Pokemon: Zoroark, Master Of Illusions

The recently released thirteenth movie of the Pokemon series has captured the hearts of many fans, old and new. It has brought old fans back to the anime as well as gaining the franchise new fans. While the movie has recieved bad reviews from critics, the fans have a different opinion. Many fans are calling it the best movie in years. This movie also has fans anticipating the newest season of the anime, titled Pokemon: Black & White. The movie features four legendary Pokemon. The four are Celebi, Suicune, Raikou, and Entei. It also features two new Pokemon named Zorua and Zoroark from the new games.

Zoroark: Master Of Illusions starts out with Ash and friends travelling through yet another forest in order to make it to Crown City for the Pokemon Boccer Cup. But as they get lost in the forest, they see a small fox-like Pokemon named Zorua in trouble. After saving Zorua, they manage to find their way to Crown City only to find out that another new Pokemon, named Zoroark, and the Legendary Beasts are attacking Crown City. Upon finding out Zoroark is Zorua’s ‘Mima’, Ash and friends sneak into the evacuated city to figure out what has gone wrong with Zoroark and the Beasts. They soon meet Grigas Kodai, the villain of this movie. Kodai is one of the most evil villains that Pokemon have ever made.

Kodai has the ability to see into the future due to an evil act he committed twenty years ago - one that is not revealed until near the end of the movie. As the movie goes on, Kodai gets more and more evil but unlike most Pokemon villains, he never regrets what he has done and never ‘goes good’. Kodai uses his unique ability to attempt to defeat Ash and friends. He also uses it to control Zoroark and trap Celebi, all in order to get to the Time Ripple. The ending of the movie made many watchers cry as Zorua cried out for his mother, almost begging her to wake up. The ending probably being the favorite scene for many fans, just because of how real the emotion in that scene felt.

This movie is different than past movies in the series, and it gives the fans a little taste of what changes to expect in the new season of the anime. The movie is not only entertaining for children, but it also can be very entertaining to the older audience. From start to finish, your attention will stay on the movie.

But with all of the movie’s good points, there are some bad ones to it. The original ten minute beginning to the movie was cut off in the English dub, angering many fans who watched the original Japanese version. The beginning was cut off due to supposed time constraints that Cartoon Network had. It could have easily been kept though as the movie ended with fifteen minutes left over, more than enough time for the beginning to air. Cutting out the beginning was a very bad move as it did contain a lot of important details for the movie. Details such as explaining what the Pokemon Boccer Cup is, why Zoroark was attacking the city, and where Zorua originally fell from.

Overall, the movie was a brilliant one and undeniably the best they have made in a long while. I personally have never been disappointed in a Pokemon movie, but even I can agree that this movie is one of the best. It shows a lot of good changes coming to the anime and has brought many people back to the anime. It also shows that Pokemon is going in the right direction with the changes the creators are making. The movie really did live up to all the expectations fans had for it.