With each new entry, the "Pokemon" movie series seems to get a little better. While the first movie was just awful, all of its sequels keep topping each other somehow. So Movie 10, "The Rise of Darkrai", may be the best one yet.

After the introduction, the movie literally starts out with a bang as the dragon-like legendary Pokemon Palkia and Dialga battle in some strange, otherworldly dimension. After the scene ends (but the battle doesn't), the story goes over to Ash, Brock, and their new companion Dawn. They're on their way to Alamos Town to take part in a Pokemon tournament and see the sights, in particular the Space-Time Tower and the town's gardens. But strange things are happening and the mysterious, ghostly Darkrai is being blamed. A local scientist says otherwise, but a posse is formed to capture or destroy it. But before our heroes can resolve that crisis, the battle between Dialga and Palkia spills into Alamos Town, threatening to destroy it completely.

The animation, not surprisingly, is very good and the best yet: movements are quick and fluid while the CGI and regular animation are blend together pretty good. The plot moves along at a good pace, keeping the action coming while slowing down at many of the right places.

What I really like is that this time almost everyone helps out. Not only do the one shot characters and almost every Pokemon shown make themselves fairly useful, it's a treat seeing Ash and Co.'s "sidekick" Pokemon play a decent role, something that doesn't happen as often as it should. And it's rather refreshing seeing Dawn play the hero alongside Ash, as I do tire of him saving the day in many of the movies, even when other characters are given a lot of focus (see Movie 9, "Pokemon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea", for a prime example).

The downside? For starters, if you've seen all the other movies in the series, you'll have some deja vu. "Pokemon The Movie 2000" (Movie 2) and and "Pokemon: Destiny Deoxys" (Movie 7), quickly come to mind. And Dialga and Palkia's fighting will cause flashbacks of many Godzilla films. Also, some might not like the new voice cast. While the cast from TAJ Productions ended up being something of an improvement over 4Kids, the voice actors of DuArt are a slight step back.

But despite its flaws, which don't bother me too much, this is the best Pokemon Movie yet. Can't wait to see what Movie 11 brings to the table.

I'm still a Pokemon fan & I always will be! Because I grew up with Pokemon when I was little. When I first saw this movie I was like WOAH! This is one of the best Pokemon movies I've ever seen so far. & I had this feeling that I must buy this movie. The best thing I really like about this movie is that the movie followed up on the plot perfectly. The song "Oracion" turned out to be a beautiful inspiration to me. The special effects in 3D turned out great. & best of all it had such a sad but cute happy ending to it. I totally disagree on how the star rating turned out to be. I think this movie deserves something better. I would give this movie an 8.5 star rating. From all the Pokemon movies that I've seen they have been starting to improve quite a bit. Great job! Keep up the good work!

I have been a Pokemon Fan from the start but I was slightly disappointed with this film.

Many pokemon fan know that 4Kids entertainment had the rights to all pokemon anime/movies how ever it was then taken over by "Pokemon.inc" so the leading roll of Ash ketchum would no longer be played by Veronica Taylor but by Sarah Natochenny (A sound alike vice actor) no offense to Sarah but Veronica was the Voice many people had come to know as Ash's voice. How ever the sound alike sounds NOTHING like Ash, and this movie is the best example of bad dubbing, all the original voices have been changed for the worst except for Jessie (the red headed member of team rocket) who for some reason sounds the same.

But aside from the voices, the story line and plot of this movie, kept me watching till the end. a nice choice of music for the battling moments,

The story is set around the time of the Diamond and pearl animes time line, as two pokemon are engaged in a battle caught between space and time, in the mean time ash and his buddies arrive in a new town, where Darkrai ( a pokemon that is cause of your bad dreams ) is bringing chaos to the town and its people. could this be the end of the pokemon world as we know it ?