Pokemon Movie 10: Dialga vs. Palkia vs. Darkrai

The beautiful Alamos Town is home to a pair of century-old structures known as the Space-Time Towers, built by the architect Godey to play orchestral music in the area. The towers are also home to the Alamos Town Contest Hall, which is the next destination for Hikari, Satoshi, and Takeshi in their journey through the Sinnoh region. A woman named Alice and her partner Chimchar are happy to guide Satoshi and his friends through the town and its hallmarks.

But the tour is suddenly interrupted when Alice's friend Tonio notices a wave of dimensional disturbances throughout the town—all of which is blamed on an ominous Pokémon named Darkrai. The space-time disturbances continue to intensify as two legendary Pokémon, the Temporal Pokémon Dialga and the Spatial Pokémon Palkia, appear to duel each other, isolating the town and everyone present in it from the world into another dimension!

As he learns that this event was foreseen long ago, Tonio finds that his great-grandfather left behind a way to stop the dueling Pokémon. Will Satoshi and his friends be able to use this last resort to save Alamos Town from vaporizing between the dimensions?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Satoshi Main

Matsumoto, Rica Japanese

Pikachu Main

Ootani, Ikue Japanese

Takeshi Main

Ueda, Yuuji Japanese

Hikari Main

Toyoguchi, Megumi Japanese

Pochama Main

Kozakura, Etsuko Japanese

Darkrai Main

Ishizaka, Kouji Japanese

Palkia Main

Dialga Main

Alice Main

Noto, Mamiko Japanese

Baron Alberto Main

Yamadera, Kouichi Japanese

Okamoto, Junya Producer

Okuno, Toshiaki Producer

Mori, Takemoto Producer

Yoshikawa, Chouji Producer

Reviews

Nov 30, 2008

shadowsaiph

Recommended

This Pokemon Movie, I'd have to say was good for the most part.

-Story-
The story plot was FAIR. When I originally heard about the movie, I thought it would be much much much different. Since I've been a Pokemon Fan for most of my life, I was expecting the movies to have much more of a Climatical part. It did not have a true "climax" per se. It was an average movie with an average storyline.

-Art-
The art was nothing special. The best art I saw was at the very end. The art was just as if it was a regular old Pokemon episode.

-Sound-
Sound was my favorite ... part. I loved the theme song in both English and Japanese, and I loved how the ending theme stayed the same. I also loved the song Aracion.

-Character-
Of course, Ash, Brock, and Dawn make an appearance, being the main Characters. I didn't see anything outstanding in the adding of the movie characters. Just like the episodes, there was nothing that made them stand out.

-Enjoyment-
When I watch a movie, I want to have somewhat the same thrill of when I watched it the very first time. I want it to be moving. When I watched this movie, I saw it all. I only re-watch it if my friends wants to see it again or if I was going to be in a Pokemon TCG tourney the next day.

-Overall-
Overall, it earns a fair 7. It was decent the first time through, but after that, it just gets boring and more boring.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jul 13, 2023

Chaotic_beauty

Recommended

The Rise of Darkrai relies on a big number of epic movie tropes nestled in live action. The film also surprises due to its clear cut structure and by the books approach to various small details. Something Pokemon films were ignoring and more often than not, struggling with, ever since the fourth film.

Two guys will compete for a girl and it will be shown, not told. The resolution will be clear as the loser stumbles in the background. No exposition needed. Don't get me wrong, by no means is this a masterpiece. What it is, is a highly polished work following all the standard ... conventions with enough expertise to be a good cartoon.

I wouldn't call any single component of the film bad, but where it does stumble, or at the very least, doesn't shine as the rest, are the characters. The main show cast don't get much attention. Plot expiosition is what they've been used for before and that's what they're used for here. By no means are their lines cringeworthy. By no means are they especially interesting, either. This becomes a hinderance which prevents the film from getting a higher rating, as their wacky shenanigans in the second act, while main plot is on hold, don't hold a candle to what comes before and after. They could've been given character developement or something meaningful to do so we connect to them. Slightly boring and overly silly slapstick dominates a dozen scenes. At least they're watchable.

Alice and Tonio are worth a mention. Their simple, but fun relationship subtly embelishes a few moments. Darkrai stole a few scenes, as well. Expecting him to be an edgelord, this was quite a surprise to me.

There's a thin line between an unoriginal ripoff and a well executed, traditional story. I've already praised the film for being the latter. One element of the plot stands out, though. Music. Pokemon flirted with this idea in the second film, but didn't have the courage to incorporate Melody's song into the plot. This is fortunate, since the song wasn't exceptional. I'm by no means an expert in music, but I found the song in here pretty good for what it is - an audience mover. While by no means something heavenly, it works well enough that you can accept it as having mythological significance in the film.

Artwork for the film was pretty good. Use of CGI for the church, while justified, wasn't nearly as flawless as in some older Pokemon works. Still, CGI was utilized in multiple good action scenes. Action was pretty good in general here. Almost as relevant as in the last film's final action scene, Ash gets to do something again. Ash, Dawn & their pokemon are really fun to watch as they wrestle with time and space.

There's nothing more to say. It's a highly polished action film with weaker characters than I'd like. Groundbreaking? No. Solid? Yes.

A recommendation to pretty much anyone interested.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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May 4, 2024

5TAR5TORM

Not Recommended

Spoiler

As much as I like Pokemon movies, I did not like The Rise of Darkrai. Starting with the good, Darkrai was the best part of this movie. Every scene involving Darkrai was great, partially because Darkrai has a cool design, but mostly because Darkrai was the most interesting character in the movie. Darkrai had a great backstory, and the production team did a great job of showing the audience that Darkrai was not the monster everyone else believed him to be.

Other than Darkrai, the movie doesn't have a lot going for it. I think the biggest reason for this is that the main cast ... of Ash, Brock, and Dawn barely contribute to pushing the plot forward. Dialga and Palkia are cosmic forces far beyond the main cast's control and are the main cause of the dramatic conflict. That is not a bad premise in itself, of forces beyond the characters' control has been done well in other Pokemon movies. But it was poorly executed in The Rise of Darkrai because the characters don't really learn the cause of the problem until late in the film, so everything they are doing until that point feels really aimless, which also just kills the film's pacing. And the movie even wasted Jesse, James, and Meowth, whose inclusion added nothing to the plot aside from a couple of small gags.

I wanted to like The Rise of Darkrai more, but its flaws hold it back too much for me.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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	Poll: Pokemon Diamond & Pearl the Movie: Dialga vs. Palkia vs. Darkrai Episode 1 Discussion Spenccr - Aug 18, 2010	11 replies	by CcCharles »» May 14, 2023 2:02 AM
	Anybody know? Vince - May 2, 2008	1 replies	by shadowsaiph »» Sep 13, 2008 9:22 AM
	YOu have to admit.. SargeantDawg - Feb 25, 2008	4 replies	by SargeantDawg »» Mar 12, 2008 11:50 AM