History Anime / PokemonLucarioAndTheMysteryOfMew

-->'''Ash''': ''[growls]'' [[RageBreakingPoint TAKE THAT BACK!]]

-->'''Lucario''': What makes you think that Pikachu didn't run off and desert you? Because it didn't want you for a master.
-->'''Ash''': ''[growls, enraged by the statement]'' [[RageBreakingPoint TAKE THAT BACK!]]
-->''[Ash rushes up to Lucario from behind and tackles him into a nearby pond]''

** Multiple pieces of promotional art feature the armor-clad pokémon soldiers along the edge of the image to suggest that they are the threat Lucario will be facing--these monster soldiers only appear in the prologue and in the vision provided by a time flower.

* FanService: The gang takes time from their roadtrip for a SwimsuitScene, which includes a brief shot of Ash relaxing in swim trunks and a slightly-less-brief sequence where May emerges from the carrier and walks down to the spring in the two-piece she just changed into.

* FlatCharacter: Mew, whose only purpose and thought is to have fun and see others having fun. [[spoiler:Mew immediately makes a HeroicSacrifice that nearly kills it and destroys the Tree of Beginnings, a habitat for many other pokémon, merely because it sees how miserable Pikachu is after the Tree's SeekerWhiteBloodCells have eaten the trainers]].
* FormulaBreakingEpisode: After a string of movies involving apocalyptic crises precipitated by humans meddling with pokémon or forces beyond their comprehension, this movie is [[BreatherEpisode mostly just a road trip]] to reunite Ash with his lost Pikachu.

** The Tree of Beginnings's SeekerWhiteBloodCells are completely immune to pokemon attacks, which pass right through them.

** Kidd Summers is so eager to capture Mew that she sends her two Weavile into the middle of the party Mew was having with the heroes' pokémon; the Weavile attack Mew without explaining themselves and naturally only manage to start a fight.

* PrehistoricMonster: The Tree of Beginnings's SeekerWhiteBloodCells all look like {{Fossil|Revival}} pokémon for some reason, despite these pokémon all being oceanic lifeforms and the Tree of Beginnings having no obvious connection to the ocean.

* RedHerring: Kidd Summers, who wants to capture Mew and is surprisingly generous to Ash the gang by offering to take them to the Tree of Beginnings, enters the final act in a prime position to become a TwistVillain by taking another shot at Mew, hang the consequences. She turns out to be a SheepInSheepsClothing, never tries to capture Mew, and only triggers the SeekerWhiteBloodCells on accident.

* SheepInSheepsClothing: Kidd is introduced to the main characters as a pleasant stranger who turns out to be a well-funded, thrill-seeking member of a secret organization that is very interested in the Soul Tree and some of the local Pokemon. Ultimately, that interest turns out to be innocent, and she and her mysterious boss never do anything villainous.

-->'''Ash:''' [[BothSidesHaveAPoint So what. It shouldn't have said Pikachu ran away from me.]]

The film is generally considered among the best of the series, as it makes a breakaway from the mostly derivative plot of the many ''Pokémon'' movies by featuring much more engaging characters and story. As of January 2022, it has the highest [=IMDb=] rating of the film series, [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0875609/ratings 6.9/10 from over 4500 votes]].

* GutturalGrowler: Lucario in the English dub has a deep, gravelly voice.

-->'''Lucario''': ''[scoffs]'' Your word means nothing. ''[walks by a visibly grated Ash]''

-->'''Lucario''': What makes you think that Pikachu didn't run off and desert you?! Because it didn't want you for a master.
-->'''Ash''': ''[growls]'' [[RageBreakingPoint TAKE THAT BACK!]]
-->''[a now furious Ash rushes up to Lucario from behind and tackles him into a nearby pond]''

-->'''May''': This isn't helping, Ash.

-->'''Ash''': ''[growling, enraged by Lucario's accusation]'' [[RageBreakingPoint TAKE THAT BACK!]] ''[rushes up to Lucario from behind and tackles him into a nearby pond]''

* TheCynic: Lucario's experience with Sir Aaron apparently abandoning the kingdom in its greatest hour of need and then trapping him in his staff for seemingly no reason makes it one of this, even picking a fight with Ash by telling Ash that he would have abandoned Pikachu in a second if he felt threatened and Pikachu may have ran away because he didn't want a weak master like Ash. Ash does not take the opinion very well.

* WolverinePublicity: Mew, despite being the first mythical pokemon, sharing title-space with Lucario, and being featured in all the marketing, proves to be little more than a PlotDevice that causes the movie's main crisis by separating Ash and Pikachu [[spoiler:and resolves it by reuniting them]].

* {{Expy}}: Sir Aaron bears a striking resemblance to Riley, a character from ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' who wears a similar hat, wears the symbol on Sir Aaron's gloves as a necklace, and whose SignatureMon is also Lucario. However, because [[ProductionLeadTime this movie was produced while the Gen IV games were in development]], it's unknown if Riley is a CallBack to Sir Aaron or if Sir Aaron is meant to {{Foreshadow|ing}} Riley.