The water chariot race through Alto Mare's canals in the first ten minutes does more visual storytelling than most Pokemon films manage in their entire runtime. Everything after that is secondary to watching animators paint a city so lived-in and beautiful that you forget you're watching a kids' movie. Come back to this one years later and the plot problems disappear because you're really here for the animation and the quiet, specific magic of one island refusing to be generic.

Satoshi and his friends arrive in Altomare, an island city that holds a yearly Pokémon Water Race. Local legend tells of two Eon Pokémon, Latios and Latias, who long ago drove monsters from the island using a mystical blue sphere known as the Soul Dew. The pair still live in the city and guard it along with the Soul Dew. After Satoshi and Pikachu rescue a girl from two women and their Pokémon, he learns that she was really Latias, who likes to take the form of her human friend Kanon. When the thief sisters Zanner and Lyon try to capture both Eon Pokémon and seize the Soul Dew, Satoshi has to step in to keep disaster from striking Altomare. The film blends action, adventure, comedy and drama with a fantasy story rooted in the city's legend.