Editorial Review
Ash may think he's seen everything when it comes to Pokémon, but is he ready to face the mysterious Darkrai in his latest awesome adventure? While touring Alamos Town -home of the Space-Time Tower -with the beautiful Alice, Ash and his friends discover that the town's special garden has been decimated! Baron Alberto, a dashing but arrogant fellow, immediately blames the destruction on Darkrai. As if it just overheard the accusation, Darkrai appears and confronts our heroes! Who is Darkrai? Is it a friend... or a friend in disguise? And as a battle between Legendary Pokémon Dialga and Palkia rages directly above Alamos Town-and threatens to tear a hole in the space-time continuum-will Ash and his friends survive this showdown and learn Darkrai's true nature?
Stills from Pokémon Movie - The Rise of Darkrai (click for larger image)
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Customer Reviews
Just another Slop-Job Released by PokemonUSA 
2008-05-28
PokemonUSA (the company that dubs the Pokemon anime into English) never really cared about the franchise and THIS DVD release seriously shows it.
The original Japanese version included a song by the singer/actress Sarah Brightman. Instead of, you know, putting effort to retain the rights to use the original song in the USA version, they just opted to hire some two-bit singer to perform some adopted version. The DVD also contains NO extras/special features of any kind! They just plopped the movie on there and thats it! The packaging itself is even pretty lousey - 1 insert with ads on it and a rushed cover insert. And to top it all off, the movie is only available English dubbed (of course, like the rest of the series). I do not see why they cannot release this series in it's original Japanese form with faithful subtitles. PokemonUSA just trys to market the Pokemon series for younger kids, but there is A LOT of older kids and adults who enjoy playing/watching Pokemon (when Pokemon 1st came to America, who is the ones who first got into it and kept it strongly going? Gee whiz, they're adults now!). And besides, every kid knows that Pokemon is from Japan and has access to the internet where they can see what was changed for the English release. Its not like releasing the series in Japanese with Eng subs would traumatize them.
If you like the dubbed version, I still wouldn't touch this DVD because of the half-fast job they did with it. Only if you can find it cheaper. This movie was already shown on TV before it was on DVD, so I don't see the point in charging that much for it, espcially since most fans probably already saw it and/or recorded it off the TV.
I WANT TO SEE IT 
2008-05-27
THIS MOVIE LOOKS AWESOME I NEED TO SEE IT AND SHORE DO ALL OF YOU.
It's ok, but VIZ and PUSA still need to work harder 
2008-05-27
There is some good news and some bad news with this DVD. First off, it's a 1.85:1 Widescreen presentation, video is nice and clear. Comes with a 5.1 Dolby Digital (if I recall correctly) track as well as normal stereo. English and Spanish subtitles. That's the good news. Ok, on to the bad news. For the folks looking for the Japanese audio track, DO NOT PURCHASE as it doesn't have one. Kinda disappointing. There are also no special features on the disc, none at all. Is a preview of Movie 11, or a commentary track to much to ask for. Seriously, the only real reason I bought this is because I love Pokémon so much. The widescreen is a plus, but the lack of special features, commentary, and a japanese audio track kinda defeats the purpose of it being on DVD. I'm still hoping for the day when VIZ and PUSA (Pokémon USA Inc. for those you don't know) announce/release remastered special editions of all the movies and an uncut (that means all the banned episode included too lol), remastered version of the show. Seriously it's time they started treating this series with some love. I know Pokémon is still marketed mainly towards kids, but what about us 20-somethings that watched this show from the very beginning. Anyway hope this review helped and sorry it kinda turned into a mini rant. :D
Japanese / English Release 2008-04-20
If the product information is correct this will be the first DVD release of Pokemon in the US with both the Japanese AND the English tracks!!!
This is a great movie (saw last year in Japanese theatres) that recreates the feel of the earlier films and also adds some mythology to the Unown from the 3rd movie (my personal fave). Great animation and music and the fact that the Dialga and Palkia battle continues into the 11th movie is a series first!
Don't miss this release!
Best One Yet 2008-03-20
This is by far the best looking of any of the pokemon movies. The blend of CGI and animation is better than it's ever been. Wonderful music and a great story. Also the first D/P movie and usually the first film in a new region is wonderful. This film also features more types of pokemon than anyother movie before it to help celebrate the 10 year anniversary. This is a must see for all pokemon fans.
A Pretty Good Pokemon Movie 
2008-07-07
Great animation, the plot moves a good pace that keeps the action coming, and almost every character and creature that appears helps out and make themselves useful. Too bad it has a lousy dub's (as usual)
Works Great 2008-06-24
I bought this for my Grandson and he was very Happy with it. I was very happy with the speed in which it came and the condition was very good.
Company LIED that this would have Japanese audio. 
2008-06-07
I ordered this before the release for my kids. They are bilingual Japanese and were expecting it to be in Japanese as the company promised. Now that the video has been released the ad has been changed to say English only. What a scam. Would it have been so hard to include both an English and a Japanese audio track like with all the Miyazaki movies? Now I have to return it and buy it here in Japan, (where it costs twice as much). What a waste of time. Thanks, Viz.
Movie is fun...but no extras whatsoever. 2008-05-31
I was disappointed with the DVD (I have bought every pokemon movie so far for my 8-year old son)
Usually, this dvds come loaded with extras, as short movies, more content, etc. but in this case ONLY THE MOVIE...not even Japanese Language (I like the original voices).
From A Collector 2008-05-30
I'm an avid DVD collector who loves collecting series. I got "The Rise of Darkrai" because one of the series I collect is Pokemon. Both the movies and the series (in order up to Orange Islands now). This DVD is welcome being that it is a movie. There is no special features. I am entirely grateful for it. However, I dislike the fact that I'm forced to sit through a Mystery Dungeon preview every time I put the disc in. I can't skip it. No fast forward, no rewind, no chapter ahead, nothing, you have to sit through it. Kinda cruel considering there are no special features. It makes me think they release this DVD just to market Mystery Dungeon.
EDIT: I think it's funny that during the end credits when they are giving the music credits, they spell Darkrai wrong.
