Too long coming.

This movie is good. It's not spectacular and it's not abyssmal.

If it had been released a year ago, it would have made some big money. They missed their slot, though, and Yu-Gi-Oh has taken over where Pokemon once ruled.

The Plot:

A young artist enters a mysterious forest and saves Celebi (a fairy-like green pokemon) from a nasty hunter. On the run, the two jump through time to the far future.

Meanwhile, Ash, the series hero, and his friends Misty (water pokemon lover) and Brock (semi-adult figure with a constant crush on anything female) approach the same forest in the future just in 'time' to meet the two travelers.

Unfortunately, an even worse hunter is after Celebi now, with the goal of turning Celebi (and all other pokemon) into mindless evil slaves.

With the help of Jesse and James of Team Rocket and their erstwhile pokemon Meowth, Wobuffet, Arbok, Weezing and Victrebell, Ash and his friends must save Celebi from this darkest of fates.

The Mini Movie:
This time the Mini-movie is stuck on the end of the flick. I assume this is to encourage you to sit through the movie. It is the best of the mini movies, and better in some ways than parts of the movie. It features pikachu and dozens of old and new pokemon playing a thrilling and creative game of hide and seek.

Hardcore Pokemon fans will enjoy this movie, and kids will like it too, but mid-range fans and unknowing adults will find too much of the trite and too many inside jokes/storylines to really appreciate this movie.

Celebi was a great idea, but its time-traveling abilities could have been put to better use, and the continuing attempt to separate the events of the TV series (which has continued to improve) and the movies (which haven't) is detrimental to this installment in particular.

There is a strong enough plot and enough entertaining characters to keep the movie going. Team Rocket shows up as their usual self-deprecating selves, adding a less than subtle ironic humor to the flick.