Pokemon - Jirachi—Wish Maker

Pokémon: Jirachi Wish Maker, originally released in Japan as Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation the Movie: The Wishing Star of Seven Nights: Jirachi, is the sixth film associated with the Pokémon animated series, and is the first one featuring the characters from Advanced Generation. It was accompanied by the short "Gotta Dance" (Secret Base of the Dancing Pokémon). It was released in theaters in Japan on July 19, 2003. The English adaptation was produced by 4Kids Entertainment, Amblin Entertainment, Imagine Entertainment and The Kerner Entertainment Company and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and Miramax Films (then a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company), released as direct-to-video on June 1, 2004. Although Cartoon Network currently airs the film in the United States, it aired on Toon Disney on March 9, 2007 (due to Miramax being owned by Disney at the time), being the first Pokémon film to air on Toon Disney.

The featured song in this movie is Asuca Hayashi's A Small Thing in the Japanese version while the English version, Make a Wish, was sung by Olibia Newton-John and Andrea Corr. The tune of this song is also used as the lullaby May and Max's mother used to sing to them when they were children. This is the first movie in which the original Japanese song is also clearly used in the English version, and the first time in which the names of the guest characters were the same in both the English and Japanese versions.

The movie is made to celebrate the third millennium, but came out four years (in United States) and three years (in Japan) behind schedule.

The movie's main location, Forina, is based on Wulingyuan, located in the Hunan Province of China.

Gotta Dance!
The plot of the short centers on Team Rocket and their newest base. After building their base, the Pokémon of Team Rocket manage to successfully capture three Whismur to provide entertainment to Giovanni when he arrives. To force the Whismur to cooperate, Meowth uses a baton that, when a switch was pressed on the end, made Pokémon dance uncontrollably.

Meanwhile, Pikachu, Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip and Lotad stumble upon the base and attempt to free the Whismur. One of the running gags in the short is how the dancing baton is constantly activated or deactivated by accident. This leads to the accidental destruction of the base thanks to the uncontrollable dancing of the Pokémon, including a wild Ludicolo and Loudred.

Jirachi Wish Maker
The story revolves around the Millennium Comet, which appears in the night sky for seven days once every thousand years. This is also when the Mythical Pokémon Jirachi awakens from its long slumber to absorb the comet's energy. This energy, in turn, is released into the ground, bringing life to the area known as Forina where it rests. This time, however, a magician known as Butler and his long-time girlfriend Diane unearth the stone that encases Jirachi, and take it away from Forina.

Meanwhile, in celebration of the Millennium Comet's appearance, Ash Ketchum and his friends May, Max and Brock arrive at a wide crater, which is where the festival of the Millennium Comet is meant to be. Upon seeing nothing where the festival should be, they decide to wait until morning and go to sleep. While they're sleeping, the festival arrives; Pikachu, Ash's Pokémon companion, notices first and wakes all the others, and they watch the festival being set up.

At the festival, May buys a seven-panelled novelty that is said to grant a person one wish if a panel is closed for each night the comet appears and is visible in the sky. Later, Ash and Max accidentally volunteer for one of Butler's magic tricks because Max hears a voice coming from the rock Diane is holding, and runs down to the stage. Max is introduced to Jirachi, who he hears talking from inside the rock. Butler lets Max take the rock, from which Jirachi emerges later that night. Hoping its wishing ability is true, Max wishes for lots of candy, and it appears - but it is revealed that instead of creating the candy, Jirachi teleported it from a stall in the festival.

The intentions of Butler are soon revealed: he was a former scientist for Team Magma who was seeking to resurrect the Legendary Pokémon Groudon. Butler had devised the perfect system, but could not find the necessary amount of power to fuel and was fired from Team Magma, to his humiliation. To try and fuel his machine again, he hoped to use Jirachi's energy for his own purposes. Seeing this danger, the Pokémon Absol, whose presence usually indicated impending disaster, arrives to help Jirachi and alert the group.

Butler attempts to harness Jirachi's power, but is interrupted inside the circus tent by Ash and his friends. With the help of Diane and Absol, they take Butler's bus to Forina so that Jirachi can go home; unknown to them, Butler's Mightyena places a tracking device on the bus as it is leaving. As Ash and his friends travel along bumpy terrain, the device falls off, but Butler still discovers where they are headed. Before the day Jirachi has to return, Max feels upset about losing his new friend, so Ash tells him about one of his friends, Misty. He explains that even though they don't see each other anymore, they will always be friends. Before the group can make it back to Forina, they realize that Butler had followed them there and set a trap. Butler manages to once again steal Jirachi in an attempt to take its power again.

