The annual pilgrimage to the new Pokemon big screen adventure is - even for a non-fan like myself - something of a disappointment.
Pokemon 3: The Movie had been ear-marked at one point for a straight-to-video release. The crude animation and heavy-handed moralising would sit far more comfortably on the small screen - the moppets can thrill to the sight of Pikachu and his creature chums, and parents could leave them too it.
In the cinema, there's no escape. Have a cup of tea or coffee to hand - you may need it to stay awake.
The format for Pokemon 3 is the same as its predecessors: a 20-minute short followed by the full-length main feature.
In Pikachu and Pichu, the adorable yellow mouse and a handful of chums get up to mischief, while a Dixieland jazz score plays along in the background. In the main feature, a young girl called Molly is distraught when her father, the renowned Professor Hale, goes missing during an expedition.
Hale was investigating the secrets of the Unknown, a strange race of ancient Pokemon which, according to Meowth, are "like alphabet soup, without the soup".
A layer of ice crystal soon freezes Molly's home and the surrounding town, brought on by the girl's grief. Ash and his fearless pals Misty and Brock, and their ever trusty Pokemon, bravely step forward to save the day.
Pokemon 3: The Movie features the big-screen debuts of some of the new Pokemon featured in the best-selling video games, including the leonine gentle giant Entei.
The screenplay furiously peddles wholesome messages of friendship and belief but it's pretty mundane stuff, lacking in any tangible excitement or surprises. Fans of the Poke-marketing machine will no doubt flock to the multiplexes in their droves. But on this evidence, it appears the Poke-bubble may have finally burst.
Poke-fans 5/10 Poke-parents 1/10
