Pokémon The Movie: Volcanion And The Mechanical Marvel (2016) - Movie Review

Up to this point, the main reasoning behind the films I’ve watched has fallen under the usual semi-obligation to the art of cinema. This is hopefully going to be the only exception to that rule, as this time the only real reason I’m bothering to look at this is for popularity. At the time of writing this, my review for the last Pokémon movie is not only the only review of mine to reach over 1000 views, it’s also easily my most read review. Combine that with the current popularity of Pokémon Go (at least, I’m assuming that it’s still popular) and the fact that my readership averages out around 30 views per review, and you have the closest I’ll ever get to a clickbait article. While I cleanse my soul for the thought, let’s get into the film already.

Pokémon The Movie: Hoopa And The Clash Of Ages (2015) - Movie Review

With how sequelised Hollywood apparently is nowadays, it’s understandable to get a sense of déjà vu from any given film. Or, to be accurate, to worry about getting that sense of déjà vu from any given film. If you’ve seen one horrible piece of fossilised pelican faeces masquerading as a love story, you’ve seen them all. However, every once in a while, a film comes along that offers a better-than-average chance of proving my assumptions right. And, of course, this is yet another example where I happily accept the idea of being wrong: The latest Pokémon movie. Yep, we’re shooting for No. 18 this time around, as if this franchise isn’t already reaching Disney levels of money-grubbing prevalence. Really, the best I can hope for is that this isn’t quite as crap as last year’s effort.

Pokémon The Movie: Diancie And The Cocoon Of Destruction (2014) - Movie Review

Pokémon: A franchise so big that it may one day topple Japan’s own government; a TV show that is one of the few anime series that everyone knows about, guaranteed; and a game series that has a special place in the hearts of children and man-children alike. Yes, Pokémon is all of these things and I am a fan of the games myself. I specify ‘games’ because the TV show isn’t really my thing. Honestly, out of all the different anime titles that we grew up on (Yu-Gi-Oh!, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, etc.), as a show Pokémon would have to be the weakest. Don’t get me wrong: The games are still awesome, even though with the advent of ‘Mega Evolutions’, my mother’s outcries that Pokémon and Digimon are exactly the same is starting to make too much sense, and while I haven’t played any games past Emerald (I kind of fell out with portable gaming somewhere down the track), I do still find myself playing homebrews on my computer (Zeta/Omicron is pretty damn good). So, with the 17^th instalment of the Pokémon movie series coming out at my local cinema, I decided to head out with a couple of friends and check it out.