YMMV / Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • While the English ending song, Together We Make A Promise, is most likely meant to be about May and Manaphy, the lyrics ^note  such as "In our never-ending journey, the roads have split apart" could easily be interpreted to be about Ash and any of his friends that he's parted ways with. This would be especially fitting since this was the last Advanced film where May and Max appear.
  • Several Advanceshippers have gone further and claimed Together We Make A Promise as their ship's official song, both for the same reasons and the film's already prominent Ship Tease between Ash and May.
• Americans Hate Tingle: Manaphy is disliked by many American child fans (and a Base-Breaking Character for teenage and adult fans), due to it having tantrums without May so often, that it constantly comes off as whiny. But in Japan? It has beaten fan favorites like Celebi, Jirachi, Shaymin, and Victini in Pixiv's (Japan only) popularity poll.
• Awesome Music: The soundtrack. This track especially. It's like the field trip theme from Finding Nemo soundtrack but stronger.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Team Rocket members Attila and Hun capturing Rayquaza.
• Contested Sequel: If this movie didn't have it hard enough as it is, it had the misfortune of following up Lucario And The Mystery of Mew, widely considered a Surprisingly Improved Sequel and among the best of the Pokémon films. To say Temple Of the Sea had pretty lofty expectations to follow is putting it very mildly.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Lizabeth has a pretty sizable fanbase for her friendly personality and attractive design.
• Fanfic Magnet: Manaphy after the end of the movie inspired a ton of fanwork.
• Fan Nickname: Manaphy gets lots of memes for being called "Prince of the Sea" when it's technically not an actual Prince at all, being genderless.
• Fridge Horror:
  • At the beginning of the movie, the Phantom has Manaphy's egg for a short period of time before Jack is able to get it away from him. If Manaphy had hatched when it was with Phantom, it would have imprinted on him instead and thought he was its parent, and then he would have the power of a Legendary Pokémon on his side...
  • Downplayed when Max is looking at one of the water-globes with the Pokémon in them. A Gorebyss pokes out of the water and startles him. One might assume it was just saying "Hello"...until you realize that Gorebyss is a vampiric parasitoid that sucks its victims dry and kills them. It might have been greeting him, or it was trying to feed on him. At least it was a tamed Gorebyss, which means it probably gets fed by its owners, and they're right nearby if it tried anything.
  • Jack Walker's backstory. He got lost in the mountains during a blizzard and a bunch of Furret and Swablu kept him warm. It's meant to be a touching tale explaining why he became a ranger, but one must ask why a child was wandering around all alone in such an environment.
    • He said he was around Ash's age so it's most likely he was on his own Pokémon journey.
  • Phantom being in possession of a People of the Water’s Mark, allowing him to enter the heart of Samiya. It’s visibly broken, and the one clue to how he obtained it was that he "went through a lot to get it", which only opens up all kinds of horrifying implications.
  • Ash stuffing May, Manaphy, and Pikachu in a very small tank as he goes off to restore the power to the temple alone. There was no visible air tank on that thing and somehow the three of them taking all the air didn't suffocate them. And even if it could keep them alive, had Ash failed, they'd be stranded in deep waters in a claustrophobic tank and no one knowing their location.
  • In a similar note, where are Ash's Pokémon (save Pikachu and Corphish) during the entire ordeal? If Ash died during the sinking, either of the two available options could be horrible to an extent: a) if they were staying in the Blue Lagoon, then they would the next day wake up and realize their Trainer is gone, or b) they were with Ash the whole time; sure Swellow, Sceptile and Aipom could have jumped out of their Poké Balls to save Ash, but how about Donphan?
• Fridge Sadness: The movie chronologically takes place shortly after the Kanto Grand Festival, judging by its Japanese release date and the presence of Ash's Aipom. This means that May lost the festival and had to say goodbye to a Pokémon she viewed as a surrogate child all within a very short time frame. No wonder she becomes so depressed during the last stretch of Battle Frontier...
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
  • This movie for some reason is very popular in South Korea, it even got a re-release there in 2015.
  • Ironically, the manga adaptation of this movie was hyped to oblivion in the West, due to many fans being fed up with this movie after 2007. It even got its own Quora page.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Some watched it for Kyogre, who only shows up at the end.
• Moe: Manaphy in this movie definitely has its own way of being adorable.
• Narm: Manaphy directing the Pokémon in the final battle. A Child Shall Lead Them, yes, but still...the voice.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Ash's Hoenn Pokémon, except Corphish, only appear for a few minutes. And it's in those few minutes that we get to see Sceptile in his only movie appearance ^note  As a Sceptile anyway; he appeared in his Grovyle form in the previous two movies and as a Treecko in Jirachi: Wish Maker. .
  • Kyogre shows up at the end for a few minutes tops despite being advertised as being the token Legendary of the movie.
• Sequelitis: Generally considered one of the weaker Pokémon movies, due to its unoriginal plot combined with Manaphy's presence. Certain fans are more kind to it though ^note In particular Advanceshippers, due to the film's prominent Ship Tease between Ash & May..
• Squick: Phantom heartbreakingly or enviously mentions that he wanted to hatch Manaphy with his own hands. Is this guy expecting parenthood or something?
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!: A lot of Western viewers accused this film's plot for being a blatant ripoff of Misty and Togepi.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Among Western audiences at least, it's often agreed that the movie would be improved if May was the one who saved Samiya in the climax, rather than Ash. Not only had the movie been A Day in the Limelight for May up to this point, but having her perform such a feat would have demonstrated her having Took a Level in Badass since she first appearance (which would be appropriate, since this is the last movie where she appears).
• Values Dissonance: A lot of Westerners find Ash forcefully pushing May into the escape pod, essentially stealing the climax of her own movie from her in the process, to be rather sexist.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: Though its higher voice and pony tail-like antennae may make Manaphy seem like a female, its gender is never officially mentioned plus it's confirmed to be a genderless species. It's maybe leaning more towards male since it's named the "Prince of the Sea" a countless number of times.