Pokémon the Movie: Kyurem vs. the Sword of Justice (2012) User Reviews

An Uninspired Entry that Brings the Franchise to a Screeching Halt

[carologletree · 4/10 · 22 June 2016]

This Pokémon adventure pretty much mostly falls flat. This is one of only two Pokémon movies that I would say I genuinely dislike. It's very apparent that very little effort was put into this one.

The premise is pretty lame. Keldeo is determined to become a "Sword of Justice" and to become one, he must defeat the monster Kyurem. Ash and the gang tag along for no reason other than that the plot requires it.

The three "Swords of Justice" that have been training Keldeo are all boring, one-dimensional characters that were not explored or developed properly, and we don't even get to see much of them. Kyurem also isn't given much depth, and we get no back story about him whatsoever.

There are many things that don't work and are done only to keep the plot moving, such as the "train tunnel ex machina" scene and the gang conveniently finding a blimp to get away in from an abandoned museum (how did they get the blimp to even work anyway?!).

The script is very weak and contains too much obligatory dialogue. The use of flashbacks in this film is far too numerous and is even very strange in some instances. The plot kind of meanders and mostly feels like an extended TV episode. It also didn't help that Iris and Cilan are in the movie.

There are some all right action scenes and the animation is pretty nice, but at this point, that doesn't really cut it anymore.

This is one of the worst Pokémon movies, if not the worst. This film has very little to offer even the least demanding of Pokémon fans. I just wish more thought and care was put into this. Recommended ONLY to people who want to see every single Pokémon movie, but have your expectations considerably lowered.

RATING: D+

Good movie.

[jacobjohntaylor1 · 6/10 · 15 July 2019]

This is a good movie. It is kind of scary. It has a great story line. It is also has pretty good acting. Very good animation. It is a good fantasy movie. See it. It is a good movie.

Pony Verdict

[ThunderKing6 · 6/10 · 21 July 2020]

This movie was way better than the previous black and white movie. This movie has more dept and motivation to it.

The start without Ash were the best parts of the movie due to the fact its unpredictable and allows more freedoom to tell a story. When Ash arrives on screen, everything goes down down hill.

Ash is predictably is once again corny and too nice. The show just slows down and become very unpleasant when Ash is on screen.

Pokemon could renergized if they change characters. They can keep Pikachu if they need to. A different personality and backstory for the main human character is a must.

This shows and movies are boring.

Worst Pokémon movie out of the first 15

[Emdosis · 2/10 · 4 February 2020]

Please don't waste your time and money on this terrible movie unless you were born in the late 2000's or later. Not only is it bad but it's like 50 minutes long as well, definitely not worth the 15 euro I paid for this.

Production wise its fine, storywise not so much

[breakdownthatfilm-blogspot-com · 4/10 · 5 March 2022]

The Pokémon franchise has made quite a habit of using their film entries to introduce new legendary Pokémon to their seemingly unlimited roster. One thing though that would be nice is to try something different in structure. Sometimes very slight alterations were made which helped, but very much the overall execution was the same as before. It really could be that the director and writer pair Kunihiko Yuyama and Hideki Sonoda are running out of ideas, or this is what truly satisfies the fan base. For a franchise to go on like this however, there should be something to keep feeling new and nostalgic about it, once time passes on. The earlier films might retain more of that feeling for varying reasons. As for the latest films to come out after the new production company took over, the entries just haven't been as unique.

The plot for this film does actually take another approach as what is being asked here. It's not enough, but credit should be given where a request is fulfilled. The story is about Keldeo (Vic Mignogna), a Pokémon looking to become a sword of justice, which is a group of other noble Pokémon that consist of Cobalion (Tyler Bunch), Virizion (Emlyn Morinelli) and Terrakion (David Manis). All of whom are telepathic, can create a sword-like horn of light out of their head and fight for those in need. In order to become a sword of justice, Keldeo is to train and battle Kyurem (Marc Thompson), the strongest dragon in the world who contains the power of Zekram and Reshram. Oh and it's also telepathic. Really this is Keldeo's movie and character story. Ash and his friends are in this movie too, but are definitely not the focus. Team Rocket just has cameos this time!

So the change in focus is different, that's fine but the amount given is a little drastic. It almost feels like Ash and friends don't even really need to be involved. Can't there be a balance? It can't be all Ash or nothing. As seen in the film though, there really is no development among the recurring characters. So what's their purpose other than to move things along? One thing that's definitely been overdone is the whole telepathic Pokémon aspect. Thankfully, Keldeo is nowhere near the same design as others like Victini, Mew or Celebi, but the design feels closer to that of My Little Pony. That's not an insult, it's more of how the design fits in with other characters. Even more strange is that Keldeo shoots geysers from the bottom of his hooves. That just doesn't look very useful other than for jet propulsion.

