"POKÉMON 4EVER" (2002) (voices of Veronica Taylor, Eric Stuart) (G) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons None None Heavy *Moderate *None Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Minor None Moderate None None Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Minor None None Mild Heavy QUICK TAKE: Children's Animated: Various kids try to rescue a rare Pokémon from a megalomaniacal Pokémon hunter who wants to use its power to his advantage. PLOT: In this 4th installment of the Pokémon series, Ash, his Pokémon, Pikachu, and their friends, Misty and Brock, have traveled to Arborville in search of rare Pokémon creatures. There, they meet an old woman and her granddaughter who talk of the Celebi, a Pokémon known as the voice of the forest that can travel through time. It's not long before they encounter this small, flying being when he arrives from the past with Sam, a boy who saved him from a ruthless Pokémon bounty hunter forty years earlier. The kids manage to reinvigorate the small creature in the lake of life, but must then contend with another Pokémon hunter who possesses "dark balls," small cylindrical Pokémon containers that convert good Pokémon into evil and very powerful ones. He eventually captures Celebi and uses his forces for his own megalomaniacal plans, and it's up to Ash, Sam, the others and another rare Pokémon, Suicune, to stop him, all while also dealing with their long time nemesis, Team Rocket (comprised of Jesse, James and Meowth). WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? If they're fans of the Pokémon films or related properties, they just might. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: G For not containing material to warrant a higher rating. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: It's debatable whether kids view animated/cartoon characters as role models (especially when they're not human), but the following characters have the following attributes. ASH is a human boy who wants to help and rescue Celebi. MISTY and BROCK are his friends who help him on his quest. SAM is a human boy who's brought from the past into the present by Celebi and then joins forces with Ash to rescue and save Celebi. THE VILLAIN is a human man who captures Celebi and turns him evil so that he can use his powers to control the world. CELEBI is a rare Pokémon who's initially rescued by Sam but then turns evil while under the spell of the bad man. PIKACHU is Ash's helpful and faithful Pokémon who zaps others with electrical charges when needed. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: The following is a quick look at the content found in this G-rated action adventure film. Violence includes various Pokémon creatures battling each other in various scenes, with some of them being injured or knocked unconscious, and one appearing to be dead (but it's later brought back to life). Other Pokémon and an evil human attempt to do harm to some kids and cause destruction in the woods. Some of those scenes and the sight of the various Pokémon, including a large, monstrous one, might be unsettling, suspenseful or even scary to some younger kids. As usual, however, that depends on their age, level of maturity and tolerance for such material (older kids will have no problem with it). Various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes, but beyond that, the remaining categories have little or nothing in the way of major objectionable material. Nevertheless, should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE None. BLOOD/GORE None. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE A human wants to capture Celebi and turn him evil so that he can control the world. Team Rocket also has bad attitudes in wanting to catch Celebi. FRIGHTENING SCENES As in many other kid-oriented films, this picture contains elements and scenes that may be unsettling, suspenseful or even scary for some kids - including scenes listed under "Violence" -- but that all depends on their age, level of maturity and tolerance for such material. Some slightly menacing looking creatures chase after Celebi through the woods and try to attack and/or capture it. One swipes it and it bounces off a tree and lands on the ground. Moments later, the other shoots fire at it (Celebi protects itself in a bubble of some sort), and then does the same at Sam (who ducks out of the way). Celebi then controls weeds to tangle up the two pursuing creatures. A human (on a motorcycle) then chases after Sam who's carrying Celebi. Ash runs to make it onboard a departing boat and just misses the side, but someone grabs him and pulls him on. The main bad guy gets around in large, somewhat spider-like mechanical apparatus that might be scary looking to much younger kids. Sam nearly falls down a steep ledge. Kids might worry about Celebi, particularly when he's being chased, looks rather sickly and then appears dying and then dead (but he's later okay). Celebi becomes surrounded by a massive amount of twigs and tree parts that take the form of an enormous and potentially rather scary looking monster (for little kids). The boys' attempts to scale the monstrous being that houses Celebi and free their little friend from his evil spell might be suspenseful or unsettling for some younger viewers (such as when Suicune is being shocked and the boys nearly fall from the huge creature). Ash holds onto the bad man's leg as he flies away with his jet pack and tries to kick Ash off him. Pikachu then causes the bad man's jet pack to explode and he, Ash, Pikachu and Celebi fall from a great height toward the ground, but Celebi causes all but the bad man to fly. He crashes down through various trees and hits the ground quite hard, but lives (and is later wrapped up by Pokémon). GUNS/WEAPONS None of the usual type, but the various Pokémon creatures fire energy beams and such at others and destroy parts of the woods with them. