Pokemon Movie 21 "The Power of Us" had no right being as great as it turned out to be. My impressions of the 20th film “I Choose You” almost made me write off Pokemon for good. Its attempt at trying to capitalize on the first generation while also fitting in another B plot into one film (as well at retconing a lot of what happened in the first TV series) was atrocious to say the least.
However for the case of “The Power of Us”, I am utterly shocked how much I enjoyed this film. It still is Pokemon for babies (which I fear is all we are going to get seeing how Pokemon Go and Pokemon: Let's Go turned out) but this film had muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch more creative juices flowing.
“The Power of Us” starts out with Ash embarking on a new journey. This time, he finds himself in Fula City; a city that flourishes due to the wind granted by Lugia. Each year the town holds a festival to honor Lugia's commitment to providing the city with wind. Ash eventually runs into many other characters such as my new favorite Pokemon bae Risa, the convulsive liar Callahan, the old shrew Harriet, and a whole slew of other characters. This is all a good thing...annnnd a bad thing.
This huge influx of characters means you need to give them a reason to exist. This film does tackle this providing B-plots for all of them. What this ends up creating though is the issue that...80% of the film is just all these B-plots going on. There is an overarching plot line that drives the film but you are not made fully aware of it until at least half way through the film. Also there is a total lack of a antagonist in this film. So essentially if you do not buy into the character development going on, the film will be a horrid experience for you.
Now I really cannot talk about any of the characters in depth because what goes on with them is like the entire reason the film exists. So lets talk about other things such as the gorgeousssssssss character designs by artist Shizue Kaneko. They are simply phenomenal. Each character in this film looks perfect. The right amount of cuteness, the perfect outfit, everything. This aspect is nailed so fucking hard that I'd venture to say that these are the best character designs in Pokemon to date (and that's saying something comparing it to X&Y as well as Sun & Moon).
The world design is also pretty great. The town looks super interesting. The pier area where all the festival stuff occurs is also really cool design wise. I will say that the CG flying scenes where Pokemon are going through the city looks pretty generic. Like, in background shots the city looks great but as soon as those super camera panning CG shots happen, things turn pretty generic.
The camera movement and directing in general though are really spot on in this film. There is this scene where one of the character is about to get attacked by another group of people. However, it is stopped at the very last second by Pikachu using Iron Tail. As this person looks up, you see a 3rd person view of a slow motion Pikachu repealing the attack with its tail. However, it's how the shot is framed, lit, and paced that make it such a stand out moment. And this isn't the only shot you can take under a microscope and enjoy; the film is filled with them.
The sound design (especially of a particular Pokemon) is really well done. Everything in this film feels like it has weight because of this aspect. Though this isn't really anything new since most Pokemon related stuff has great sound design.
Music was...there. I didn't notice any standout pieces but it fit the mood well enough.
The English voice acting was...pretty ok. I did think that Risa and Callahan were really well acted. The marriage of their visual performance and the voice actors was really spot on. And honestly all the comedy bits in this film was pulled off really well because of this. The old hag character Harriet had a plethora amount of funny moments because of this.
(I recently re-watched this in Japanese; way better in my opinion. Really well acted cast.)
So when looking back at the film as a whole...I am a little conflicted. The first 70% of the film is essentially like a TV episode where you meet characters that go through arcs. Then all of the sudden the film realizes it needs to get the real plot moving so there are exposition scenes out the wazzu, deus ex machina moments, and plot holes that never get filled. From a pacing standpoint, the film is actually quite horrid. However, I did end up enjoying all these B-plots so for me, I really ended up enjoying the film as a whole. If this is what I can assume the future films of this timeline will employ, then count me in. Like I said in the beginning, the film is still tailored for the younger generation; however it was still impactful.
Enjoyment: 8/10
Overall: 7.3/10
Thanks for reading my review! If you liked my writing style, would like to see some other reviews, or just want to talk, please stop by my page!
Sincerely,
Awesome Drummer
