* ChannelHop: Creator/WarnerBros, who had distributed the first three ''Pokémon'' movies outside Japan, dropped the distribution rights after ''Anime/Pokemon3'' underperformed at the box office. Starting with this film, [[Creator/{{Miramax}} Miramax Films]] held distribution rights for future ''Pokémon'' movies (in select territories) until ''Anime/PokemonDestinyDeoxys''. Warner Bros. wouldn't distribute another ''Pokémon'' movie again until ''Film/PokemonDetectivePikachu'', which unlike other ''Pokémon'' movies is actually co-produced by WB.
* CowboyBebopAtHisComputer: Many summaries call the main villain [[KidFromTheFuture the future descendant of Jessie and James]]. Nowhere is this implied in the film.
* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: [=4Kids=] commissioned a few new scenes for their English dub. A Japanese version of this cut does exist, but it was only shown once. All Japanese home releases use the original cut.
* ScrewedByTheLawyers: Miramax's long-standing hold on ''Pokémon 4Ever'' made it one of the four movies The Pokémon Company could not include in ''[[Anime/PokemonIChooseYou I Choose You]]'''s English music video of all previous movies, or any of [=TwitchPresents=]’s ''Pokemon'' marathons. Unlike the other Miramax-distributed ''Pokémon'' movies, though, ''[=4Ever=]'' was lucky to be digitally distributed... at least for a limited time. The rights would fully revert to TPC by December 2023, when they re-released it and ''Heroes'' digitally.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The movie caused an example to occur within the main series: the GS Ball storyline was meant to conclude with The Reveal that the GS Ball contained Celebi, in turn leading into a multi-episode story arc. When it was decided that Celebi would be featured in this movie, the writers shelved this and the GS Ball storyline went unresolved to this day.
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