A bolt out of the blue, from thin air, use whatever analogy you want, this set miraculously just popped up in Best Buy this week! And the results are simply spectacular! We had fair warning with the Limited Edition 1-3 Movie set released in February, but this tetralogy sets a new bar (and hope!) for future Pokémon movies.
I bought this set specifically for Rise of Darkrai. It's my fave of the matter trio Trilogy because it starts the Dialga/Palkia conflict, a shared storyline that spans two other movies and pits multiple Sinnoh legendaries in the battle versus the two hotheads. But I had forgotten just how detailed RoD, and Giratina and the Sky Warrior both are! Sinnoh's niche was more Ice-types and colder regions, and it shows in this set with huge cascades of mountains with snow pack, glaciers, pines, these two are the most scenic of any of the Pokémon movies I can remember. The Blu-ray transfer only makes them livelier.
But at one point you'll notice the pattern in the set; huge production value and awe inspiring detail, but the plots are starting to look similar. Enter Arceus (pronounced R-K-S) and the Jewel of Life to shake up the routine. This entry concludes the Dialga/Palkia (and Giratina) ark by throwing the God Pokémon himself into the fray. The Arceus movie is one of two of the movies in this set that I honestly believe have better plots than most children's movies. There's foreshadowing, well done time traveling, very well done assimilation of the content from the Pokemon and their abilities straight from the games, and for both, emotional content of multiple parties. Arceus and the Jewel of Life is also BEYOND psychedelic. It is the most colorful outing in the set, and possibly in all of the movies. Period. It may not have the scenery p*** of RoD or GatSW, but it is lush in its sequences.
Zoroark Master of Illusion is a very filling dollop of icing on an overly filled cake, and it's unfortunately bittersweet. Like I said, very good plot, foreshadowing, great emotion, but something happened during production. At about the 1:05 mark and through out the third act the drawn animation just looks horrid. You can tell the animators reduced frames and used their sidelined animators to finish up the movie. This is unfortunate, and it happens for nearly 20 minutes! Even the credits are better done than this movie's finale! It very well could have been the perfect Pokémon movie as well because it isn't some world saving calamity. It's small scale and intimate with some very likable promotional Pokémon, Zorua and Zoroark. It also had the star power of classic Generation 2 characters backing it such as Celebi, Totodile, Chikorita, Cyndaquil, the Legendary Gerbils, a duo of Scizors, this movie was so good until the end. Ulgh!
This set is honestly better than both the Gen 1 set, and the 2nd rate Miramax release of movies 4-7. The cover is glossy steelbook, the discs are region A, the sound is 5.1 or stereo (2.0) and there's English subs. However, there are no Pikachu shorts, and there are no original Japanese audio tracks. Also, all the movies each have their own Blu-ray disc. If I were you, I'd get this as a nice stocking stuffer to coincide with the Sun and Moon release this holiday season. For the beaming Pokémon fan in all of us.
