Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea (2006) certainly has improved in various areas compared to the previous ones. Throwing a personal Pokémon Movie Marathon does makes it easier to tell the differences between Pokémon films and while it is arguably the worst of worst Pokémon films, I beg to differ; it is not the worst there is although I would agree that it isn't a flawless animated feature!

Why? First of all, Pokémon stories usually set on the land or the sky if not alternate dimension. This one is under the sea! There are a lot of endearing water Pokémon which is amazing to watch and there is a brief spectacular Underwater Pokémon Show by Marina Group too! Then, this one has improved introduction which makes it less difficult keep up with the ever growing Pokémon franchise. The creators of these films are more careful now, they did not specify the total number of Pokémon any more.

What's more interesting are the new characters introduced, namely the Pokémon Ranger who utilises Capture Stylers instead of Pokéballs to command Pokémon and the story of the People of the Water, the descendants of an ancient water-based civilisation. Manaphy, the featured legendary Pokémon, who is related, is interesting and adorable too. It is quite heartwarming to watch it hatch from egg, bond with May and to be independent in such a short time. Although it is kind of sad that Kyogre and the Temple of the Sea are not much highlighted here, seriously, how can these not make it great adventure family film?

Okay, this is just a shorter version of my review so in short, the ending of Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea (2006) is indeed unfortunately ridiculous but it is certainly not the worst because it actually has one of the best backstory, maybe just poorly executed. Honestly, it is actually a pretty sweet, familial film!

After a spectacular high with the previous movie, "Lucario and the Mystery of Mew," can the Pokémon crew pull off another one? Sadly, the newest effort, "Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea," falls far short of the high marks set by its predecessor as well as the sixth movie, "Jirachi Wish Maker"---a relationship I will elaborate on further in a moment.

During the introduction to the story, we see a luminous egg float through the sea before being seized by a technologically-advanced pirate captain, Phantom. We are then introduced to the Pokémon Ranger of the title, Jack "Jackie" Walker, who has disguised himself as a member of Phantom's crew. Jackie seizes the egg from Phantom and escapes from the pirate captain's submersible headquarters.

Meanwhile, the main cast of heroes are wandering through a desert wasteland, and when they run out of water, conveniently run into a traveling troupe of "water show" performers. At a local performance, the egg makes a reappearance, being tended to by an oddly familiar clown soon revealed to be Jackie, the Ranger. It is revealed that the egg contains a legendary Pokémon called Manaphy, and Jackie's mission is to safely hatch it and deliver it to a place called Samaya, the Sea Temple built by the ancestors of the performing troupe. He does not wish to allow Ash's group to be involved, but an attack by Phantom during their trip gets them into it irreversibly---especially after Manaphy hatches in May's arms and promptly begins to think she is its mother! Much of the immediate plot following this details the development of a bond between May and Manaphy, and the establishment that Phantom's goal is to capture the great treasure hidden inside Samaya, the Sea Crown. The plot drags for quite some time before we finally arrive at Samaya, where Phantom suddenly reappears and finds the Sea Crown---a pedestal filled with crystals. As he begins to remove them, the temple begins to sink, however Jackie manages to replace all but one before the flooding carries him, Phantom and the last crystal away.

All the characters except Ash and May escape the temple before it totally sinks. They go back in with Manaphy and find the last crystal, but before they can replace it, Ash is forced to seal May, Pikachu and Manaphy inside a capsule Phantom left behind while he braves the nearly-flooded temple to replace the last crystal. He drowns in the Sea Crown chamber, but Manaphy's special powers allow May's prayer for his safety to revive him and give him the strength to place the crystal in the pedestal. When he does so, a green light appears and a tentacle of this light carries May's capsule to safety.

With the Crown repaired, all the water drains out of Samaya and the temple surfaces---however, May believes Ash died, and Phantom suddenly makes a last-ditch effort to capture Manaphy, since it can lead him back to Samaya at any time. The secret of the light is revealed---inside the tentacle is none other than Ash, granted superpowers by completing the Sea Crown. He outmaneuvers Phantom and rescues Manaphy, only for Phantom to attack with his submarine and its sonic blast weapons. A special song Manaphy sings protects all the wild water Pokémon from Phantom's attack, and then it uses them to destroy Phantom's sub. He is finally defeated by the legendary Kyogre and captured by the police as May bids farewell to Manaphy (which leaves her by speaking, in English, "Love you, mama! Love you....May") and Jackie radios his base with the news of his mission's success.

During the credits, we see Phantom and his crew in prison, Jackie speaking to an Officer Jenny, and Jackie capturing a Zapdos with his Capture Styler (a tool used by Pokémon Rangers) So, what is good about this movie? Unfortunately, not much. It is terribly unoriginal for one, sharing many plot details with "Jirachi Wish Maker." Phantom is an amusing villain who engages in a bit of slapstick comedy, but he has absolutely no backstory. Also, the token Ash death with him drowning in the temple feels rather tired this time around. Drowning is a common "death" that has been used many times in the TV series and movies.

On the plus side, Manaphy is adorable, and May waited a long time to get spotlighted (while Max, a more minor character, was highlighted three years earlier in the sixth movie) Overall, though, this one's disappointing. Movie 10, "Dialga vs. Palkia vs. Darkrai," looks to be much better than this. We shall see early next year if that holds true.

I have two younger siblings (aged 5 and 8) who LOVE Pokémon. They watch the TV show every day without fail, have stuffed animals, the video games, pictures on their walls, and they can tell you about almost every Pokémon there is.

Being 20, I seen Pokémon as a child and liked it as well, so I thought I'd go and rent some of the older movies to show them the originals. Well, getting there I realized there were 12 and decided to get them all. We watched them out of order but it didn't really matter. Over the course of a weekend, the 4th movie we seen was Pokemon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea. My 5 year old brother wanted to see this and was excited about the ranger and the pirates.

The beginning of the movie made it seem like we were in for a good one but after about a half hour the whole thing got old. I thought it was just me being older and not wanting to see it but it didn't keep the kids' interest and they told me this one was boring. We ended up finishing the movie but the last 20 minutes were filled with 'is the movie done yet?" These kids LOVED the other ones we've seen and the only ones we haven't are the next 2 after this. They still beg to see more Pokémon movies which I plan on showing them the final 2 today, but this one was by far their LEAST favourite. It just kept on going! It's a bit longer than the rest of the movies and I think if they cut the story down to the length the rest of the movies are, maybe it would have been paced well enough to keep their interest. It would get interesting and then not, the characters introduced were annoying, and the Pokémon they find cries throughout the first hour which even got annoying for my baby loving 8-year-old sister (she told me it needed to stop crying).

Ultimately, the graphics are VERY good compared to the previous movies, but the characters tended to get annoying and this made it least enjoyable for me and the two little ones.