Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai, known in Japan as
Dialga Vs Palkia Vs Darkrai, is the
tenth film in the Pokémon franchise, and the beginning of a trilogy of
Diamond and Pearl films.
Set in Alamos Town, two deity Pokemon, Dialga and Palkia, are fighting. Ash and his friends take the time to visit the city, but little do they know that another legendary Pokemon, Darkrai, lives there. Assumed to be a threat, Darkrai defends himself from all the trainers (especially
Ash and his friends) as they try to stop the fighting between Dialga and Palkia.
This film borrows elements from the first nine films, from
solving a puzzle to
using a song to calm the raging Pokemon and save the world. Some criticized the movie for being lazy for that, as well as the ending. Needless to say, overall,
the movie was seen as okay, nothing too horrible, but nothing good either.
This movie provides examples of:
- Air Jousting: Apparently, when Palkia's pearl is damaged, high-force collisions cause damage to space in general. Guess what makes up half of Dialga and Palkia's combat.
- Androcles Lion: why Darkrai was loyal to Alicia and Alice, because of the former's kindness towards him.
- Back from the Dead/Death Is Cheap/Disney Death: Darkrai.
- Badass: Darkrai. He's powerful enough to battle a pair of Olympus Mons to a standstill. The two Pokemon who are credited with creating time and space respectively.
- Big Bad: Palkia.
- Breath Weapon: Dialga's Roar of Time and both his and Palkia's Hyper Beam.
- Bullying a Dragon: In the Japanese version, Ash (Satoshi) yells at Palkia at the end of the movie for everything that had happened, going so far as to call Palkia an idiot.
- Chekhov's Gun: the song Oración.
- Clock Punk: The technology used by the residents of Alamos Town in the movie seems to be a combination of this and Steampunk.
- Clock Tower: Subverted as the Time and Space Tower. It still tells time, however.
- Continuity Nod: The area where Dialga and Palkia start fighting could be the place where Professor Hale got sucked into in the third movie, due to the clouds of Unown swirling around.
- Conspicuous CG: Every aerial shot of the towers.
- Darkrai Is Not Evil
- Dramatic Shattering: The hourglass near the beginning.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Ash's nightmare reveals the presence of Palkia in Alamos Town. In the past, Godey dreamed of the future, catastrophic battle between Palkia and Dialga and built the Space-Time Towers before said event.
- Energy Ball: Palkia's Aura Sphere.
- Eye Awaken: Palkia does this once Darkrai awakens it by using Dark Pulse.
- Flashback Effects: The scenes of Alicia and Godey are shown in the sepia tones of a vintage photograph.
- Fore Shadowing: Ash's Nightmare Sequence.
- All the unusual events that happen throughout the town.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: The Time-Space Duo's red eyes turn orange and glow when using their powers. Especially noticeable during their first battle in the beginning. Darkrai also does this at the very end.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Darkrai. He gets better.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: After deciding that Darkrai is the cause of the anomalies, Baron Alberto leads the town in trying to bring him down.
- Identical Granddaughter: Alice to Alicia.
- Involuntary Transformation: Baron Alberto is transformed into a Lickilicky. Actually an illusion caused by Darkrai's nightmares brought to life by Palkia's actions.
- Jerkass: Baron Alberto. Hits on the engaged female lead within the first twenty minutes of the movie.
- Left Hanging: It was never explained why Dialga and Palkia are fighting in the first place, until the 12th movie reveals that it was because Arceus was awakening that the domains of time and space are overlapping.
- Light Is Not Good: Both Dialga and Palkia are actually given villainous roles in the film.
- Magic Music
- Męlée ŕ Trois: it's in the Japanese title, after all. (Dialga vs Palkia vs Darkrai)
- Milestone Celebration: subtle, but the theatrical debut releases special trading cards
related to the previous nine movies. - Missing Trailer Scene: As usual for these movies. In this case, there was a scene of Ash riding his Pidgeot.
- Named After Somebody Famous/Shout Out Theme Naming: Tonio and his grandfather, Godey, are named after the Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi.
- Never Trust a Title: The English title would have you believe that Darkrai is the villain of the movie. Turns out it just wanted to stop Dialga and Palkia destroying Alamos Town, despite the fact that everyone thought it was evil. Obviously the Japanese title subverts this.
- Nightmare Fuel: Invoked. Darkrai is the incarnation and bringer of nightmares.
- Nightmare Sequence: Ash had one of these after being hit by Darkrai's Dark Void.
- Official Couple: Tonio and Alice.
- Olympus Mons: Palkia and Dialga.
- Place Beyond Time: Where Palkia and Dialga are initially fighting, before breaking through into normal space-time.
- Punny Name: Baron Alberto. His uniform shares a color palette with his signature Pokemon, Lickilicky, whose Japanese name is Beroberto. Hilarity Ensues when he transforms into said Pokemon...
- The English dub simply had characters call him "Baron Lickilicky" so the joke was lost outside of Japan.
- Reality Warper: Both Palkia and Dialga count, being the masters of space and time, respectably, but Palkia was the one who warped all of Alamos Town into another dimension.
- Running Gag: Baron Alberto shouting into the air as the camera pans up to the sky or some other scenery.
- Scary Shiny Glasses: Tonio's glasses were like this at one point while reading his grandfather's diary.
- Scenery Porn
- Ship Tease: Darkrai and Alice. They call it Aegisshipping.
- Shout Out: The Space-Time Tower is based on the Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Familia,◊ and the design of Alamos Town was based on Barcelona, Spain.◊
- The Smart Guy: Tonio
- Taking the Bullet: Darkrai in the climactic battle. He spends roughly half the fight doing this.
- Tsundere: Alice is a Type B all the way.
- Unstoppable Rage: Neither of the dragons seem like it's going to calm down anytime soon. Especially Dialga after Palkia flees from their battle.
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