Pokémon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior

What’s the Story?

In the eleventh Pokémon anime movie, POKÉMON: GIRATINA AND THE SKY WARRIOR, unlikely allies cooperate to face a greater evil. A cuddly Pokémon named Shaymin (voiced by Amy Palant) is inadvertently caught in a battle between the Reverse World-dwelling Giratina and its real world counterweight Dialga that ends in an imbalance of time and space between the two dimensions. Shaymin is rescued by battle students Ash (Sarah Natochenny) and Dawn (Emily Bauer) and their Pokémon sidekicks, who try to help Shaymin reach a magical garden that will transform it into a higher form. They must resist efforts by the evil Zero (Brian Ferguson) as well as Giratina to bring Shaymin back to the Reverse World, and unravel the mystery of how the Reverse World maintains the one in which they exist.

Is It Any Good?

While the plot sounds complicated, it's fairly straightforward once you realize there are four villains with varying degrees of badness, and Pokémon powers with varying levels of effectiveness. These two dimensions are brought into contact repeatedly amidst skilled animation that superimposes anime-style action over beautiful static backgrounds resembling Lake Como and Norwegian fishing villages. Stiff dialogue, weak jokes, and confounding Pokémon skills (an aromatherapy move?) probably won't detract from the entertainment for Pokémon fans.

For youngest kids, the nonstop action and cute-as-a-button antics and voices of the Pokémon helpers will be enough. For older kids, there's a message about helping others, facing challenges, and doing the right thing, even when that means working with former enemies.