Dr. K's Waiting Room

Quick Facts:
An instant phenomenon, Pokémon (Nintendo/Creatures/Game Freak, 1995 to present) dominated playgrounds with videogames, trading cards, and an ongoing anime series (1997 to present). This led to the successful first feature film, which spawned a slew of sequels. By 2005, these were being released straight to video outside of Japan but continued to feature popular Pokémon like Mew, who famously birthed Mewtwo on this day.

The Review:
Taking place during the Advanced Battle portion of the anime series (2004 to 2005) and featuring Pokémon from the upcoming Diamond and Pearl releases (Game Freak, 2006), Lucario and the Mystery of Mew opens in the distant past of the Kanto region. At this time, the beautiful Cameron Palace was caught in the middle of a brutal war was fought between two, heavily armoured Pokémon armies. This impending danger is discovered by the titular Lucario (Sean Schemmel), a stoic and proud Fighting/Steel-Type Pokémon who wields incredible power through its “Aura” abilities. Focusing its power through a nearby crystalline formation, Lucario warns its master – “Aura Guardian” Sir Aran (Jason Griffith) – of the danger before being attacked and temporarily blinded by two Houndoom (Koichi Sakaguchi). Although Lucario fends off the Pokémon, he’s stunned when Sir Aran abandons Queen Rin (Bella Hudson) and the castle. When the aghast Lucario pursues, Sir Aran traps it within a magical staff, leaving it feeling hurt and betrayed. History, however, remembers Sir Aran very differently as it’s said he travelled to the nearby “Tree of Beginning” and ended the conflict between the Pokémon armies, restoring peace to the land. Sir Aran’s so well-renowned that Cameron Palace holds an annual festival to celebrate its hero, one that aspiring Pokémon Master Ash Ketchum (Veronica Taylor) and his friends just so happen to be present for. Ash, Brock (Eric Stuart), May (Veronica Taylor), Max (Amy Birnbaum), and (reluctantly) Pikachu (Ikue Ōtani) dress in period-appropriate outfits for the occasion and Ash (garbed in an outfit resembling Sir Aran’s) conveniently wins the annual Pokémon tournament to be crowned “Aura Champion”. Though he’s annoyed to miss out on the dancing and revelry, Ash is amazed by an ancient staff he’s gifted and the whispers he can hear emanating from it and is absolutely gob-smacked when Lucario is unexpectedly released from it.

Still partially blinded and confused from the time dilation, Lucario initially mistakes Ash for Sir Aran and flees, amazed to find that hundreds of years have passed, but is calmed by Lady Ilene (Bella Hudson), who recognises it from legend. Lucario’s awakened just in time as a mischievous Mew (Satomi Kōrogi) has been masquerading as various Pokémon (including the legendary Ho-Oh) during the festivities and playing with Pikachu and other Pokémon, unaware that world-renowned record breaker and part-time Pokémon trainer Kidd Summers (Rebecca Soler) is hoping to track it to the fabled Tree of Beginning. A miscommunication sees her Weavile (Eric Stuart) get a little rough with Mew, Pikachu, and Team Rocket’s outspoken mascot, Meowth (Maddie Blaustein), leading Mew to teleport itself, Meowth, and the injured Pikachu to the Tree of Beginning to heal. When Max informs the others, Kidd eagerly joins them in journeying to the Tree of Beginning (much to Brock’s delight) and Lucario obediently agrees to lead them, though it’s fraught with scepticism about human nature. The journey sees Lucario learn of Ash and Pikachu’s friendship and remember happier times with Sir Aran, where its master taught him to hone his Aura to attack and communicate. Somewhat uptight and reserved, Lucario struggled to let its guard down even when encouraged by its master and lashes out whenever Ash and the others invite it to bathe or share food, believing humans cannot be trusted. Local “time flowers” only further sour its mood as he’s reminded of Sir Aran’s treachery and it eventually comes to blows with Ash, believing Ash would abandon his so-called friend just as easily. Max helps make peace with some chocolate and Ash later tearfully apologises, aware that he’s on edge with worry about his lost friend.

