Pokémon 3: The Movie

Pokémon 3: The Movie, originally released in Japan as , is the 3rd Pokémon anime film directed by Kunihiko Yuyama as the third feature-length Pokémon film. It was released in Japanese theaters on July 8, 2000, and the English adaptation, entitled Pokémon 3: Spell of the Unown was released into theaters on April 6, 2001. This adaptation, the final film to be distributed by Warner Bros., was produced by 4Kids Entertainment.
Like its predecessors, it is preceded by a 20-minute short film titled Pikachu and Pichu, which marks the debut of the mischievous Pichu Bros., who help Pikachu reunite with his trainer after being separated (without Ash even knowing, due to him preparing a party to celebrate the day Pikachu and he first met). This was also the first Pokémon film to premiere in an IMAX theater. The realistic crystallization and Unown created a 3D effect in the movie.
It was also the last Pokémon film released theatrically in the US, UK, Sweden and in Latin America.
It was also released on DVD in small numbers.
==Plot==
===Pikachu and Pichu===
The film comes accompanied by a short mini-movie featuring Pikachu. In this mini-movie, Pikachu and his friends are left on a skyscraper in Big City by their trainers, who go off to prepare an unknown surprise for the Pokémon. Pikachu meets the Pichu Brothers, saving the younger one from falling off an opposite building. A group of Murkrow chase Pikachu off a flagpole, and he uses a group of Hoppip to reach the other side, sending Meowth who is window-cleaning, flying into a billboard. The Pichu Bros. assist Pikachu to return to his friends but they end up going on a journey across the city to the Pichu Bros' playground. On the way, they get chased by a Houndour who they later encounter again. The angry Houndour chases the three around until he nearly knocks the playground over. Pikachu, the Pichu Bros., Houndour and their assortment of friends manage to save the playground. Pikachu realizes it is nearly six o'clock and he must return to his friends before Ash, his trainer, does. Pikachu and the Pichu Bros. use a tire to get to the building, sending Meowth flying again. The three arrive in the nick of time, the Pichu Brothers departing. Ash, Misty and Brock arrive and take the Pokémon into a room where a party has been laid out for them in celebration of the first anniversary of Ash and Pikachu's meeting.
===Spell of the Unown===
The feature film focuses on the beautiful town of Greenfield. A resident of the town, the research scientist Professor Spencer Hale, conducts research on the elusive Unown. He and his assistant, Skyler, discover a site of ruins, but Hale is sucked into the dimension of the Unown.
His disappearance leaves his young daughter Molly alone, her mother having disappeared previously. Molly finds a box of tablets containing Unown images and begins assembling the letters, which summons the Unown themselves. The Unown use their powers to make Molly's wishes come true, transforming her manor house into a crystal-like palace which spreads across the town and cuts her off from the world. Entei is created to represent Molly's father. Various people come to help sort out the Unown, including Professor Oak and Delia Ketchum (Ash's mother).
Meanwhile, Ash and his friends meet and befriend a trainer named Lisa and come into Greenfield in the process and agree to join in the rescue mission to save young Molly. However, Entei kidnaps Delia, following Molly's request for a mother as well. Through Entei's powers, Delia is hypnotized into thinking she is Molly's mother. Ash, Misty, Brock and their Pokémon head out to the mansion to save Delia, communicating with Professor Oak and Skyler thanks to a PokéGear device given to them by Lisa. Team Rocket try to investigate the mansion, only to be blasted out of the air by Entei into the depths of the mansion. Molly watches Ash and the others through a television and falls asleep, imagining herself being a Pokémon Trainer. Entei then creates a dream version of Molly as an adult and takes her to battle the three. She first fights Brock, but her dreamed-up Pokémon are stronger than his; she then has a more friendly fight against Misty in an underwater battle, but the winner is not shown.
Ash manages to locate Molly and Delia, but Molly refuses to leave with him and the mansion transforms. Entei refuses to allow Ash to leave with his mother, and fights his Pokémon. He then blasts Ash and Pikachu off a cliff, but they are saved by the arrival of Ash's Charizard. Charizard, with Ash on his back, battles Entei until he is knocked out of the sky. Entei nearly kills Charizard until Molly commands him to stop and begs that no more fighting happens, which manages to stop Entei. Ash and his friends convince Molly to leave with them, Entei revealing he was created by the Unown to be her father.
The Unown suddenly lose control of their powers and start to seal the group in the mansion. Ash, Pikachu, Charizard, Misty, Brock, Delia, Molly and Team Rocket escape down to the hall where the Unown are. Pikachu and Charizard attempt to break the forcefield protecting the Unown, but they are unsuccessful—until they are joined by Entei, combining their powers to destroy the shield with Molly's support. Entei sacrifices himself and the Unown return to their dimension, reversing all of their effects on the world and returning Professor Hale to the ruins where he originally vanished.
