Pokémon: Lucario and The Mystery of Mew

Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, known in Japan as Mew and the Wave-Guiding Hero: Lucario, is the eighth Pokémon movie, and the last to be dubbed by 4Kids before losing the rights to the series.

In ancient times of Rota Town in the Kanto region, two armies warred against each other, threatening the safety of all the people who lived there as well. Because of this, a Knight named Sir Aaron, who could use a mysterious power called Aura, and his apprentice, a Pokémon named Lucario, were sent by the queen of Rota to quell the fighting. On their way, Sir Aaron told Lucario that he's leaving the kingdom and never coming back, before sealing Lucario away in his magic staff. Sir Aaron stopped the war and was proclaimed a hero, but no one ever knew what happened to him. Flash forward to the present where Ash Ketchum and friends are visiting Cameran Palace in the middle of Rota Town for a Pokémon tournament. Being The Hero and all, Ash naturally wins, and so is presented with the Staff of Sir Aaron. Because Ash wore a costume identical to Sir Aaron's clothes and Lucario sensed an Aura coming from him, Lucario escaped from the staff, only to wind up distraught by his new surroundings and distrusting of humans. Later that night during a party, a Mew enters the Palace, seeming to want to play, but is then attacked by a mysterious thief. While fleeing, Mew accidentally takes Pikachu (and Meowth) away to a nearby landmark called the Tree of Beginnings. So it's up to Ash and friends, along with Lucario's help, to rescue Pikachu.

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 July 2010, it has an IMDb rating of 7.1 out of 10 from 507 votes.

This movie provides examples of:

"James: Meowth? Never to be seen again?
 * The Ace: Kidd. To quote Brock: "Kidd Summers has set a world record for setting the most world records ever aDai-Guard (talk)nd, she's soared higher, dived deeper, and space-traveled farther than any human being in history. Kidd's also a surfing expert, a gourmet cook, and a badminton champ. To call Kidd Summers a superwoman is the understatement of the century! She's super-duper!". The only reason Brock knows all of this is because he's her "biggest fan".
 * Action Girl: Kidd again.
 * Applied Phlebotinum: The Time Flowers.
 * Arc Words/Flashback to Catchphrase/Meaningful Echo: "The Aura is with me."
 * Aura Vision: Taught to Lucario by Sir Aaron.
 * Badass: Lucario.
 * Beast of Battle: As one might expect, the flashbacks to the war Lucario and Sir Aaron were in show humans and Pokémon fighting side-by-side.
 * Broken Pokémon: Lucario.
 * Breakout Character: Lucario. He is the only non-Legendary other than Pikachu to have a feature-length film. After the film's success...well, just look at Super Smash Brothers.
 * Broken Pedestal: Lucario's present opinion of Sir Aaron. He learns the truth later.
 * Call Back: To the first movie. They are the first two of three movies set in the Kanto region Where It All Began, and both contain a Mew as one of the main characters.
 * Chronoscope: The Time Flower
 * Conspicuous CG
 * Continuity Nod: The ending credits shows Kidd visiting Forina, the setting of Jirachi Wishmaker, and meeting with Butler and Diane.
 * Also two in the Diamond and Pearl seasons of the anime: Ash's Aura abilities come up in the Riolu special, and he is able to recognize Aura Spheres on sight.
 * Listen closely to the song played by the Lapras music box that Mew is playing for Meowth and Pikachu. Recognize that tune? It's Jigglypuff's song.
 * Chekhov's Gun: The Time Flowers again.
 * Crowning Moment of Heartwarming/Tear Jerker: When the trainers are, their last acts are to release their Pokémon so they aren't eaten as well.
 * Disney Death: The human cast end up
 * Early-Bird Cameo: A standard for Pokémon Movies, Lucario, Bonsly, Mime Jr., and Weavile all appear in this movie, quite some time before the first Generation IV games would introduce them properly.
 * Expy: Riley in Diamond/Pearl/Platinum appears to be an expy of Sir Aaron, complete with Lucario and the ability to use Aura.
 * This in turn has led several fans to believe that Riley is a direct descendant of Sir Aaron, further helped by Riley wearing a necklace in the shape of the pattern on Sir Aaron's gloves.
 * Failed a Spot Check
 * Failed a Spot Check

Jessie: We're the ones who are supposed to be doing all the stealing.

James: Did you miss the "never to be seen" part?"

