Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys

Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys (2004) is a feature-length anime film from Studio OLM that you can watch online on iFILM. Running 98 minutes, it sends Ash Ketchum and his friends to LaRousse City — a sleek, robot-filled metropolis that comes under siege when Deoxys, a Pokémon of extraterrestrial origin, seals the entire city under an energy barrier and begins snatching people off the streets.

Caught in the middle is Tory, a boy so traumatized by a past encounter with Pokémon that he can barely stand near one. That personal thread gives the film something most entries in the series skip: a human character with a reason to be afraid. Rayquaza arrives from the upper atmosphere to face Deoxys, but the real question — what the alien Pokémon is actually looking for — doesn't resolve the way you expect.

Among the Pokémon theatrical films, this one earns points for giving the villain a motive that holds up. Stream Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys (2004) online on iFILM.