Pokémon Ranger and The Temple of The Sea

Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea, also known as Pokémon Ranger and the Prince of the Sea--Manaphy, is the ninth Pokémon film. This is the first film that was dubbed by Pokémon USA and their voice actors. It is the last of the Advance Generation series of films.

A Pokémon egg is obtained by a pirate known as Phantom. Working undercover is Jack "Jackie" Walker, a Pokémon Ranger who retrieves the egg and flees. Meanwhile, Ash, May, Brock and Max meet up with Lizabeth, one of the descendants of the "People of the Water." Later, they team up with Jackie as they attempt to keep the egg safe from Phantom and his crew, and a Manaphy hatches from the egg. The little Pokémon sees May as its mother.

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This movie provides examples of:

• The Ace: Jack Walker. Probably a requisite of being a Pokémon Ranger.
• All Animals Are Dogs: The performing family's Buizel, which is seen licking Max once and also repeatedly plays with the Manaphy egg before it hatches.
• Badass: The asskicking Jackie lays down in the opening scenes is pretty ridiculous, even considering his Narmful lines.
• Bare Your Midriff: Lizabeth.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Meowth says that Diamond and Pearl would be great names for games. He gets told to wait until next season.
• Catch Phrase: Phantom repeatedly tells his Mooks that "There Are Two Kinds of People in the World".
• The Cavalry Arrives Late: Officer Jenny shows up to arrest the Phantom after Ash defeats him.
• Chekhov's Gun: The capsule that Team Rocket uses to hide from Phantom while they were following him to the Temple of the Sea.
• Chekhov's Skill: Heart Swap.
• A Child Shall Lead Them: Manaphy
• Conspicuous CG: Even more so than the movies usually go. The studio responsible would later do similar work in The Sky Crawlers and also work on Transformers Prime.
• Continuity Cameo: Attila, Hun, Marina, all from The Legend of Thunder.
• Cue the Sun: right after Ash saves the Temple, it rises out of the water, at the same time as the sunrise.
• A Day in the Limelight: May, as the movie focuses on her friendship with Manaphy, similarly to how the sixth focused on Max and Jirachi.
• Deus Exit Machina: why Corphish was at the Blue Lagoon during the temple's discovery. Ash saving the temple would have been a lot easier if he had the aquatic Pokémon at his beck and call at the time. The same could be probably be said for Jackie, who deserts the temple when he thought everyone else has gotten out of it safely.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Chatot, Buizel, and Manaphy, all of whom are Sinnoh Pokémon.
• Early Installment Weirdness: The Buizel acts more dog-like and less anthro then any Buizel shown afterwards.
• Fan Service: "May in Bikini" scenes.
• Freaky Friday Flip: Manaphy's Heart Swap ability.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: According to one review, the manga's take on the Sea Temple Dream Sequence has May in the nude.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: Like Pokémon 2000, only it's limited to water-type Pokémon, including Kyogre. At least this time they participated in the final battle. Yeah, Phantom's crew is screwed...especially once Ash and pals smash the sonar weapons that had been keeping the Water-types at bay.
• Le Parkour: Ash inexplicably knows how to pull this off when he was trying to save the sinking temple.
• Magic Music: Manaphy's singing has the ability to calm water Pokémon, and allows access to the Temple of the Sea.
• Merchandise-Driven: This movie practically advertises the Manaphy event in Pokémon Ranger and, subsequently, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.
  • Considering its title and content, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that, like the anime episodes with Solana, this movie advertised the first Pokémon Ranger game itself.
• Mythology Gag: in order to stop Team Rocket from escaping with the Manaphy egg, Jackie captures a Fearow, alluding to one of the leaders of the Pokémon Rangers in the first game, who has Fearow as his signature Pokémon.
• One-Scene Wonder: Ash's Hoenn Pokémon only appear for a few minutes. And it's in those few minutes that we get to see Sceptile in his only movie appearance.
• Parrot Pet Position: Where the Phantom's Chatot is usually found.
• Pirate Parrot: The Phantom has a Chatot that rides on his shoulder.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Manaphy.
• Ship Tease: This movie is at the top of the list on Advanceshippers (Ash/May) for the sheer number of hints present.
• Shout-Out: Among other things, Jackie's Flash Back shows him wearing Gold's/Ethan's clothes.
  • The whole "Pizza" thing that "The People of The Water" eat for Breakfast was simply a reference to Italian dishes, and The whole "Bassinet" thing where a simply tired Manaphy sleeps, after all of that swimming was simply a reference to a Human Baby's bed, which was simply unusual in Anime history.
• Submarine Pirates: The Big Bad is a pirate named Phantom who travels around in a giant submarine.
• Super Strength: Phantom seems to have this, but it's revealed in the end that he's just wearing a strength-enhancing suit. Which then shorts out. While he's trying to hold up a pillar so that it doesn't crush him. He lives, but still!
• Talk Like a Pirate: Mercifully averted.
  • Instead, he talks like Tuco Ramirez.
• Total Eclipse of the Plot
• Totally Radical: Pokémon Ranger Jackie talks like this on occasion.
• Team Pet: The performing family's Buizel.
• Voices Are Mental: One of the indications that Manaphy had used its Heart Swap ability.