When Butler sets his plan in motion, however, a fake Groudon monster is created instead of the real thing. Absorbing the energy from the surrounding area, the monster begins to turn Forina into a wasteland, killing all plants in sight and absorbing all living creatures, including May, Brock and Team Rocket, who had followed them the whole way. When Diane is absorbed by the fake Groudon, Butler realizes his long-time relationship with her is what is more important, and with Ash and Max's help he is able to distract the fake Groudon.

Eventually, Jirachi reabsorbs the energy used to create Groudon, and uses Doom Desire to destroy it for good, before leaving for another thousand years of slumber. As it disappears, Jirachi reminds Max that they will always be friends, and promises to remember him. May, in all the excitement, forgets to close the last panel of her novelty, but simply brushes it off. Though she never reveals what she wished for, she is confident it will still come true.

During the end credits, May gets tired of walking until the man who sold her the wishing star gives them a lift on his truck. Then they look at stars, the group sees constellations which form Pokémon from Teddiursa to Pikachu. After that they all watch the festival's fireworks before continuing their adventure.

Regular characters

 * Main article: List of characters in the Pokémon anime series


 * Rica Matsumoto (Christy Carlson Romano in the English adaptation) as Satoshi (Ash Ketchum in the English adaptation), the main protagonist of the film.
 * Ikue Ōtani (Aria Noelle Curzon in the English adaptation) as Pikachu, Satoshi's/Ash Ketchum's first Pokémon and best friend.
 * Yūji Ueda (Obba Babatundé in the English adaptation) as Takeshi (Brock in the English adaptation), an aspiring young Pokémon Breeder.
 * KAORI (Ashley Johnson in the English adaptation) as Haruka (May in the English adaptation), the daughter of Gym Leader Senri/Norman of the Tōka/Petalburg Gym, and aspiring Pokémon Coordinator. She is the older sister and guardian of Masato/Max and Jirachi.
 * Fushigi Yamada (Debi Derrynerry in the English adaptation) as Masato (Max in the English adaptation), Haruka's/May's younger brother. He frees Jirachi from its slumber after communicating with it telepathically, and becomes a close friend of it afterward.
 * Megumi Hayashibara (Susanne Blakeslee in the English adaptation) as Musashi (Jessie in the English adaptation), a member of Team Rocket.
 * Shin-ichiro Miki (Maurice LaMarche in the English adaptation) as Kojirō (James in the English adaptation), a member of Team Rocket.
 * Inuko Inuyama (Frank Welker in the English adaptation) as Nyarth (Meowth in the English adaptation), a member of Team Rocket. He is a Pokémon who can walk upright and speak the human language.

Guest characters

 * Kōichi Yamadera (Christopher Daniel Barnes in the English adaptation) as Butler, a popular magician in the Millennium Festival. He was formerly a scientist of Team Magma who was fired after his experiment to create a Groudon from a fossilized remnant of it fails. He now seeks to use Jirachi's power to create a Groudon from scratch. He is voiced by KJennifer Hale in a flashback to his childhood.
 * Riho Makise (Anjelica Huston in the English adaptation) as Diane, Butler's romantic partner. She turns her back on him when his motives are revealed in favor of aiding Satoshi/Ash and his friends. She is voiced by Mae Whitman in a flashback to her childhood.
 * Papaya Suzuki (Clancy Brown in the English adaptation) as Pogey, a hippie who sells Haruka/May the "Wish Maker" in the Millennium Festival.
 * Tomiko Suzuki (Mary Matilyn Mouser in the English adaptation) as Jirachi, the titular Pokémon. The "true eye" located on its abdomen is capable of great power. It uses telepathy to communicate. It resides in the land of Fauns (Forina in the English adaptation) and awakes only once every 1,000 years, returning to its slumber after seven days. Tomiko Suzuki (who had previously voiced in Transformers: The Headmasters and Transformers: Super-God Masterforce) died after suffering heart failure on July 7, 2003, 12 days before the film was released in Japan.
 * Megumi Hayashibara (Gregg Berger in the English adaptation) as Absol, a Pokémon who tries to hinder Butler's plot and leads Satoshi/Ash towards Fauns/Forina.
 * Fred Tatasciore as a gigantic Groudon-like monster that was summoned by Butler in an attempt to summon a real Groudon. Elements of Godzilla and the Night-Walker from Princess Mononoke were incorporated into the character.

Reception
The film was a box office hit. It made $33,393,751 at the Japanese box office. It became the tenth highest-grossing film of the year in that country.

Home media
The original Japanese DVD was released on December 19, 2003. The English adaptation was released directly to VHS and DVD by Warner Home Video on June 1, 2004. This was the second Pokémon film (the first being Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns) to be released directly to DVD and VHS in the US. The film was released on DVD in the UK on October 23, 2006 to celebrate the Pokémon 10th Anniversary Tour in Britain. In the UK, the film was released by Paramount Home Entertainment. The film was not released on DVD in Australia and New Zealand until 2016.