| Pokémon 3: The Movie | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Kunihiko Yuyama |
| Produced by | Yukako Matsusako Takemoto Mori Choji Yoshikawa |
| Written by | Hideki Sonoda Takeshi Shudo |
| Narrated by | Japanese: Unshō Ishizuka English: Rodger Parsons |
| Starring | Japanese: Rica Matsumoto Mayumi Iizuka Yūji Ueda Ikue Ōtani Megumi Hayashibara Shin-ichiro Miki Ai Kato Masami Toyoshima Akiko Yajima Naoto Takenaka English: Veronica Taylor Rachael Lillis Eric Stuart Lisa Ortiz Ted Lewis Kayzie Rogers Ryan Drummond Tara Jayne Roger Kay Ken Gates Amy Birnbaum Lee Quick Kathy Pilon Peter R. Bird Stuart Zagnit Dan Green Ikue Ōtani |
| Music by | Shinji Miyazaki (Japan) Ralph Schuckett (International) |
| Cinematography | Hisao Shirai |
| Editing by | Toshio Henmi Yutaka Itō |
| Studio | OLM, Inc. |
| Distributed by | Toho (Japan) Warner Bros. (International) |
| Release date(s) | July 8, 2000 |
| Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Budget | ¥1.6 billion (US $16 million) |
| Box office | $68,411,275 |
Pokémon 3: The Movie, originally released in Japan as Pocket Monsters the Movie: Lord of the "UNKNOWN" Tower ENTEI (劇場版ポケットモンスター 結晶塔の帝王 ENTEI Gekijōban Poketto Monsutā Kesshōtō no Teiō ENTEI, lit. "Emperor of the Crystal Tower ENTEI"), is a 2000 Japanese animated film directed by Kunihiko Yuyama as the third feature-length Pokémon film. It was released in Japanese theaters on July 8, 2000, and the English adaptation, entitled Pokémon 3: Spell of the Unknown was released into theaters on April 6, 2001. This adaptation, the final film to be distributed by Warner Bros., was produced by 4Kids Entertainment.
Like its predecessors, it is preceded by a 20-minute short film titled Pikachu and Pichu, which marks the debut of the mischievous Pichu Bros., who help Pikachu reunite with his trainer after being separated (without Ash even knowing, due to him preparing a party to celebrate the day Pikachu and he first met). This was also the first Pokémon film to premiere in an IMAX theater. The realistic crystallization and Unown created a 3D effect in the movie.
It was also the last Pokémon film released theatrically in the UK and in Latin America.
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The film comes accompanied by a short mini-movie featuring Pikachu. In this mini-movie, Pikachu and his friends are left on a skyscraper in Big City by their trainers, who go off to prepare an unknown surprise for the Pokémon. Pikachu meets the Pichu Brothers, saving the younger one from falling off an opposite building. A group of Murkrow chase Pikachu off a flagpole, and he uses a group of Hoppip to reach the other side, sending Meowth who is window-cleaning, flying into a billboard. The Pichu Bros. assist Pikachu to return to his friends but they end up going on a journey across the city to the Pichu Bros' playground. On the way, they get chased by a Houndour who they later encounter again. The angry Houndour chases the three around until he nearly knocks the playground over. Pikachu, the Pichu Bros., Houndour and their assortment of friends manage to save the playground. Pikachu realizes it is nearly six o'clock and he must return to his friends before Ash, his trainer, does. Pikachu and the Pichu Bros. use a tire to get to the building, sending Meowth flying again. The three arrive in the nick of time, the Pichu Brothers departing. Ash, Misty and Brock arrive and take the Pokémon into a room where a party has been laid out for them in celebration of the first anniversary of Ash and Pikachu's meeting.
The feature film focuses on the beautiful town of Greenfield. A resident of the town is Professor Spencer Hale, a research scientist who is researching on the elusive Unown. He and his assistant, Skyler, discover a site of ruins, but Hale is sucked into the dimension of the Unown.
His disappearance leaves his young daughter Molly alone with her mother disappearing previously. Molly finds a box of tablets containing Unknown images and begins assembling the letters, which summons the Unown themselves. The Unown use their powers to make Molly's wishes come true, transforming her manor house into a crystal-like palace which spreads across the town and cuts her off from the world. A fake Entei is created to represent Molly's father. Various people come to help sort out the Unown, including Professor Oak and Delia Ketchum (Ash's mother).
