Pokémon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior

Note: This review is based off of seeing the movie on TV, when it was shown on Cartoon Network. As such, I can't comment on DVD features, only the movie itself.

The latest Pokemon movie continues a trend of steady improvement that the Pokemon movies have been showing for the past four or five. This movie, the eleventh, chronicles Ash, Dawn, and Brock's adventures with the legendary Pokemon Shaymin.

The story covers the existence of a Reverse World where the legendary Pokemon Giratina lives, and its connections to the real world. The villain seeks to exploit Giratina and those connections, theoretically for noble purposes; realistically out of sheer madness. The heroes and Shaymin get caught up in the mayhem. The story is not on its surface incredibly complicated, which is a plus considering the intended audience, but there are also some wider themes present if one is looking for them.

Visually, it's mostly standard anime fare; however, there are plenty of scenes that are quite impressive, especially the attacks of the Pokemon, the portals to and from the Reverse World, and one of the villain's weapons later on in the movie.

However, the movie started to feel like the Shaymin Channel after a while. If anyone wants to know what moves Shaymin can use and the details and limitations of Shaymin's Sky Form, all you have to do is watch the movie. I found it to be somewhat irritating after a while, simply because I would have preferred that they spend the time on the story or its characters rather than put so much of a focus on Shaymin, although that's merely a personal preference.

In summary, it's a fine movie, and certainly worth watching. It's not perfect, what with the over-focus on Shaymin. But it's easily deserving of four stars, and I think it to be an interesting movie for anyone, fans of Pokemon or not.

I bought this dvd for my son who is 7 and who loves Pokemon. He's seen several other Pokemon dvd's (#'s 1-3 and 10). This is the eleventh in the series and he likes it the most - much more than the others. I've watched it with him and, from what I know of Pokemon, it follows an interesting storyline of Ash and his friends who are swept into the "reverse world" where Giratina lives. There is a new Pokemon introduced in this movie - Shaymin. She joins Ash's group or helps propel them into this latest adventure. There are a lot of other Pokemon who make appearances including Regigigas. There is some conflict and fighting that goes on but nothing too stunning or graphic. There are some themes involved such as teamwork, environmentalism, friendship, compassion, and challenging powerful misdirected characters. In one part Giratina is captured and is hurt, which generally isn't a good scene for youngsters, but with his friends help they help him escape and heal. Overall, I think it is a fairly benign movie with good messages. Maybe most important is that if you're a Pokemon fan then this is one to watch.

I'm a 41 year old anime fan and I loved this movie. I have watched it 3 times with my 12 year old son already and we both really loved it. The animation and graphics are awesome. I would recommend this movie for everyone whether you're an anime fan or pokemon fan.