The official Pokémon movie blog has updated. We have added a section collecting every single blog entry for easy browsing. Translations of the new entries follows:

Location Scouting Report #14 and Final: The Location Scouting is Done

It's been about a year since we performed our location scouting in Dubai, the Middle East metropolis.
In reality, the place is very far from the image you get from what you see and hear in the news regarding the unstable situation in the Middle East, public order is well maintained, and we were able to do our scouting in a well-developed cityscape.
That said, the place did feel very different from all the other countries we've been to so far in every respect.



"There's a massive difference between what we see and what we hear"

While these are Director Yuyama's personal words, he does believe all the members of the scouting team think the same.
I've never seen a desert outside of photos or video before. It's first when you stand in such a landscape you get a true feeling of what it's like, just like how it's first when I actually went to Dubai I got a sense of the heat and air in the city.
Likewise, I have now experienced firsthand what terms like "desert oasis" that we normally just toss casually around actually mean.



I also have to mention the many non-standard, futuristic skyscrapers.
Seeing a glittering metropolis like this appear right out of the middle of the desert felt almost like looking at a mirage.

The premiere of "The Archdjinni of Rings: Hoopa" is finally right around the corner.
It's a tale set in the desert city "Désser City", starring Hoopa, as well as Satoshi and Pikachu, and even a grand line-up of legendary Pokémon.
How will the many hints for the movie we obtained from the material gathered in Dubai show on screen, I wonder?



That's another thing those of you who enjoyed following this scouting report should have fun looking for as you watch the movie.

"The Archdjinni of Rings: Hoopa" finally premieres Saturday July 18th!

Appear! Movie Details #11: A Special Movie Pre-Premiere Interview with Director Yuyama #3

Only two days remain until the movie premieres! We're interviewing Director Yuyama about the movies' highlights and subjects, and in this third part, we'll be asking about the feature film, "The Archdjinni of Rings: Hoopa"!

Q: What kind of movie is the feature film "The Archdjinni of Rings: Hoopa"?

First and foremost, it's a movie where lots of legendary Pokemon appear.
You could call this the ultimate concept for a Pokémon movie, and it's what I used as the starting point for this year's installment.
We were going to have all these legendary Pokémon that have starred in earlier movies appear all together, so figuring out what we were going to have them do was actually really difficult.
What made it all possible was this year's star Pokémon, Hoopa.
It has this power to retrieve asolutely anything from faraway places using its rings.
This power was a perfect fit for gathering an entire lineup of legendary Pokémon.



Q: So this star Pokémon with this special power, Hoopa, what kind of Pokémon is it?

While its natural form is the giant "Unleashed Form", it's been deprived of its power thanks to this item called the "Prison Bottle" and turned into the cute, small "Confined Form".
As such, both the big Hoopa and the small Hoopa are, in fact, the same Hoopa.

The big Hoopa went on a rampage in the past, but rather than it being out of malice, it was more like it was a child that got egged into doing something that escalated way out of control.
So when such a Pokémon got turned into its current form, one that feels the same but is so much smaller, it may be a prankster, but it also has this really innocent and honest personality and loves simple fun.



Q: However, what's been confined in the Prison Bottle, the "Unleashed Form" of Hoopa, acts as Satoshi and his friends' enemy, right?

What's been confined in the Prison Bottle is Hoopa's true power.
This power has built up a lot of "anger" due to its confinement.
So this other... Hoopa that's taken the shape of Hoopa, it's sort of like Hoopa's anger that's taken physical form.
And then Satoshi and the real Hoopa fight it, setting up this huge confrontation.



Q: The small Hoopa meets Satoshi and they have an adventure together, so what's the relationship between Satoshi, Pikachu and Hoopa like?

Hoopa is this really innocent little kid. However, it's unable to regain its original, true power.
So Satoshi shows up and, true to himself, instantly develops this really straight and uncomplicated relationship with it. It's very unlike "Kyurem VS the Sacred Swordsman Keldeo", where Keldeo had a strong sense of duty and went to Satoshi for encouragement, treating him as his elder; here instead, Satoshi's relationship with Hoopa is much more spontaneous and feel kind of like an extension of them just playing together.

For Hoopa, the events that unfold are not about duty, but instead about doing something together, overcoming difficulties together, building this very straightforward friendship between it and Satoshi.
Hoopa is able to make anything and everything "Appear!" from its rings, and while it can use this to make people happy, one of the big themes in the movie is the discovery of important things that can't just be summoned from these rings.

One of these important things is its relationship with Barza and Mary, which has developed over all the years they've been living together.
Another of them is Satoshi and his friends.
You'll get to see whether Hoopa manages to find something important when you watch the movie in the theater.



In part 4, we will ask for details about the movie's setting and the battle between legendary Pokémon that unfolds there!

Sources: http://www.pokemon-movie.jp/pokemovie_ch/?p=1373 and http://www.pokemon-movie.jp/pokemovie_ch/?p=1387