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "Twerps." The kids eat red berries that they find in the woods (without knowing what they are). JUMP SCENES None. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) A moderate amount of suspenseful music plays in the film. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) None. PROFANITY None. SEX/NUDITY A teenage girl tells the gang that they'll love what they'll see in the forest (referring to exotic Pokémon creatures) and Brock says that he loves what he's seeing (referring to the girl). Jesse wears a rather skimpy outfit consisting of a very short skirt and midriff-revealing top. SMOKING None. TENSE FAMILY SCENES None. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT Time travel. The film's message of humans destroying nature. The kids eat red berries that they find in the woods (without knowing what they are). VIOLENCE Some slightly menacing looking creatures chase after Celebi through the woods and try to attack and/or capture it. One swipes it and it bounces off a tree and lands on the ground. Moments later, the other shoots fire at it (Celebi protects itself in a bubble of some sort), and then does the same at Sam (who ducks out of the way). Celebi then controls weeds to tangle up the two pursuing creatures. A man pushes another man back against a wall and then grips his chin with his hand. Moments later, he throws that man to the ground. The first man then lets a monstrous Pokémon loose that shoots beams from its mouth that blow up some sort of tower, rip up the ground and destroy some stacked cars (resulting in lots of fire and destruction). Ash has his Pokémon (Pikachu) battle a local boy's Pokémon and the two creatures fight each other. They bounce into each other and one is knocked backwards by a stream of water. The bigger one tries to hit and then bite Pikachu who avoids that contact and then pushes the creature backwards where it lands on its human master. Pikachu then zaps both of them with his electrical charge, briefly rendering them unconscious. When Sam comes to after 40 years of time travel, he pushes Ash backwards. Ash gets mad and goes at him (grabbing at his throat), but Brock separates them. Celebi, thinking he's being attacked, sends out some sort of sonic wave that knocks Ash and Sam backwards and then has vines snapping at the two of them. Team Rocket (Jesse, James and Meowth) fall to the ground when a large Pokémon lands on their tree branch that then breaks. The bad man unleashes his monstrous Pokémon that shoots his destructive beam at the kids. Ash and Sam unleash their Pokémon creatures to do battle with ones let go by the bad man. They knock each other around, one shoots flames at the other, and one head-butts another and knocks it out. Team Rocket falls from the evil man's mechanical transportation and hits the ground. Pikachu tries to hit the evil man's mechanical transportation with an electrical charge, but it does no good. The large spider-like ship, however, causes various trees to fall and captures Celebi, zapping him with some sort of charge that renders him unconscious. Ash struggles with the bad man (hanging around his neck), causing his large spider-like ship to knock down various trees. Ash ends up briefly dazed and the bad man then steps down onto his hands as they grip the ball holding Celebi. Under an evil influence, Celebi follows the bad man's orders and sends out a sonic wave that blasts the other Pokémon and surrounding trees backwards. After being surrounded by twigs and other material that transform into a huge monstrous being, Celebi fires massive energy beams that shoot through the woods and cause a huge explosion in a lake. He then fires another shot that hits an airship and sends it falling toward a lake. He then fires upon them in the lake, causing a huge wave (but they're okay). He fires another shot with another resultant explosion. A good Pokémon battles the bad man's monstrous one, with Suicune finally knocking the bad one backwards (and unconscious) and the other good one then smashing and knocking it out into a lake. Celebi's monstrous entity grabs Suicune and zaps it with some sort of charge. Ash holds onto the bad man's leg as he flies away with his jet pack and tries to kick Ash off him. Pikachu then causes the bad man's jet pack to explode and he, Ash, Pikachu and Celebi fall from a great height toward the ground, but Celebi causes all but the bad man to fly. He crashes down through various trees and hits the ground quite hard, but lives (and is later wrapped up by Pokémon). A huge Pokémon crashes into and sinks Team Rocket's raft (but they're okay). Reviewed October 4, 2002 / Posted October 11, 2002

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