History YMMV / Pokemon4Ever

** As [[WebVideo/ThatDudeInTheSuede Suede]] [[https://archive.org/details/AnimeniaPokemon2000 pointed out in his review]] of the movie, [[spoiler:Celebi's death]] could've been used as an effective GreenAesop - if [[spoiler:Celebi stayed dead]], it would give the message that sometimes damage done to the environment can never truly be undone.

** As [[WebVideo/ThatDudeInTheSuede Suede]] [[https://youtu.be/fOAcTExhgHs?t=36m21s pointed out in his review]] of the movie, [[spoiler:Celebi's death]] could've been used as an effective GreenAesop - if [[spoiler:Celebi stayed dead]], it would give the message that sometimes damage done to the environment can never truly be undone.

** Suicune makes an early appearance in the movie, as well as a description that includes its ability to purify water, and serves as a partial motivation for Ash and his friends to explore the forest. But it doesn't arrive to help the heroes until the third act, only providing limited assistance against the villain and a brainwashed Celebi, and [[spoiler: while it does purify the lake, it's not enough to save the dying Celebi, requiring another DeusExMachina from the other time-travelling Celebis to do so]]. Ultimately, as cool and majestic as it is, it's contributions overall feel rather negligible.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Despite his [[KnightOfCerebus darker presence]] and his brutal tactics, many people view the Iron Masked Marauder as an incredibly underdeveloped villain. While his goal to corrupt Celebi and use it to overthrow Giovanni would have made for an interesting villain arc, his motive for doing so is purely based on a thirst for power and a desire to TakeOverTheWorld, and there is no insight on the relationship between him and Giovanni. Furthermore, his goal to capture Celebi, the ''time-traveling Pokemon'', becomes even more staggering when he shows no interest in using Celebi's time-traveling powers towards achieving his goal. All things considered, a lot of people agree that [[Anime/PokemonZoroarkMasterOfIllusions Grings Kodai]] is more like what IMM should have been.

* {{Sequelitis}}: While few will say ''[=4Ever=]'' is completely horrible, fans generally agree that its the weakest of the original movies and pales in comparison to the first three [[note]]all of which were written by Takeshi Shudo, who wasn't involved in this movie nor any of the subsequent ones[[/note]], and it's often agreed upon that this is where the movies degraded to being SoOkayItsAverage at best.

* TheWoobie:
** Celebi.
** Considering their usual depiction of evil, unstoppable juggernauts, the Tyranitar that gets caught by the Iron-Masked Marauder is this. When it first appears, it's so scared one just wants to give it a comforting hug. And it only gets worse for it afterwards.

* {{Narm}}:
** [[spoiler: The scene in the English dub where everyone is mourning over Celebi's death, in which Sam says that the forest's destruction wasn't Celebi's fault and that it's too late for Celebi because it's going to die. You just really can't help but laugh at how terribly Tara Sands delivered those lines as Sam doesn't even sound the slightest bit like someone mourning over someone's death.]]
** The entire ordeal of Celebi turning evil can count as this, as the Iron-Masked Marauder devolves into a cliched cartoony villain, and much of the focus is placed on Celebi’s CG monster form, which not only sticks out like a sore thumb in every shot, but suffers from an incredibly clumsy design and concept. Not helping matters is the fact that Meowth literally calls the beast a [[FluffyTheTerrible “twig monster”]].

* HoYay: There's quite a bit of subtext between Sam and Ash, though it becomes somewhat {{Squick}}-worthy when viewers find out who Sam is.

* HilariousInHindsight:
** The title. Perhaps this when the studio realized what they were mostly going to be doing from now on.
** 2 generations later, it would be possible for players to use Dark Balls to capture Pokemon[[note]]they were renamed Dusk Balls in the English version to avoid confusion with the Dark Balls from this movie[[/note]]

* HarsherInHindsight: One of the poacher's captives is a Tyranitar, which the Marauder would take for himself as his [[TheDragon dragon]]. Late into the Johto saga, Ash and company would later meet a Tyranitar who also had a bad experience with poachers in general (if you haven't already guessed, it's the mother of Ash's Larvitar).