While Meowth enjoys hanging out with Mew at the Tree of Beginning, Pikachu is equally eager to reunite with Ash but compelled to stay by Mew, who wants to keep playing. When Ash and the others – included Meowth’s Team Rocket cohorts James (Eric Stuart) and Jessie (Rachael Lillis) – reach the Tree of Beginning, they’re violently attacked by its three guardians, the legendary Regice (Kunihiro Kawamoto), Recirock (Eiji Miyashita), and Registeel (Atsushi Kakehashi), mindless near-automatons who attack both groups and drive them further into the Tree of Beginning. Within, the humans are attacked by “antibodies” that resemble fossil Pokémon and swallow them as a defensive measure, shrugging off their attempts to fight back and leaving any Pokémon unharmed in favour of consuming their human companions. This leaves Pikachu so distraught when Ash seemingly dies (…again) that Mew reluctantly uses its incredible powers to converse with the Tree of Beginning and restore those it absorbed, quelling the Regis and reuniting the trainers with their Pokémon. The antibody subplot was a touch unnecessary, I feel, and distracted from the inclusion of the Regis, who were enough of a threat by themselves since even Lucario couldn’t hold them off. While the Tree of Beginning makes for an interesting natural maze and beautiful background, it gets very samey and the film even drops the ball on finally paying off the Ho-Oh tease from the anime’s first episode. I’m also not sure if this Mew is supposed to be the same one from the first movie and it’s a little lacklustre having the main plot be kicked off because the cheeky little kitty wanted to play with its new friends. This means May and Max don’t get much to do beyond berating Ash or helping to melt Lucario’s heart, though Kidd makes for a fun temporary addition to the cast as she’s a pioneer with all kinds of nifty gadgets that are sadly wasted on this adventure.

There is no central antagonist in Lucario and the Mystery of Mew. The antibodies and Regis are simply defending the Tree of Beginning, which has a symbiotic relationship with Mew and threatens to degenerate after the effort of restoring everyone drains Mew’s life force. Determined to save Mew using the Tree of Beginning’s fabled regenerative powers, our heroes journey to the tree’s heart and find Sir Aran’s gloves resting on a pulsating crystalline structure containing his frozen corpse. A nearby time flower reveals that Sir Aran shunned Lucario to keep it from following him to the Tree of Beginning, where Sir Aran sacrificed his life using his Aura to stop the warring Pokémon. Galvanised and guilt-ridden by this revelation, Lucario attempts to use its own Aura to restore Mew and thus save the Tree of Beginning, only to find it lacks the strength. However, Ash conveniently has the same Aura potential as Sir Aran so he slips on the hero’s gloves and helps boost Lucario’s power, somehow just willing himself to generate Aura without any training or knowledge of how to do so. Of course, the plan works and all is restored, but the effort proves fatal to Lucario. A time flower shows Sir Aran’s last moments, where he tearfully wishes his Pokémon well and hoped to be reunited with it someday and Lucario weeps, acknowledging Sir Aran as his friend and saying its farewells before dissipating into energy sparkles and reuniting with his friend in death. Exiting into the fresh air, Ash promises to also keep them both close by and Kidd vows to never reveal the Tree of Beginning’s location to keep it safe from tourists. Lucario is also immortalised alongside Sir Aran at Cameron Palace and Mew even gains a new playmate: a Bonsly (Eric Stuart) May befriended on the journey.

Final Thoughts:
I had high hopes for Lucario and the Mystery of Mew. I liked Lucario and even used one on my Diamond team back in the day, though it ended up being far from the dark counterpart to Mewtwo I imagined it to be. It’s kind of weird seeing a Fighting/Steel-Type Pokémon have telepathic powers but the movie kinda explains it through its “Aura” gimmick, a semi-psychic power that makes this Lucario exceptional and which Ash also conveniently has. I don’t think this was necessary; I think his physical resemblance to Sir Aran would’ve been enough and he (and the others) could’ve just given Lucario emotional support in the finale rather than seeing Ash emit an Aura Sphere out of nowhere. If you’re looking for spectacular Pokémon battles, you won’t find them here as Ash has one of his weakest teams ever and this film is more focused on exploring Lucario’s lost faith in humanity and realising that its friend didn’t betray him after all. I do wonder if the film might’ve been improved by having Kidd be an antagonist looking to capture Mew or gain control of the Tree of Beginning as the film suffers somewhat without a villain. The Regis are painfully wasted, leading only to chase scenes, though the antibodies offer some of the more harrowing moments where characters, believing they’re about to die, release their Pokémon (Ash even tells Pikachu he loves it before being devoured). I was disappointed to see that Ho-Oh was simply Mew in disguise, however, and had no relevance to the plot and that Mew didn’t get more significance until its life was suddenly in danger. In the end, Lucario and the Mystery of Mew was a decent, somewhat emotional adventure with some relevant lessons to teach about human nature and such, but it’s a somewhat by-the-numbers Pokémon feature that I don’t think really lived up to its full potential.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

Are you a fan of Lucario and the Mystery of Mew? Did you guess that Sir Aran hadn’t really betrayed Lucario? Were you also unimpressed that Ash could wield Aura? Do you think the film squandered the potential of the Regis and Mew? Were you disappointed that Ho-Oh didn’t factor into the plot? Which Pokémon feature film is your favourite? Whatever your thoughts, leave them in the comments below and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest more Pokémon content for the site.