Gekijouban Poketto monsutâ: koko

Ten years ago, a mythical Pokémon known as a Zarude finds a baby boy abandoned in the forest of Okoya, which is near Lilliput Town, and leaves his tribe to raise him and find his birth parents, naming him Koko. In the present day, Koko is a feral boy who lives in the jungle, having nicknamed his caretaker Dada, as the two would have a fateful encounter with Ash and Pikachu, and the four are forced to team up with an evil doctor attacks the Great Tree.

Yeah, this Pokémon movie is mostly inspired by Tarzan, but it manages to be its own thing as well. While it does deal with a human raised by a ape (that is, the ape being a Zarude, a new Pokémon introduced in this movie and added to the games as a mythical, which are only given out during certain events), it has plenty of heart-warming moments, as well as action, and a good moral about unity. The characters are all done well, and the villain is the best of the new characters. If you are a Pokemaniac or have kids, this one is worth checking out.

Supsenseful movie, I think it can't be that good but when I watch it, it is good

Long running series like Pokémon at some point began falling off movie critic's radars. Movie reviews in the mainstream seem to only cover new material that comes out that no one sees coming. When a franchise is deep into its more than ten film run, most viewers who don't follow to tend to drop off. It's only recently that Marvel Studios has been feeling similar pain due to the oversaturation of properties, timelines and multiverses flooding the franchise. At this point anyone who were to watch something continuing for that long either must be a super fan, or is just devoted so much to keeping track of how the franchise progresses or regresses. For Pokémon, it has had its fair share of upward and downward swings. Recently it has done better in its outings, but it definitely took time.

Written by Atsuhiro Tomioka and Tetsuo Yajima, who also directed, this feature seems to be another one off movie set in another time than the anime. At least there's no expectation of it fitting in anywhere within the anime now. The story for this entry has a different character starting off with the audience. A Zarude Pokémon which happens to be quite aggressive in nature happens to stumble across a human infant. With no success in trying to find the child's parents, the Zarude (Edward Bosco) becomes Dada and the infant becomes Koko (Kimlinh Tran). There the two bond and learn about their world with a little help from everyone's favorite Pokémon trainer, Ash Ketchum (Sarah Natochenny) and Pikachu (Ikue Ôtani). As the last Pokémon film to date, it is a decent last watch although not as epic feeling.

What sets this story apart from others is that Ash plays a side character to this movie. The main focus is on Dada the Zarude and Koko. Writing focuses a lot on where one belongs, how they fit in and one's true purpose. These are all good questions every individual asks themselves at some point or another. This also gets put on both Koko and Dada. The Zarude Pokémon feels out of place with his own kind and the human isn't sure what to make of himself. The dynamic between the two also feels very authentic as with a child having no other parent that it seems only natural that's how they would react. The last time there was this much attention put into a mysterious character pairing was from Pokémon 3 The Movie: Spell of the Unown (2001).

There are other characters that appear like team rocket and Dr. Zed (Billy Kametz) who is in search of important information that belongs to the area Koko comes from. It is only because Ash does this character get involved. Otherwise there would be no plot moving forward from that point on. Even with that said, the scope of which this takes place doesn't feel as grand. For the voice acting, all perform well. Sarah Natochenny in her last film entry playing Ash gives her all like usual despite not being the main character. The same could be said for Kimlinh Tran, Kellen Goff and Edward Bosco who all have many voice acting credits to their name prior to this even if it wasn't from Pokémon. Michele Knotz and James Carter Cathcart as team rocket always provide a good showing as the second set to voice the usual villains that follow Ash.

From a visual point of view, the animation maintains the same level of quality that has been presented in the past few features. With over twenty animation directors on board the production, it looks like the right people were there to keep things on track. Ryô Kujirai being credited again for cinematography still isn't clear and at this point, oh well. Lastly the music composed once again by Shinji Miyazaki was average at best. The music wasn't all that memorable even though it feels like this film had elements to that of a musical, which is not a thing for this franchise. Perhaps this was just changed for the northern American markets. That's just a guess though. Either way, still not as impactful as the music used to be for a lot of the earlier films.

Cinematography and music are side components that still don't leave a lasting impact anymore. The scale of which the plot takes place doesn't feel as high in importance either. However as the last film to date, the voice acting is still spot on, the animation looks good and the script changes its focus a little to help keep the viewer's attention.

In short, this movie project a message of love and unity between human and animal.... And beware of climate change which can create problems in future for all beings on this planet.. Take steps toward better future for our earth 🌎🌍

I am connecting this movie with current scenario.😉

Pokemon movies are generally not known for how good they are. It's merely passable entertainment at best. But when "I Choose You" and "The Power Of Us" came out, it felt like a breath of fresh air in a pretty stale and formulaic series of films. And just like in The Power of Us; where I felt like the storytelling was really well done, and thus being one of the best Pokemon movies out there, I felt like this movie too uses its storytelling to its advantage.

Secrets of the Jungle tells a pretty different story for a Pokemon movie and it's told right. The focus of the movie was very rightly on the narration with each emotional beat, having the intended impact on the audience. It does have its weaknesses however, with the lack of depth in how certain characters were developed, and moments of structural cliches, but it never felt like it weighed the movie down.

Storytelling apart, the movie is also an absolute treat to the eye. It's so beautifully crafted, with the visuals and the animations being so much better than what I expected. And surprisingly, the music too was pretty memorable, with the opening "Always Safe" track being a refreshingly nice way to kick things off.

I'm genuinely surprised by how much I liked this, because I usually don't go into a Pokemon movie expecting anything. It was a pleasantly enjoyable movie with a lot of heart and a lot of charm, and I only hope the Pokemon movies of the future will build off of its formula here.