Pokemon Heroes

Miramax produced a second Pokemon movie in mid-2003. Pokemon Heroes: Latios and Latias was the fifth Pokemon film and stars Veronica Taylor, Eric Stuart, Rachael Lillis, and Maddie Blausten. It grossed $20 million at the box office and was the first Pokemon movie to not have a number after the title.

Ash (Taylor), Brock (Stuart), and Misty (Lillis) are in the Venice-esque city of Altomare where they meet an artist named Bianca (Tara Sands) and her grandfather (Wayne Grayson). They hold the secret knowledge of Latios and Latias, twin dragon Pokemon who protect the city and the Soul Dew, a mystic orb that keeps the city safe from natural disasters, but a pair of thieves named Annie and Oakley (Mega Hollingshead and Lisa Ortiz) seek to steal them.

Yes, I did watch the dub for this, but mainly because it was at 2 in the morning and I really didn’t care at this point. As far as I can tell, the story didn’t change much, there were no twists that 4Kids ruined and I still think this film shouldn’t have been made.

The main villains are probably some of the worst I’ve seen in Pokemon, especially with the names Annie and Oakley. It’s obvious that 4Kids wanted to continue dubbing the villain teams on well-known historical figures, like Jesse James. But here’s the thing: Jessie James was a notorious outlaw that robbed every bank and train he came across. It makes sense to have Jessie and James because they steal things. Or at least try to. Annie Oakley was a sharpshooter and exhibition shooter in Buffalo Bill’s show and one of the first American women to be a superstar. She never went against the law. These two should have been named Billy and Kidd. That would have made more sense.

The plot, while it makes sense, just takes a while to get anywhere that by the time the climax comes, extreme boredom has set in and you’re just wishing for the movie to be over. Continually meeting the legendaries throughout the films is fun, but actually get somewhere other than “hey, Latias can transform into a human and it’s funny because she’ll always look like Bianca and mess with everyone’s heads.”

I’m a firm believer that Pokemon should have ended during the Johto League, with Gold and Silver being the last games and Pokemon: The Movie 3 should have ended everything. But since it became the second-most successful video game-based media franchises in existence (behind Mario), Nintendo just won’t let it die.

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