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.
