Story
Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us is the 21st movie in the Pokémon movie series. Longstanding character Ash (voice of Sarah Natochenny) and his trusty Pokémon, Pikachu, (Ikue Otani) are visiting Fula City, a futuristic wind-powered city with a dark and mysterious past. The wind that powers Fula City is sustained through a reverent relationship with a giant Pokémon, Lugia, who visits the city each year during the Wind Festival.
The arrival of the notorious Team Rocket in the middle of the festival starts a chain of events with potentially disastrous consequences. Ash and Pikachu must join forces with a team of unlikely heroes to save the city. They’re strengthened by the connection between humans and Pokémon – Pokémon Power!
Themes
Teamwork; stealing and crime; natural disasters (fire); animal distress; cruelty to animals
Violence
Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us has some violence. For example:
- There are many scenes of Pokémon battling each other and using their special powers to overcome each other. These scenes include explosions, electric shocks, water blasting, laser beams and so on. It’s unclear whether the Pokémon are ever fatally hurt, but this is sometimes implied. Otherwise the violence is without consequence.
- Humans are at times threatened by violent Pokémon. For example, Pikachu electrocutes James (Team Rocket).
- The Pokémon are sometimes captured and tamed against their will by hunters.
Sexual references
Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us has some sexual references. For example, the female characters Rina and Jessie wear sexualised clothing, including very short skirts and knee-high stockings. They also have exposed midriffs and wear make-up.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
None of concern
Nudity and sexual activity
None of concern
Product placement
There’s no product placement of concern in Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us, but plenty of merchandise associated with the Pokémon franchise is marketed to children.
Coarse language
None of concern
Ideas to discuss with your children
Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us is a visually stimulating, fast-paced animated action movie that will appeal to children as well as die-hard Pokémon fans. It has positive messages about respect for nature and the importance of working together as a team.
The main message from this movie is that working together is more powerful than acting alone. The relationship between humans and Pokémon symbolises the human relationship with animals and the environment.
Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include:
- overcoming social anxiety
- not judging people by their appearance
- respecting Japanese spiritual animism or similar spiritual beliefs from around the world
- understanding renewable energy.
This movie could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues like:
- the impact of social anxiety
- the consequences of lying and the morality of lying
- the impacts of humans on the natural environment
- the consequences of natural disasters
- ageism.