The forest here exists in its own time, a place the film actually commits to making you feel rather than just animating. Ash meeting his younger self isn't the emotional core, watching Sammy protect something fragile while Ash learns he already did is. The villain is forgettable, which almost doesn't matter because what you're actually holding onto is the image of that lake, that light, that moment when two timelines touch and you realize the movie is really about the boy Ash used to be asking the trainer he became if he's still worth saving.

A young boy named Sammy rescues a wounded Celebi from a hunter forty years in the past. The legendary Pokémon's time-traveling power carries them both forward to the present day, where Ash, Misty and Brock help Sammy bring Celebi to a healing lake in the forest. The Iron Masked Marauder, a powerful Team Rocket executive armed with advanced technology, wants to capture Celebi and turn its strength against the forest. Jessie, James and Meowth are after the same prize, adding to the trouble. Soon Ash and his friends are racing against time to get Sammy and Celebi to safety before their pursuers succeed, in a feature film that mixes action, adventure, comedy and drama.