Father and child sit together smiling while looking at a smart phone.

Want more recommendations for your family?

Sign up for our weekly newsletter for entertainment inspiration

Parents' Guide to

Pokemon the Movie: I Choose You!

By Brian Costello, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 7+

Some positive messages, but best for fans only.

Movie NR 2017 98 minutes
Pokemon the Movie: I Choose You! Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

There aren't any parent reviews yet. Be the first to review this title.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say Not yet rated
Kids say (10 ):

A common tendency in mediocre-at-best anime is to layer the story with as many plots and subplots as possible in the space of a feature-length film. Pokemon the Movie: I Choose You! is yet another example of this unfortunate tendency. What could be the simple story of the beginning bond between Ash and Pikachu turns into a chaotic snarl of extraneous characters, side stories, and something about a rainbow feather. By the third act, the story thread more or less unravels, but it shouldn't be a spoiler to reveal that the aforementioned rainbow feather turns gray when it's taken by those whose hearts aren't pure.

While somewhat of an origin story (based loosely on the pilot episode of the Pokemon anime series), Pokemon the Movie: I Choose You! is best for Pokemon fans or those who know enough about Pokemon to understand the battle scenes and already know and care enough about the characters to fully understand what's at stake. Otherwise, the needless and overwrought complexity to the story isn't really worth the trouble to try and grasp it.

Movie Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate