@fatalbanana: Of the ones I've seen (which is about 3/4s of them), my favourite is Film 9: Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea. I like the villain, Phantum, who, while a fairly generic greedy pirate, is a fun villain that isn't too emotionally intense or trying to be too menacing. Jackie is a fantastic character as the Ranger, and he plays a great role of an adult keeping an eye on the kids while trying to stick to his mission. He doesn't have crazy magical powers, just great athletic ability to go along with his action hero persona, and the Pokémon Ranger ability to call on local Pokémon for assistance (without capturing them). Ash and May are both integral to the plot where, in the end, they both get great achievements* (instead of just Ash). May and Manaphy have a wonderful relationship where both of them develop through the film.The other one-off characters are also useful, and I like that their goal is just to see the Temple and bring Manaphy home. I also like how they designed the way that The People of Water, in the modern world just use their abilities to be wandering carnival show hosts (to make use of their great swimming abilitiy) while also going on the road to find and bring Manaphy home. It's clear they, Jackie, and Phantum have been actively steadly going towards their goals long before the film starts that we don't need eplicitly shown.
I also especially like how the film is a single story thing, and not something that devolves into end of the world prophecies. There's also a great load of foreshadowing going on (with my favourite being how Jackie's use of Confuse Ray in the opening against Phantum is then repeated by Phantum at the end as his final effort to stave off the Pokémon) including all of Manaphy's powers appearing twice: when it's very young, playing and reacting; when it's gaining control of its powers.
The film is still a Pokémon anime film, which brings with it all of those problems (most notably seen in Brock, Max and Team Rocket - though not egregiously so) but it's certainly a fun little story.
*May's Achievement: Mother Figure to The Prince of the Sea, Manaphy, and honorary People of the Water.
*Ash's Achievement: He earns the Sea Crown and title King of the Sea by putting the Temple back together, restoring it to put its powers back into Ash and Manaphy (and later the others)
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