Meanwhile, Ash and his friends meet and befriend a trainer named Lisa and come into Greenfield in the process and agree to join in the rescue mission to save young Molly. However, Entei kidnaps Delia, following Molly's request for a mother as well. Through Entei's powers, Delia is hypnotized into thinking she is Molly's mother. Ash, Misty, Brock and their Pokémon head out to the mansion to save Delia, communicating with Professor Oak and Skyler thanks to a PokéGear device given to them by Lisa. Team Rocket try to investigate the mansion, only to be blasted out of the air by Entei into the depths of the mansion. Molly watches Ash and the others through a television and falls asleep, imagining herself being a Pokémon Trainer. Entei then creates a dream version of Molly as an adult and takes her to battle the three. She first fights Brock, but her dreamed-up Pokémon are stronger than his; she then has a more friendly fight against Misty in an underwater battle, but the winner is not shown.
Ash manages to locate Molly and Delia, but Molly refuses to leave with him and the mansion transforms. Entei refuses to allow Ash to leave with his mother, and fights his Pokémon. He then blasts Ash and Pikachu off a cliff, but they are saved by the arrival of Ash's Charizard. Charizard, with Ash on his back, battles Entei until he is knocked out of the sky. Entei nearly kills Charizard until Molly commands him to stop and begs that no more fighting happens, which manages to stop Entei. Ash and his friends convince Molly to leave with them, Entei revealing he was created by the Unown to be her father.
The Unown suddenly lose control of their powers and start to seal the group in the mansion. Ash, Pikachu, Charizard, Misty, Brock, Delia, Molly and Team Rocket escape down to the hall where the Unown are. Pikachu and Charizard attempt to break the forcefield protecting the Unknown, but they are unsuccessful-- until they are joined by Entei, combining their powers to destroy the shield with Molly's support. Entei sacrifices himself and the Unown return to their dimension, reversing all of their effects on the world and returning Professor Hale to the ruins where he originally vanished.
The group venture outside, where Professor Oak, Skyler, Lisa and others meet them. Team Rocket hide in the mansion upon seeing all of the police outside and vow they will succeed or fail in their next scheme. In the end credits, Charizard and Lisa depart from Ash's company, and Molly is seen with her own Teddiursa and is reunited with her father-- and later, her mother.
The film had little commercial success in United States cinemas, reaching #4 on opening weekend and grossing $8.4 million from 2,675 theaters. The film had a 65% drop in its second weekend, grossing $2.6 million. The film ended up with $17,052,128 in America, with the film creating more revenue at the foreign box-office, making $51,359,147 there. The film proved less successful in the box office compared to previous films (Pokémon: The first movie made $163,644,662, Pokémon: 2000 made $133,949,271). But the movie made a significant profit-margin, with a worldwide gross of $68,411,275.
The film received negative reviews from most critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 22% "Rotten" approval rating, a significant improvement from the two predecessors, based on the reviews of 55 critics, with the consensus being, "Critics say that the third Pokemon movie has a better plot than its two predecessors. This is not enough, however, to recommend it to those not already fans of the franchise". The film reviews from the audience also received a 57% "Rotten" approval rating, also an improvement from the two predecessors.
| Pokémon 3: The Ultimate Soundtrack | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Various artists | ||||
| Released | April 3, 2001 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 58:35 | |||
| Label | Koch Records | |||
| Producer | John Loeffler | |||
| Various artists chronology | ||||
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Pokémon 3: The Ultimate Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the third series and the movie. Many of the songs featured on the Totally Pokémon album, but as that was not released outside of America and Australia, this soundtrack encouraged European fans to own the music. In Australia some copies of the CD were released with a bonus disc of the musical score of Pokémon: The Movie 2000 (which was also released as a separate disc worldwide), Pokémon The Movie 2000 Original Motion Picture Score. The Japanese and English-language soundtracks contain different tracks. Shinji Miyazaki wrote the original film score, while Ralph Schuckett composed the score for the international releases.
The second track, "To Know the Unknown" was performed by the girl-group Innosense. Tracks 13 to 15 are karaoke versions. The CD also features two Pokémon videos, the Pokérap and a scene from the film, which are accessible upon insertion of the disc into a computer.