In the third Pokémon movie to be released we once again see our old friend Ash Ketchum travelling the Pokémon world in search of Pokémon battles and adventure…

Ash and his Pokémon-loving chums are on their way to the Johto Tournament when they decide to visit the beautiful mountain town of Greenfield and it’s not long before they stumble upon the Pokémon Unown. These were the most mysterious of all Pokémon – at the time at least! The Unown create a tough challenge for Ash that will make every Pokémon battle he has taken part in seem a doddle! With the assistance of his faithful friend Pikachu, along with Brock, Misty and even some help from Team Rocket, Ash must rescue a young orphan called Molly from the mystical forces that are threatening to turn her life into a dreamworld prison.

Molly’s dad is Professor Spencer Hale and he disappeared when he went on an expedition to study the Unown. Spencer was once one of Professor Oak’s top students and has been a good friend to the Ketchum family for a long time. He has an obsession with discovering what makes these black and white Pokémon tick, but he never expected them to turn on him like this!
After capturing her dad, the Unown create a crystal shell around Molly’s house and send an apparition of Entei to guard over her. She is allowed anything she wishes, except for the return of her dad. There’s also an added complication for Ash, as he must bring his mother back from the Unown realm after Molly wished for her to become her mum and the Unown brought her to the house. Molly wants a family more than anything else in the world, you see. Ash must rescue his mum before she is lost for good.

This movie is packed with all the Pokémon from the Gold and Silver generation with Entei taking the cover role. As you probably know, this Pokémon is a ferocious-looking beast with a big roar and a gentle heart. The movie also has a guest appearance from Charizard. Ash released Charizard into the wild in one of the early TV episodes and it has been living in Charicific Valley, but it comes back to help the young Ash during a particularly nasty Pokémon battle. Charizard is a good match for the powers of Entei.
Pokémon fans will be hunting this movie down, though, mainly for the Unown. These are 26 cryptic Pokémon that are shaped like the letters of the alphabet. Meowth describes them as “like Alphabet Soup, without the soup”! They have the ability to be able to bring the dreams and thoughts of humans into reality. Nobody seems to know just what the Unown are capable of if they choose to unleash their full power – but Ash it just about to find out!
As the movie rumbles on, the Unown start to lose their mystic powers, having gorged themselves on Molly’s feelings for so long, and Entei turns on them in an attempt to keep the peace. Jumping in to help Entei, Charizard and Pikachu manage to penetrate the Unown’s shields and smack them with a powerful Fire Blast. As Entei starts to fade away, the Pokémon tells Molly to keep him close in her dreams. Ahh, how sweet.
As the Unown return to their own dimension, they release Professor Hale and he appears at the ruins that he was examining when he went missing. All of the crystals that the Unown had created around Greenfield start to disappear and everything returns to normal. We never actually get to see Molly’s mum, though, even though she is mentioned – strange!

Third Movie Facts!
• The subtitle of the movie is Spell Of The Unown, referring to the fact that the Unown Pokémon cast a spell that covered the town of Greenfield with crystal. It can also refer to the fact that you can spell out phrases with Unown Pokémon!
•This is the only movie from the original Pokémon series that doesn’t feature a Psychic Legendary Pokémon in the lead role.
•Bizarrely, when Team Rocket saves Ash from falling in the movie they say that without him they wouldn’t be in show business, so they had to save him!
•In Japan the movie is known as Emperor Of The Crystal Tower: Entei. It launched on 8 July 2000, making British cinemas on 13 July 2001. It was the last UK Pokémon cinema release.
•Like other Pokémon movies, a special short starring Pikachu was shown before the main feature – it was called Pikachu And Pichu.