D
Demelza
Guest
Our story is centered around two legendary Pokémon: Volcanion and Magearna. They’ve been friends for numerous years and lived peacefully in a sanctuary away from humans, but when Magearna is suddenly captured by a group of Pokémon Hunters, Volcanion gives chase to their airship. However, Volcanion finds itself outmatched when faced against two Mega Evolved Pokémon and crashes to the ground after being defeated. There it stumbles into Pokémon Trainer Ash and his friends, which is bad news for the Pokémon, as it’s not fond of humans!
I’ll be honest here and say that although the story may sound interesting, actually, it’s not. There are two huge reasons for this. The first is that the main antagonist, Alva, has no evil mustache-twirling reason for wanting Magearna. There is a single throwaway line about how he wants to take over the kingdom he serves but the movie never actually moves in that direction. Instead Alva just seems to be evil for the sake of it. It’s difficult to enjoy a plot when the villain is nonsensical and has no driving force behind his actions, and I think this is a fatal flaw for the movie.
While Magearna can’t travel through time, it can be used to unleash a powerful weapon and this in itself is quite similar to the power of the legendary Pokémon Victini in the 14th Pokémon movie. For a series that has spanned 19 movies and hundreds of anime episodes, it’s no surprise that some ideas would be reused. The problem is how obvious they make these reused ideas and Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel is so obviously a rip-off of the fourth Pokémon movie that it’s just boring for me as a longtime fan. Even for the younger fans who might not have seen Pokémon 4Ever, the plot on offer here moves far too slowly to really captivate you. It’s a movie with a runtime of an hour and a half, yet during the first 45-60 minutes nothing really happens.
In fact, I’d go so far as to say this is probably one of the weakest Pokémon movies and feels like one giant advert for the games. This is not helped by the fact that the writers had to shoehorn in almost every single Pokémon that has the ability to Mega Evolve. They even go so far as to break the whole concept of Mega Evolution just to show the various Mega Pokémon off.
Also, if you ever read my review of the previous Pokémon movie, Pokémon the Movie: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages, you’ll remember I complained about the inclusion of a shiny Pokémon – something that’s meant to be a rarity in the world. Well, Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel also includes multiple shiny Pokémon, which once again leaves the movie feeling like one giant advert.
The music has once again been composed by Shinji Miyazaki and fits well overall. It has to be said that nothing really stands out or makes me want to listen to it away from the movie but it’s certainly not bad. The English voice actors also do a good job, especially Sarah Natochenny (Stephanie in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s), who plays Ash. Volcanion is played by Mike Pollock (currently Doctor Eggman in the Sonic franchise), who gives the Pokémon a grumpy old man personality that I quite liked. Pollock is certainly a better VA than some of the voices we’ve had for other Legendary Pokémon of late.
This movie comes to the UK thanks to Manga Entertainment and is on both Blu-ray and DVD. As you might expect from a Pokémon release, there are no extras to speak of and the movie is dubbed only.
Overall I find it difficult to recommend Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel. It’s definitely a low point for the Pokémon movies and easily one of the worst of the Pokémon XY anime era. If there had been depth to the villain then perhaps I could have let it slip by okay but, as it stands, this movie is probably only worth it if you’re a die-hard Pokémon fan who has to collect ‘em all.
Quick Information
Title: Pokemon The Movie: Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel
Publisher: Manga Entertainment
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Studio: OLM
Type: Movie
Original vintage: 2016
Format: Blu-Ray and DVD (DVD version reviewed)
Language options: English dub audio only
Age rating: PG
Running time in minutes: 90
Score (out of 10): 5
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