* HarsherInHindsight:
** The Dark Pokémon are based off the TCG, though nowadays [[Videogame/PokemonColosseum Shadow Pokémon]] may come to mind.
** One of the poacher's captives is a Tyranitar, which the Marauder would take for himself as his [[TheDragon dragon]]. Late into the Johto saga, Ash and company would later meet a Tyranitar who also had a bad experience with poachers in general (if you haven't already guessed, it's the mother of Ash's Larvitar).

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The Japanese ending song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csdz_7MUMfk Ashita Tenki ni Shite Okure]] (English translation: Let There Be Good Weather).

* HilariousInHindsight: The title. Perhaps this when the studio realized what they were mostly going to be doing from now on.

* {{Narm}}: [[spoiler: The scene in the English dub where everyone is mourning over Celebi's death, in which Sam says that the forest's destruction wasn't Celebi's fault and that it's too late for Celebi because it's going to die. You just really can't help but laugh at how terribly Tara Sands delivered those lines as Sam doesn't even sound the slightest bit like someone mourning over someone's death.]]

** As [[WebVideo/ThatDudeInTheSuede Suede]] [[https://youtu.be/fOAcTExhgHs?t=36m21s pointed out in his review]] of the movie, [[spoiler:Celebi's death]] could've been used as an effective GreenAesop - if [[spoiler:Celebi stayed dead]], it would give the message that [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped sometimes damage done to the environment can never truly be undone]].

** The entire ordeal of Celebi turning evil can count as this, as the Iron-Masked Marauder devolves into a cliched cartoony villain, and much of the focus is placed on Celebi’s ConspicuousCG monster, which not only sticks out like a sore thumb in every shot, but suffers from an incredibly clumsy design and concept. Not helping matters is the fact that Meowth literally calls the beast a [[FluffyTheTerrible “twig monster”]].

* CatharsisFactor: After the sheer cruelty and brutality the Iron-Masked Marauder has committed throughout the movie, not to mention [[spoiler: almost causing Celebi's death]], it's truly satisfying to see [[spoiler: him fall from a great height into the forest, then see him rendered completely powerless and humbled by a bunch of [[ComMons Com Mons]].]]

* CatharsisFactor: After the sheer cruelty and brutality the Iron-Masked Marauder has committed throughout the movie, it's truly satisfying to see [[spoiler: him fall from a great height into the forest, then see him completely powerless and humbled by a bunch of [[ComMons Com Mons]].]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
** Despite his [[KnightOfCerebus darker presence]] and his brutal tactics, many people view the Iron Masked Marauder as an incredibly underdeveloped villain. While his goal to corrupt Celebi and use it to overthrow Giovanni would have made for an interesting villain arc, his motive for doing so is purely based on a thirst for power and a desire to TakeOverTheWorld, and there is no insight on the relationship between him and Giovanni. Furthermore, his goal to capture Celebi, the ''time-traveling Pokemon'', becomes even more staggering when he shows no interest in using Celebi's time-traveling powers towards achieving his goal. All things considered, a lot of people agree that [[Anime/PokemonZoroarkMasterOfIllusions Grings Kodai]] is more like what IMM should have been.
** The ending reveal that Sam is [[spoiler: a young Professor Oak]] doesn't have any impact on the movie itself (and, of course, no impact on the series as a whole). It could be removed and would change essentially nothing.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: The Iron Masked Marauder. People either admire him for his voice, design, and for posing a genuine threat, or view him as a boring villain with a generic motive and [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter loads of wasted potential]].

** The entire ordeal of Celebi turning evil can count as this, as the Iron-Masked Marauder devolves into a cliched cartoony villain, and much of the focus is placed on Celebi’s ConspicuousCG monster, which not only sticks out like a sore thumb in each shot, but suffers from an incredibly clumsy design and concept. Not helping matters is the fact that Meowth literally calls the beast a [[FluffyTheTerrible “twig monster”]].

** The entire ordeal of Celebi turning evil can count as this, as the Iron-Masked Marauder devolves into a cliche cartoony villain, and much of the focus is placed on Celebi’s ConspicuousCG monster, which looks more and more laughable with each shot. Not helping matters is the fact that Meowth literally calls the beast a [[FluffyTheTerrible “twig monster”]].

* ShipSinking: Sammy/Ash looks like an appealing ToyShip and has a surprising amount of subtext -- and then the ending reveals that [[spoiler:Sammy is Professor Oak]], retroactively making the idea a whole lot {{squick}}ier.