Pokémon 3 the Movie: Spell of the Unown

Seeing how many adults despise Pokemon, my comments might strike those as the ramblings of a social oddball. But so what?

My child likes Pokemon and I happen to like the Pokemon show, it's not always great but it good to see a show that teaches kids to strive for a goal that is not reachable in half an hour. Name any other children's show where the characters take an entire season to reach a stated goal. In a funny way this show is more realistic then any other children's show on American TV. The program is very tolerant of people's differences and celebrates everyone's unique talents. And I like the different Pokemon creatures and my son and I enjoy playing the N64 Pokemon Stadium 2 game together. He really enjoys explaining the different Pokemon to me as we play. I have a friend who runs tours at a local science museum using the Pokemon as a way to get the kids into natural history and sciences. It really sparks some of the children into learning more.

That said, the movies have been a different story. The first was a very dark movie and the second, although better, still had a strange apocalyptic undercurrent more typical of Japanese animation for older audiences. I missed the light hearted nature of the TV show. The new one is different, the story is more suited to young audiences and it's mostly more coherent to adults who are with the young ones. (Although the kids will have to explain some plot elements to you if you haven't kept up with the show.) The film also has a much better story than the first two. There is still quite a bit of large scale fighting at the end but it's not the end of the world stuff of the first films.

Do I recommend the film to regular audiences? No, but I do suggest to parents that you don't make excuses to not take your child. This should not be the torture you may have experienced with the first two.