Pokémon: Spell of the Unown (2001)

User Review

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  TheMovieDiorama

  7 / 10

  Pokémon 3 The Movie is my personal favourite from the original trilogy. It still lacks the cinematic style from the first, however it is a definite improvement from its predecessor. As always, this is slightly biased as I am a massive fan of the franchise. A young girl who's father mysteriously disappears is left alone and sad. Through her sorrow, the mysterious Unown feed off of this and grant her the ability to create a dream reality where she can find happiness, but at a cost of destroying the world. Instantaneously you are thinking "well that just sounds like the fable 'The Snow Queen'", to which you are right. Substitute a snow castle for a crystal palace, add in Pokémon and surreal dream manipulation and you are in for an imaginative adventure. The reason why I like this instalment the most is because it has a story that feels complete. It's creativity and rapid runtime (way too short in my opinion) makes for an emotional plot that revolves around the fear of loneliness. In order to keep this consistent with the franchise, we have energetic Pokémon battles embedded within the narrative, a corny pop song for the introductory credits (I just despise them...) and a child-friendly message about friends and family. Plenty of battles in this entry, the most in the trilogy, and all of them feel electrifying as the monsters fight to the sound of pounding electronic pop music. The final showdown between Charizard and Entei was well animated and chaotic. The sweetness and innocence that exhumes from Molly was a nice addition, and the dream worlds she creates looked creative. The animation of the Unown to make them look 3D was terrible, I hate it when animation includes 3D textures on a 2D background. The plot structure does start to become formulaic, and after this entry the future of the series continues the trend of utilising a legendary Pokémon as the pivotal plot point of a story. Overall, this third instalment rounds off the original trilogy in an creative and emotional way.

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