The group ventures outside, where Professor Oak, Skyler, Lisa and others meet them. Team Rocket hides in the mansion upon seeing all of the police outside and vow they will succeed or fail in their next scheme. In the end credits, Charizard and Lisa depart from Ash's company, and Molly is seen with her own Teddiursa and reunites with her father—and later, with her mother.
==Cast==
===Regular characters===
*Rica Matsumoto (Veronica Taylor in the English adaptation) as Satoshi (Ash Ketchum in the English adaptation), the main protagonist of the film. He is a young boy who wishes to be a Pokémon master and free his mother from the clutches of Entei.
*Ikue Ōtani as Pikachu, Ash's first Pokémon.
*Mayumi Iizuka (Rachael Lillis in the English adaptation) as Kasumi (Misty in the English adaptation), a Pokémon trainer and Ash's travelling companion.
*Yūji Ueda (Eric Stuart in the English adaption) as Takeshi (Brock in the English adaption), a Pokémon breeder and Ash's travelling companion.
*Satomi Kōrogi as Togepi, a Pokémon owned by Misty.
*Megumi Hayashibara (Rachael Lillis in the English adaptation) as Musashi (Jessie in the English adaption), a member of the Team Rocket. Along with James and Meowth, she follows Ash into the Crystal Tower.
*Shin-ichiro Miki (Eric Stuart in the English adaptation) as Kojirō (James in the English adaption), a member of Team Rocket.
*Inuko Inuyama (Maddie Blaustein in the English adaptation) as Nyarth (Meowth in the English adaption), a member of Team Rocket. Unusually for a Pokémon, he has the ability to walk upright and is capable of human speech.
*Yūji Ueda (Kayzie Rogers in the English adaptation) as Sonans (Wobbuffet in the English adaption), a Pokémon owned by Jessie.
*Shinichirō Miki as Lizardon (Charizard in the English adaptation), a Pokémon owned by Ash that returns from Charicific Valley in time to save Ash from a pinch.
*Ash's other Pokémon include:
**Mika Kanai as Chikorita
**Yūji Ueda (Kayzie Rogers in the English adaptation) as Hinoarashi (Cyndaquil in the English adaptation)
**Chinami Nishimura (Kayzie Rogers in the English adaptation) as Waninoko (Totodile in the English adaptation)
**Megumi Hayashibara (Tara Jayne in the English adaptation) as Fushigidane (Bulbasaur in the English adaptation)
**Yūji Ueda as Yorunozuku (Noctowl in the English adaptation)
*Misty's other Pokémon include:
**Shinichirō Miki as Hitodeman (Staryu in the English adaptation)
**Shinichirō Miki (Eric Stuart in the English adaption) as Nyorozo (Poliwhirl in the English adaption)
**Ikue Ōtani (Rachael Lillis in the English adaption) as Tosakinto (Goldeen in the English adaption)
*Brock's Pokémon include:
**Shinichirō Miki as Zubat
**Rikako Aikawa (Rachael Lillis in the English adaption) as Rokon (Vulpix in the English adaption)
**Unshō Ishizuka as Iwark (Onix in the English adaption)
*Unshō Ishizuka (Rodger Parsons in the English adaption) as the Narrator
===Guest characters===
*Akiko Yajima (Amy Birnbaum in the English adaption) as Mi Snowdon (Molly Hale in the English adaption), a five-year-old girl from Greenfield who organizes the kidnapping of Hanako. Her Pokémon consist of Kingdra, Mantine (voiced by Katsuyuki Konishi), Mokoko (Flaaffy in the English adaption), Himegura (Teddiursa in the English adaption) and Gomazō (Phanpy in the English adaption)
*Naoto Takenaka (Dan Green in the English adaption) as Entei, a legendary Pokémon created by the combined forces of Mi's dreams and the power of the Unown. He serves as the main antagonist but turns good at the end; the Unown are actually the true antagonists of the film.
**Takenaka and Green also voice Doctor Sully Snowdon (Doctor Spencer Hale in the English adaption), Mi's father and a student of Doctor Orchid.
*Ai Kato (Lisa Ortiz in the English adaption) as Rin (Lisa in the English adaption), a youthful bandana-wearing Pokémon trainer who battles Satoshi in Greenfield. She is also a supporting character in the film. Her Pokémon consist of Aipom (voiced by Etsuko Kozakura), Granbull, Mankey, Kirinriki (Girafarig in the English adaption), Butterfree and Nuō (Quagsire in the English adaption).
