Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Ash Ketchum wakes up late one morning after having broken his alarm clock in his sleep. He eventually makes it to Professor Oak's lab, but is told that the three starter List of Pokémon (Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander) have already been taken by Trainers who were on time. However, Oak reveals that he has one more Pokémon, an Electric-type named Pikachu. Despite its volatile and feisty personality, as well as its refusal to get inside a Poké Ball, Ash happily takes Pikachu for his journey.
A nostalgic retelling of Ash and Pikachu's origin story for longtime fans, Pokémon: I Choose You! retraces familiar ground from the original anime series with some alternate-universe tweaks. The plot is sentimental but thin, leaning heavily on nostalgia rather than narrative depth, and the alternate-universe changes feel more like fan-service detours than meaningful storytelling. Voice acting is serviceable but unremarkable. The animation is polished and colorful, a step up from the TV series, though not exceptional by theatrical animation standards. Novelty is low — the film essentially retells a well-known origin story with minor variations, offering little that feels truly distinctive. The ending leans on emotional manipulation tied to long-running franchise sentiment rather than earned dramatic payoff.