I was interested until the second I saw Ash in it. Sometimes I feel the pokemon movie characters could carry the movie on their own but along the way the have to paste Ash into the story because things should be by the numbers. I remember watching the power of us on netflix some months ago and it actually felt half decent but Ash kept ruining it for me. The characters and motivations were basic but compelling and if you removed Ash from it nothing would be lost, at all. The plot could've been resolved by the other characters, it almost felt like the story was halfway or already done when an executive asked "where is Ash and Pikachu?".
Feels bad man, I grew up with the first gen and just seeing Ash as this static, unmoving, immortal 10y/o feels wrong. I don't mind the fact that's a kid's show, that's a given. I just want a proper sendoff and replacement of Ash, many other children anime do it. Nothing would be lost if you replace Ash with another protagonist since he never changes, he will forever remain 10. Wouldn't it be nice if by Jhoto they changed characters and the world of pokemon kept moving? Like at this point Ash could be a 30 something legendary pokemon trainer the current generation of protagonists could look up to. That way you bridge older and newer fans. Heck even Team Rocket could be doing something else with their lives, maybe have cameos doing odd jobs here and there in the background.
But oh well, too late for that, just some wishful thinking. Hopefully the movie will be good or at least entertaining.
