real and fine dialogue makes them interesting enough to follow. Their distinct "house" is given its own visual identity, as well. Because of this, film successfuly indulges into 40 minutes of set up and casual character building.

Handled wrongly, Manaphy herself could have ended up as an annoying baby and a catalyst for many frustrating moments. This doesn't happen. In the film, Manaphy bonds with May, and although May isn't interesting here as she is in the fourth season of the regular Pokemon show, she can take the spotlight just fine.

While the film is plot driven, a large chunk of the middle half is spent on a journey. Here the focus is on the relationship between May and Manaphy and I'm happy to say - this relationship makes the film shine. And it's accompanied by some quite sophisticated dialogue for a Pokemon film, or at the very least for a later Pokemon film. These scenes are the best that this film has to offer.

Some other standout moments are Manaphy's search for May's scarf and the exchange between Jack and Ash with May joining in later. On a less positive note, the migrant family of circus entertainers has enough money for top tier sea equipment, boats and submarines. In the film they proceed to destroy these vehicles and you can't stop and wonder - how rich do they have to be not to even mention the loss?

The last third of this film, features a fantastic sea temple and while I've had my rants regarding vague magic in Pokemon before, this one's not a thorn in my side. "A legendary did it" is not the best possible explanation, but considering how the temple was used in the film, it gets a pass.

In the last act, the film serves us a nice surprise - Ash acting heroic. There's some neat action and Ash, who usually spouts exposition while his pokemon do all the work, plunges right into the action and saves the day. While the ending could certianly do with some more May, Ash makes it worthwile.

All in all, while the whole deal with nonsensical yellow powers at the end does lower the score, the vast majority of the film is nested in the fine-to-pretty-good area. Manaphy and May were an enjoyable pair and the plot was solid, even if a bit barebones. I think that the film could've benefited from the apearance of Phione, but that's a nitpick.

This was another good Pokemon movie.

The plot was okay. It started out as a cookie-cutter "steal this Pokemon" plot but things got much more interesting in the second half with the whole underwater temple business, so it was overall fine.

There were several other positive aspects as well.

There was a lot of funny bits, such as the foreshadowing of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, and Phantom's "there are two kinds of people" running gag. The fight scenes were, as usual for the series, very well-done, and there was a nice amount of very well-done emotional and cute moments surrounding May and Manaphy.

But the best part ... about the movie was the animation and direction. The obvious CGI got annoying after a while, but when it was 2D, it was top-notch. There were so many great scenes here. The absolute highlight was the FANTASTIC scenes with them going through the ocean. The music, animation, and atmosphere mixed perfectly to create some of my favorite scenes in the series. Other highlights included May's dream sequence, and the ending, which while not up to the climaxes of other Pokemon movies was still nicely intense. Ash going Super Saiyan was pretty stupid though...

Overall, another good movie, one any fan should enjoy.

I cannot believe it. This HAS to be one of the BEST Pokémon movies I’ve EVER seen.

It truly captures the spirit of what Pokémon is all about: friendships, adventure, and the protection and care of the beings and things of nature.

This movie is extremely creative, not just with the use of its heavy world building in regards to the technology and not to mention the cool-looking temple itself, but also the fact that there’s not really much Pokémon BATTLES. Nonetheless, the Pokémon and their role in this movie fit perfectly and shows a side of the franchise that many people tend to overlook.

The storyline of ... May and Manaphy is one that many fans relate to with their journeys with the franchise, especially if they’ve come to love Pokémon as a special interest or hyperfixation, such as I have (I’m autistic, and Pokémon is one of my biggest special interests). We genuinely care about the creatures in this fictional world that we train and care for, and we want them to see that we care.

The soundtrack of this movie is one of the best soundtracks I’ve encountered in the entire franchise, and parts of it made me think of the movie Howl’s Moving Castle for some reason (in a good way, of course).

And did you know this was the first Pokémon movie to NOT have 4Kids be involved?!?! (This is a good thing btw)

But I think the ending of this movie was the most impactful to me. Not saying why because, yknow, spoilers lol

But seriously, every single element of this movie has made it no less than a masterpiece. A COMPLETE 10/10 on my part, and I would highly recommend this movie to any Pokémon fan, or really anyone who hasn’t, but wants to, get into the franchise.

Pokemon Ranger games are great games. They have different mechanisms and that's why people loved them but then there is this movie. This movie has nothing to do with pokemon rangers, why is it even in the name? Then there is Manaphy, everyone's least favourite mythical pokemon. It is just a watered-down version of Mew and Jirachi. Arceus and Shaymin are the main mythical pokemon of GEN 4 because they have lore and great personality. They did make movies on them and those movies are great. Manaphy is a bad pokemon design.

This is also the most generic pokemon movie. A generic villain, a generic ... group of supporting characters, no sense of real danger, and everything works out in the end because of Ash who had nothing to do with the main pokemon.