Pokémon: El desafío de Darkrai

The Pokémon films all have on average performed with acceptable storytelling so far. Only some were truly just lousy in their execution. Some depending on weak villain motivation or backstories. When audiences can see through that, is when it feels very disappointing. It's even more disheartening though when there is no villain and viewers are left to seeing events happen due to nonsensical reasons. As the first feature film with the new US voice cast after getting through the rough time that was The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon (2006), fans would be expecting an improvement. After viewing, it's slightly better...but still has issues but for different reasons. Really, it comes down to the how the story is set up more than anything else and this is unfortunately where it gets difficult to sit through.

Worked on by the same Yuyama Sonoda duo, the story is about the city of Alamos which has two musical towers built at the center of it all. The two towers represent space and time which is also related to the legendary Pokémon Palkia and Dialga respectively. Unfortunately, when these two creatures cross paths their dimensions' warp causing catastrophic damage. The only one who seems to be aware of this is Darkrai (Scott Williams), a Pokémon that causes nightmares and is shunned from the city of Alamos. And of course, Ash and company are headed straight towards that event that is bound to happen. There they also meet Alice (Khristine Hvam) and Tonio (Rich McNanna) who are close childhood friends. The concept sounds initially okay...but upon further analysis, things don't really add up or seem rather pointless.

The biggest issue is the conflict between characters...in this case the Pokémon. Palkia and Dialga are this entry's "big baddie" Pokémon. But the thing is, they aren't villains and that's okay. The problem is their purpose. The whole plot is due to them crossing paths and deciding to fight about it. For what? What's the reason? Does one want the other's job? Or did just one Pokémon wake up that morning in a rotten mood? And being that their Pokémon and answer in English is like expecting to win the lottery; the chances are beyond low. Prior to the main story, the film refers to all past movies and shows how Pokémon live among each other...including the legendary ones. So why can't Palkia and Dialga? Aren't they aware of each other's presence? If these two hard heads didn't get mad each other, then this whole issue could have been avoided.

Not to mention wasn't Celebi from the 4th movie the Pokémon that controlled time? Topping it off are the other side characters. Of the new characters Alice is the only one who has stake in the game. The script probably could have found a way to just make it about her and the two new legendries mitigated Tonio and Darkrai altogether. The problem is, the characters just aren't that interesting. Darkrai just plays elusive the whole time despite that it's a Pokémon that can speak English like Team Rocket's Meowth. Speaking of which, Jessie, James and Meowth have more of a part to play in this feature. Why does it have to be when the story isn't as good though, is hard to tell. And although the side characters are not that interesting, the voice acting is better than The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon (2006).

Emily Bauer as Dawn joins Sarah Natochenny in Ash's company after doing Season 10 of the show and she performs just fine. Rich McNanna as Tonio also voice Jack Walker in Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea (2006). Khristine Hvam as Alice was her first voice acting credit and managed fine too. As for Scott Williams as Darkrai, he actually managed to sound like Dan Green sometimes. How Darkrai became a liked character is a mystery. Cinematography was again taken care of by Takaya Mizutani but again not sure what that was. If anything the animation and music composed by Shinji Miyazaki was nice to hear. Although not many tracks were distinguishable and no domestic album release is available, the main song Orácion is quite nice to hear coming from an organ.

The actors all perform well along with some different sounding music. Regrettably, this does not make up for the premise this particular entry is based on. The reason for the whole plot feels baseless and the majority of supporting characters feel like they weren't exactly needed to resolve it either.