Voice acting can't be knocked here. All the voice actors in their recurring roles do just fine now that they've established themselves well. Even the voice actors who voice the swords of justice and Kyurem match what is on screen in energy. It's just weird seeing a bunch of telepathic Pokémon talking to each other with no humans involved. Vic Mignogna is known for voicing Broly in Dragonball Z. Marc Thompson voiced Duke Devlin in Yu-Gi-Oh. Tyler Bunch has also worked as a muppet performer. Emlyn Morinelli has played miscellaneous characters in some Pokémon episodes, while David Manis hasn't done much voice acting at all let alone Pokémon. The right cast members are here to get the job done, it's just the quality of the script that is lacking unfortunately.

Visually the animation is also competently handled. There aren't any noticeable spots that looked unfinished or needing touchups. Cinematography which is again this time taken care of by Shinsuke Ikeda is unclear for what reason. There are some scenes that look like realistic photo backgrounds were used...perhaps that's what the cinematography was needed for? Finally, the film score by Shinji Miyazaki is stock at this point. There really isn't a whole lot to his music right now as it feels like very much the same from entries before. The only good thing is that the runtime on this entry is the shortest of all so far, which makes the viewing experience somewhat painless. Too bad, because that's not how a film should be seen as.

Right now it seems like the franchise is on autopilot with its entries. The production continues to be good whether it be the voice acting or animation. But the music and variety in how the story is executed has been one too many of the same kind presented before. The difference here is, it's about a Pokémon's journey, not Ash and his friends.

zzz, when is it going to end!

[aboxcat · 1/10 · 7 February 2022]

This movie isn't emotional, it's not entertaining, and it's just not very fun either. Not to be too cruel, but this may be the worst Pokémon movie that I have ever seen, even worse than the Hoopa movie.

For one, the plot is way too straightforward. The Pokémon Keldeo wants to defeat Kyurem (a supposedly evil Pokémon that has done literally nothing wrong towards Keldeo) to prove to his mentors that he's strong. Anyway, Keldeo loses to Kyurem and ends up getting his mentors frozen, so Keldeo runs off and meets up with Ash and his friends (the main characters), thus leading to an 'epic adventure.' Just kidding, it's actually quite boring.

The pacing was quite slow, yet frantic at the same time. The whole movie just involves the main characters running, stopping, running, and stopping, with little room to breathe or hear any of the characters personalities, and the action isn't exciting enough to keep you interested. The voice acting in this movie is dreadful, either the characters are too whiny (like ash and his companion Iris), or don't even put any effort into their lines, like Kyurem. He sounds like an old, grumpy man who got out of bed at the wrong time, so you can't even take the main villain seriously. This is some of the most basic dialogue in a movie, that I have ever heard. None of the characters have any charm or personality, they're just reading a script without adding any oomph, except maybe Ash and a single line from his friend Iris about doors.

"Now aboxcat," you may be asking, "are there any redeeming factors to this movie you whiny little baby?" Well, I guess Keldeo's motivation to becoming as strong as his mentors is a tad bit intriguing, but you don't get enough time to see what they were like in order to become invested.

You won't gain much from watching this movie, trust me, just go watch Detective Pikachu, a way more entertaining experience.

Getting some MLP vibes

[ericstevenson · 5/10 · 23 November 2016]

I guess we've reached the point where it's becoming redundant in the Pokémon movies. I am a self described huge fan of the series and want to see all the many movies. Of course, I just want to see all the movies of really anything nowadays. This pokemon movie is one of the weirdest. It isn't until sixteen minutes that we see the main characters actually take some action! In a film that's really short, that's a major flaw. We are introduced to Keldeo, the pokemon that wants to defeat Kyurem who it can become a member of the Sword of Justice.

It was weird seeing a movie that actually had five talking pokemon in it! Honestly, it came off as pretty awkward. It looked more like I was watching "Digimon". Keldeo was just fighting another pokemon for the fun of it, so it was really lacking tension. I mean, the other sword of justice members do relatively little throughout the entire film. Everything is too rushed in its short running time. Iris and Cilan don't have much purpose. At least I could learn more about the pokemon of that generation. I lost count after the first 500! I guess I like Keldeo as a character and the animation is really nice, but it just seemed mostly pointless and didn't really bring anything new to the pokemon franchise. The other movies are much better. **