Welcome back to Pokemon Movies in Review, a weekly recap of the entire Pokemon cinematic universe. This week we’re revisiting Rise of Darkrai, the tenth in the series and the first part of the unnamed Diamond & Pearl trilogy. It was the highest-grossing anime film of 2007 and the first Pokemon movie to receive a rating higher than G in the United States. While Rise of Darkrai shares a lot in common with the kaiju-inspired Destiny Deoxys, it leans into themes of cosmic horror and existential dread and ends up being a more intense experience than any Pokemon movie that came before it. Ash is put through significant psychological torment throughout, which ultimately allows him to earn his best hero arc to date. They say bravery can’t exist without fear, and Rise of Darkrai takes its heroes to some pretty dark places.
The story begins in the Unown Dimension, a formless void where the Pokemon Unown can be found - last seen in Pokemon 3 when Professor Hale was sucked through a portal and trapped there until Ash and Entei broke the Unown’s spell. For reasons, well, unknown, Dialga and Palkia are trapped in there, locked in an endless, reality-altering battle. Dialga and Palkia are two members of the creation trio that represent time and space, respectively, and are - as we learn later in the movie - never meant to meet each other. As their battle rages on, Dialga lands a brutal attack on Palkia that shatters the pearl on its shoulder. Palkia flees from the fight, escaping into Ash’s universe and hiding in the Barcelonian city Alamos Town.
As Ash and Brock arrive in Alamos Town with their new companion, a Pokemon Coordinator named Dawn, they meet a musician/hot air balloon pilot named Alice who flies them to the Space-Time Towers where Dawn’s upcoming Pokemon Contest will be held. The trio learns about the history of the towers, which were designed by an architect named Godey after seeing a vision of Dialga and Palkia destroying Alamos Town in a nightmare. The tower is essentially an enormous music box that can play record-like discs and broadcast music across the entire city.
It’s interesting to see the patterns of repeated tropes and conventions that have emerged across the first ten movies. The Space-Time Tower, much like the Alto Mare Museum in Pokemon Heroes, the Tree of Beginning in Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, the LaRousse City robots in Destiny Deoxys, is a central defense system that plays a key role in the story. We’re also once again told of an ancient prophecy that eventually comes true during the course of the film, just like the Shamouti Prophecy from Pokemon 2000 and the Jirachi prophecy from Wish Maker. No matter how many times Pokemon movies repeat these plot devices, it never seems to get tired or derivative. Thus far, every Pokemon movie has had a distinct style or take on a familiar genre, and these repeated plot points work to give some cohesion to every storyline. Some might consider them lazy, but I’m still impressed at how many different ways the Pokemon movies can tell the same story.
Later, the group is exploring a garden designed by Godey when they discover some architecture that has somehow been twisted and deformed in impossible ways. A pompous chauvinist named Baron Alberto claims a Pokemon called Darkrai is responsible, and has been terrorizing the people of Alamos Town for some time. Darkrai arrives shortly after the introduction of Tonio, the great-grandson of Godey, and Alberto attempts to defeat it with his partner Pokemon, Lickilicky. Darkrai easily avoids the Lickilicky’s attacks and retaliates with a Dark Void attack, which misses Lickilicky and strikes Ash, trapping him in a nightmare.
In the nightmare, Ash is walking alone in Godey’s Garden. As he yells out for Brock and Pikachu, his shadow extends behind him preternaturally. As he turns to look at it, the shadow expands rapidly until the entire sky is blacked out. The shadowy form of Palkia then appears in the shadow and flies into Ash. Darkrai then appears shortly before vanishing into the ground. A hole where he stood that begins sucking everything into it, including a confused Pikachu. Ash dives into the pit to save Pikachu and the two are consumed by infinite darkness.
It’s a terrifying sequence that more than earns a PG-rating for the movie, but it’s also an important story beat that gains greater meaning during repeat viewings. As reality continues to twist and deform around Alamos Town, Darkrai is assumed to be the culprit and Alberto leads a mob of angry townsfolk against it like Frankenstein's Monster. But as Ash’s nightmare is revealed we soon discover that Darkrai only wants to warn people about the real threat: Palkia, whose battle with Dialga has caused all sorts of shifts in reality.
Soon, Dialga finds Palkia hiding in Alamos Town and their fight resumes. Darkrai attempts to intervene, but there isn’t much the dark Pokemon can do to stop the deities from battling. With each blow they land, pieces of the city evaporate and are erased from existence. Eventually, Tonio and Alice figure out that a song her grandmother taught her called Oración is the only thing that will soothe the dragons and stop them from fighting. Ash and Dawn ascend the Space-Time Towers as everything around them fades from existence and play Oración just in time to stop the fight and repair Palkia’s pearl, thus restoring reality in Alamos Town.
Ash has been in plenty of life-or-death situations throughout the last ten movies, but nothing he’s seen thus far can compare to the events of Rise of Darkrai. When Ash has taken huge risks in the past, like standing up to Mewtwo or diving into the Temple of the Sea in Pokemon Ranger, he’s done so with an adolescent mentality. I don’t mean to take away from all the heroic things Ash has done, but every kid thinks they’re invincible. I don’t know if a 10-year-old can really understand mortal danger, even when faced with a fire-breathing Moltres. But in this movie, Ash feels genuine fear, maybe for the first time. His courage in the face of oblivion is remarkable. Ash may have gotten superpowers in Pokemon Ranger, but Rise of Darkrai feels like the movie where he became an actual hero.
The real star of the show is, of course, Darkrai. I never thought much of the Pitch-Black Pokemon before, but it’s Batman-like representation won me over in the end. Darkrai has an instinct to protect Alamos despite its citizens fearing and hating it, and a deep, gruff voice that is surely meant to evoke the Dark Knight. It surprises me that this movie didn’t elevate Darkrai to A-list status like Pokemon 8 did Lucario, but maybe Darkrai’s day will still come - or maybe it just doesn’t make for a good plushie.
Next week we’re watching Giratina & the Sky Warrior, the first direct sequel in the Pokemon series. Hopefully we’ll finally get some answers about the Unown Dimension and figure out how Dialga and Palkia ended up there in the first place.