Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions – Review

Pokemon Black & Whitewas recently released and sold more copies than any other game released in Japan, including New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Final Fantasy XIII. So obviously, the Pokemon craze is still alive and well. The newest offering is the 13th movie in the franchise, Zoroark: Master Of Illusions. Who is Zoroark exactly? Well, Zoroark can transform into the legendary beasts. Meanwhile, Ash, Brock, and Dawn arrive in Crown City to attend the annual Pokémon Backer World Cup when they encounter the Pokémon Zorua who is looking for its mom. They allow Zorua to travel with them until the town begins to be attacked by the legendary Pokémon Raikou, Entei, and Suicune, revealed to be disguises assumed by Zorua’s mom, Zoroark.

The plot could be convoluted; the characters could be completely unnatural; the Pokemon may feel out of place; the entire rythym could be nonexistant. There’s a number of reasons for not liking a particular movie. This is definitely one of those “here comes the next-generation!” movies more so than Generation defining movies, like the last three were. We are in that transitionary period where everyone is more excited about the new Pokemon. That was the problem! It felt like you spent most of the movie waiting for something to happen and when it finally happened it just wasn’t as cool as it could have been.

In the past Team Rocket was a good source for comic relief, especially in movies where they had some part, at least, to play in determining the final outcome. In this movie, I find them tiresome and time wasting. What I really enjoyed was the credits which felt like a goodbye to the Sinnoh region. The soundtrack heard in the ending, Ice Cream Syndrome by Sukima Switch, is upbeat and refreshing, so unlike the movie.  The many references to Unova were interesting, and sometimes funny. Each time they would show part of the Unova region (whether through flashbacks from Zorua or in the ending credits, for example), it would be a location so nonspecific it could pass as being a part of any region! Though that’s to be expected, it was still funny.   It wasn’t that much better than the gen 4 movies, but I will say it was better by a bit.

I found it a lot more violent and a lot darker than any other Pokemon movie. Admittedly I’d say the standards of the movies are following a similar downward trend to that of the television episodes. It all went downhill after the Johto region where the Advanced Generation series began. And more notably after the voice actors behind the main characters got changed. I find it unlikely Zorua and Zoroark will be featured in Movie 14 but you never know, personally I hope they don’t do a trilogy again but if they do i’m sure they have a good storyline. Until then, as a stand alone film this is mediocre and not really a film that pushes the Pokemon universe in any postivie direction. For a series that has pushed out as many films as this franchise, I just expected more.