Destiny Deoxys flaunts an interesting futuristic city, as expected for a film set in the Battle Frontier. The city is filled to brim with CGI elements and I'm happy to say that they don't seem out of place. Rather, they enhance the setting. The film is heavy focused on plot, thus it can't cash in on the atmosphere completely. Nice to the eyes, art style and animation remain the highlights of the film. There are a few unfortunate moments in which Rayquaza isn't to scale, though. It distracts from the action when a superstar looks two to three times smaller than he should be.
Plotwise, the film is a mixed bag. On the one hand, the film is driven by the Deoxys hunting squad. But on the other, it's really about the character of Tory. While the two are combined in a satisfactory manner, neither of the two plots gets resolved in a completely satisfying way.
On the upside, the character development of Tory was natural and believable. The film establishes his character twice. First time in the opening sequence and the second time after he meets Ash. The film uses visual language of Tory's white hair, eyes and clothes to signal viewers his personality - namely, he's a socialy inept introvert. The problem with the opening sequence is that his personality and design are based on what he becomes after the opening sequence due to its consequences. Honestly, the kid ruins the opening sequence by looking badly out of place. It's not a good first impression.
Even though Tory's character development was done well, the film takes too much time to establish him and then wastes time thematically rethreading his conflict again and again in the most inapropraite situations. There are multiple scenes forcing the plot to a halt so characters can talk about the dangers of the situation just to force Tory in a room with Pokemon he fears to create more drama. Yet his character development happens in a few loosely related subtle scenes. As a result the movie often undermines the feeling of urgency and danger it tries hard to establish for little gain.
Tory is not a very complex character and chemistry between the show's cast and film-only cast isn't very good. This often leads to boredom until the plot picks up. Some of the scenes are saved by fun Pokemon interactions. Munchlax is notable for having his own miniplot that is well interwoven into the film.
Basic structure of the plot is fine and Deoxys is given lots of menacing things to do. The problem lies in the fact that the things Deoxys does are cool, but too removed from the film's focus. Often time you'll get a feeling that the scenes are happening out of time and space, since Deoxys is doing nothing and appears only after a character scene is wrapped up.
Rayquaza and Deoxys have a servicable clash near the end of the film and while Rayquaza was misused during most of the film, he ends up being a fine addition to the cast at the end. We're also treated to one of the best action scenes involving humans in a Pokemon film - Ash practicing parkour over the city's haywire defence systems. My only complaint is that it took less than 3 minutes in total. Still, brevity is a virtue. Better leave us wanting more than ruining it.
So, what's the verdict? A neat premise, great art, some interesting character moments and a memorable (albeit short) action scene. Film drags on, misses plot oportunities and is often unengaging and boring. It narrowly avoids falling flat and can be worth a watch if you like Pokemon films.