"Kidd Summers: You'll end up destroying yourself!
 * Famed in Story: Sir Aaron is celebrated as a hero in the present day, though Lucario views him quite differently, due to the fact that the last time he sees Sir Aaron is him apparently abandoning the kingdom in its hour of need.
 * Fan Service: "May in Bikini" scenes.
 * Final Speech: Lucario is able to hear Sir Aaron's final words through the Time Flower, culminating in Aaron calling Lucario his friend as he dies and hoping they can meet again someday.
 * Fish Out of Temporal Water: Lucario, though no actual time travel is involved.
 * The Force: Aura is generally an equivalent to this concept, with it existing in all things animate or inanimate, being rarely usable in humans, and Lucario being the only Pokémon capable of sensing and using it.
 * A little bonus can be found in that Sir Aaron, one of those humans who could use Aura, was a knight while he was alive.
 * Four Is Death: The four Time Flowers the gang finds.
 * A Friend in Need: This, along with The Power of Friendship, are the driving forces of the movie.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: The pompoms on Jessie's festival outfit have implications.
 * Brock and that handbook of his.
 * A Handful for An Eye: Averted, in that while Lucario does end up with dirt in his eyes, he can still use his Aura Vision to see and fight.
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * Hero Antagonist: Arguably the Regis, protectors of the Tree of Beginning, who only persecuted Ash and company after they "invaded".
 * Hot Springs Episode: Well, without the antics, anyway.
 * Identical Granddaughter: apparent with Lady Ilene, to the point where Lucario mistakes her for her ancestor Lady Rin.
 * Implacable Mons: The Regis. They're virtually unfazed by the many attacks thrown at them and continue to pursue the heroes until Mew saves all the trainers from the Tree of Beginning. Especially impressive is the fact that they do this despite Lucario attacking them with Aura Sphere every time they show up.
 * Intellectual Animal: Lucario, like some of his other movie Pokémon companions, can communicate with humans via telepathy.
 * Kamehame Hadoken: Lucario's Aura Sphere, of course.
 * Killed Off for Real: Sir Aaron in the flashbacks
 * Late to The Punchline: during the festival, Brock is wearing a pastor's outfit.
 * Lucario Is About To Fire An Aura Sphere At You
 * Missing Trailer Scene: One of the trailers involved scenes such as Kid apparently attempting to drive her jeep through the hot springs, Lucario going into some kind of alternate dimension, and a scene in a rocky area with Ash and Lucario. Ash is kneeling with a scared look on his face while reaching towards Lucario, who is lying on the ground, apparently dead from unknown causes.
 * Mistaken Identity: When Lucario is first set free, he initially believes Ash is Sir Aaron because their Aura is the same. Not knowing this at the time, Ash believed the mistake was due to wearing an outfit similar to Aaron's.
 * Never Say "Die": Played straight with a human and then immediately averted with the 'tree' and Pokémon.

Ash: If I don't do this, the Tree will die, and so will the Pokémon who live here!"


 * No Antagonist: Team Rocket doesn't really do much this time around, and the entire rest of the plot is set in motion by well-meaning characters who are just spectacularly poor at communicating.
 * No Pronunciation Guide: It's Bon-sly, not Bon-slee. Pokémon USA were reached for comment after the movie was premiered at a convention and confirmed that 4Kids were doing it wrong.
 * Also, Regice's name makes it look like it should be pronounced Reg-ice, not Reg-i-ice. Although it is pronounced Reg-i-ice in the Japanese version and in most later appearances of the character.
 * Posthumous Character: Sir Aaron
 * Poor Communication Kills: They could have called this Poor Communication Kills: the Movie.
 * Additionally,
 * Rescue Arc: although, ironically, Pikachu wasn't in any real danger.
 * Ret-Gone: Inverted. A painting displayed in the palace shows Sir Aaron alone. During the end credits, when the heroes return to the palace, they find that the painting now shows Lucario standing next to Sir Aaron.
 * Samus Is a Girl: Kidd, in knight costume. In-universe as well, seeing how Ash and company reacted when she took her helmet off.
 * Sealed Badass in a Can: Sir Aaron seals Lucario into his staff and leaves him there. Flash-forward to the present, and Ash's aura allows him to be released.
 * Shout-Out: the fact that the two warring armies are Red and Green is a direct reference to the original two Pokémon games.
 * Spy Catsuit: Kidd's outfit.
 * Tagalong Kid: the wild Bonsly, which had no relevance to the plot whatsoever.
 * Chekhov's Gunman: In the end credits, Bonsly is shown playing with Mew, implying that Mew has a new friend that it can play with without, you know, kidnapping one.
 * Tastes Like Friendship: Max earns Lucario's trust by offering him some chocolate. And thus Chocolate became Lucario's Trademark Favorite Food. At least in the fandom.
 * Together in Death
 * What the Hell, Hero?: May gives one to Ash after
 * When Trees Attack: Oh dear God.
 * World Tree: The Tree of Beginning.