Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You!

Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! retells the beginning of Ash Ketchum's life as a Pokémon Trainer. On the morning he is due to collect his first partner from Professor Oak, Ash oversleeps, and by the time he arrives the three usual starter Pokémon have already gone to other children. Oak instead gives him Pikachu, an Electric-type with a stubborn streak who refuses to stay inside a Poké Ball. The two get off to a difficult start before gradually becoming close, and after a glimpse of the legendary Ho-Oh they set out together to find it, guided by the Rainbow Wing it leaves behind.

The film is a Japanese production directed by Kunihiko Yuyama, the twenty-seventh of the twenty-eight features he directed in chronological order, following Pokémon the Movie: Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel and preceding Pokémon the Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back - Evolution. Shouji Yonemura wrote the screenplay, and the voice cast includes Rica Matsumoto as Ash, Ikue Otani as Pikachu, Megumi Hayashibara, Shin-ichiro Miki, Inuko Inuyama and Unsho Ishizuka. It runs 98 minutes.

It took about 2 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.3 out of 10 from around 8,200 votes, while on TMDB it holds 7.1 out of 10 from roughly 693 votes. A critics' rating of 5.3 out of 10 from nine reviews places it below both audience scores.