*Hirohide Yakumaru (Ted Lewis in the English adaption) as John (Schuyler in the English adaption), Doctor Sully's assistant.
*Kōichi Yamadera as David, Mi's butler.
*Kōichi Sakaguchi as the Cameraman
*Yoko Soumi as the Reporter
===Other characters===
*Unshō Ishizuka (Stuart Zagnit in the English adaption) as Doctor Orchid (Professor Oak in the English adaption), a Pokémon scientist and the teacher of Doctor Sully.
**Ishizuka also voices the Narrator (voiced by Rodger Parsons in the English adaption).
*Masami Toyoshima (Veronica Taylor in the English adaption) as Hanako (Delia Ketchum in the English adaption), Satoshi's mother and a childhood friend of Doctor Sully.
*Tomokazu Seki (Ted Lewis in the English adaption) as Kenji (Tracey Sketchit in the English adaption), Doctor Orchid's assistant.
*Ayako Shiraishi (Megan Hollingshead in the English adaption) as Nurse Joy
*Chinami Nishimura (Megan Hollingshead in the English adaption) as Junsā (Officer Jenny in the English adaption)
==Release==
===Box office===
Pokémon 3: The Movie opened in theaters in Japan on July 8, 2000. The film was released in the United States on April 6, 2001, debuting at #4 on its opening weekend earning $8,240,752 from 2,675 theaters. The film dropped to #8 on its second weekend, grossing $2,707,680. The film ended up with $17,052,128 in America, with the film creating more revenue at the foreign box-office, making $51,359,147 there. The film proved less successful in the box office compared to previous films. During its 10 week box office run, Pokémon 3: The Movie made a significant profit-margin, with a worldwide gross of $68,411,275.
===Reception===
The film received negative reviews from film critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 22% "Rotten" approval rating, a significant improvement from the two predecessors, based on the reviews of 55 critics, with the consensus being, "Critics say that the third Pokémon movie has a better plot than its two predecessors. This is not enough, however, to recommend it to those not already fans of the franchise".
==Soundtrack==
Pokémon 3: The Ultimate Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the third series and the movie. Many of the songs featured on the Totally Pokémon album, but as that was not released outside of America and Australia, this soundtrack encouraged European fans to own the music. In Australia some copies of the CD were released with a bonus disc of the musical score of Pokémon: The Movie 2000 (which was also released as a separate disc worldwide), Pokémon The Movie 2000 Original Motion Picture Score. The Japanese and English-language soundtracks contain different tracks. Shinji Miyazaki wrote the original film score, while Ralph Schuckett composed the score for the international releases.
The second track, "To Know the Unknown" was performed by the girl-group Innosense. Tracks 13 to 15 are karaoke versions. The CD also features two Pokémon videos, the Pokérap and a scene from the film, which are accessible upon insertion of the disc into a computer.
===Track listing===
#"Pokémon Johto" [Movie Version]
#"To Know the Unknown"
#"Pikachu (I Choose You)"
#"All We Wanna Do"
#"He Drives Me Crazy"
#"You & Me & Pokémon"
#"Song of Jigglypuff"
#"Pokérap GS"
#"Two Perfect Girls" by Brock from Pokémon
#"Pokémon Johto" [TV Version]
#"Biggest Part of My Life
#"Medley from Spell of the Unown"
#"Pikachu (I Choose You)" [Karaoke Version]
#"Song of Jigglypuff" [Karaoke Version]
#"You & Me & Pokémon" [Karaoke Version]
==Supplements==
====VHS====
* Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Trailer
* See Spot Run Trailer
* Scooby Doo and the Cyber Chase Trailer
* Pokemon Training Card Game Trailer
* Kids WB! Promo
* Cubix Promo
====DU Recorder Alternation====
* George of the Jungle Trailer (TKA: The Jungle Book VHS - Version 2 Only)
==References==
==External links==
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Category:2001 anime films
Category:2000 anime films
Category:Dreaming and fiction
3: The Movie
Category:Warner Bros. animated films
Category:Toho animated films
Category:2000 films
Category:2001 films
Category:Japanese-language films
Category:English-language films
Category:Films directed by Kunihiko Yuyama
Category:Films shot in Deluxe Color
Category:Japanese films
Category:4Kids Entertainment
Category:Films with vocal and instrumental credit music
Category:Films
Category:2001 animated films
Category:Films with a single song
Category:Films with opening only narration
Category:IMAX films
Category:Rated G
Category:Viz Media anime
Category:Viz Media
Category:Lionsgate
Category:Lionsgate animated films
Category:Lionsgate films