4 out of 10
 

A "Pokemon" is, in effect, a small, stylized genie that lives not in a lamp, but a sphere like a baseball that has itself, the intelligence and ability to fly around corners. In charge of them are their human masters who train their Pokemon to fight duals for fun. Even so, to introduce the various Pokemon, (including "Pikachu", the mouse that’s more cute than anything that Disney has ever produced), the film is preceded by a short.

Whilst not exactly much more than a handful of knockabout scenes about the Pokemon having unlikely accidents, it serves well its purpose.

The main film, however, is somewhat more cynical, involving the creation of a super powerful Pokemon ("Mewtwo") by corrupt scientists and sadly falls into the standard cliché of today, with the friendly Pokemon striving to stop this god-like Pokemon from taking over the world. All a bit reminiscent of a 60`s James Bond movie, it seems to be disappointingly mimicking by the Japanese animators of the run-of-the-mill Hollywood genre that they so wish to replace.