In the legendary past, before Poké Balls were invented, an aura-guiding hero Pokémon named Lucario sensed two groups of armies about to clash, and a threat of a massive war in front of Oldoran Castle in Kanto that would leave no survivors. He transferred this message to his master, the legendary hero Arlon, while he was being attacked by a violent group of Hellgar. During the battle, his sense of sight was lost and he was rendered unable to see. He used the detection of his Aura, and so with the offensive Wave Bomb, he eliminated them. Though by the threat, the queen of Rota, Lady Rin was resolute to die with her civilians, and so Arlon made a choice.
Direction
Kunihiko Yuyama's most ambitious narrative structure.
Score
Shinji Miyazaki's haunting medieval leitmotifs.
Writing
Lucario's arc hits harder than most Oscar bait.
Director
Kunihiko Yuyama
Rica Matsumoto
Satoshi (voice)
Ikue Otani
Pikachu (voice)
Yuji Ueda
Takeshi / Sonans (voice)
KAORI
Haruka (voice)
Fushigi Yamada
Masato (voice)
Megumi Hayashibara
Musashi (voice)
Shin-ichiro Miki
Kojiro (voice)
Inuko Inuyama
Nyarth (voice)
Chie Sato
Gonbe (voice)
Chinami Nishimura
Wakasyamo (voice)
Katsuyuki Konishi
Heigani (voice)
Tomoe Hanba
Zenigame (voice)
Unsho Ishizuka
Narrator (voice)
Koichi Yamadera
Arlon (voice)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was the last Pokémon movie to receive a wide theatrical release in North American theaters before Disney dropped the distribution rights.
Lucario's design and aura abilities draw heavily from Anubis and Egyptian afterlife mythology, making his sacrifice scene a deliberate visual callback to weighing of hearts.
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