M10

This article is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this article to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Ratings and staff

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This article is about the movie. For the manga, see The Rise of Darkrai (manga).

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← M09 : Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea

Pokémon movies

M11 : Giratina and the Sky Warrior →

The Rise of Darkrai ディアルガVSパルキアVSダークライ Dialga VS Palkia VS Darkrai

Premiere Japan July 14, 2007 United States February 24, 2008

Home video Japan December 21, 2007 United States May 27, 2008

English themes Opening We Will Be Heroes Ending I'll Always Remember You Living in the Shadow

Japanese themes Opening Together2007 Ending I Will Be With You (Where The Lost Ones Go)

Ratings United States PG Great Britain PG Ireland ? Canada ? Quebec ? Japan G Germany ? Australia G New Zealand G

Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai (Japanese: 劇場版ポケットモンスター　ダイヤモンド＆パール　ディアルガVSパルキアVSダークライ Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl the Movie - Dialga VS Palkia VS Darkrai) is the first Generation IV Pokémon movie, and the tenth Pokémon movie overall. It is the first movie of a trilogy during Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, and is followed by Giratina and the Sky Warrior and Arceus and the Jewel of Life.

It premiered in Japanese theaters on July 14, 2007. It was aired in North America on February 24, 2008 on Cartoon Network and it was released on DVD on May 27, 2008. It was released on DVD in the UK on September 29, 2008 and in Australia on November 5, 2008. In Spain it aired on Jetix on September 6, 2008 and in Mexico on May 13, 2009 on Open Signal, instead of Cartoon Network. In Portugal it aired on December 25, 2010 on Panda Biggs. In Korea, it first aired on December 24, 2008, on JEI TV, reaired on April, 2009, on Tooniverse, and rereleased on June 6, 2018, in theaters to celebrate the film's 10th anniversary.

Other posters and logos

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  Preview poster

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  Dialga VS Palkia teaser poster

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  Pikachu the Movie 10th poster

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  Final Dialga VS Palkia VS Darkrai movie poster

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  Japanese DVD cover

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  Japanese poster featuring Darkrai

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  Poster featuring the main characters

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  US DVD cover

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  Australian alternate DVD cover

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  Dialga VS Palkia teaser logo

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  Dialga VS Palkia VS Darkrai logo

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  Title screen

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  The Rise of Darkrai logo

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Blurb

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 on their way to a Pokémon Contest, our adventurers pass through Alamos Town, home of the Time-Space Tower. With the beautiful Alice, Ash and his friends discover that something is causing terrible nightmares for Pokémon and people alike! Baron Alberto, a dashing but arrogant fellow, immediately blames this turn of events on Darkrai.

As if it just overheard the accusation, Darkrai appears and confronts our heroes!

Who is Darkrai? Is it a friend... or foe? As the sky tears above Alamos Town and Legendary Pokémon Dialga and Palkia struggle through the rips in a newly created dimension, their ensuing battle threatens to tear a hole in the time-space continuum! Will Ash and his friends survive this showdown and learn Darkrai's true nature?

Plot

Somewhere, in a strange alternate dimension, an explosion sends a group of Unown flying backward as a Palkia and Dialga emerge and face each other. Enraged over something, the two prepare to fight. Meanwhile, inside a house in the Pokémon world, a man named Tonio sits in his laboratory, reading a book about time and space. His computer shows that there is some disturbance going on, as it causes the whole building to shake, including the hourglass on his desk, which drops. In the other dimension, Palkia and Dialga continue to charge towards each other and exchange attacks and blocks. Eventually, Dialga uses Roar of Time, causing a huge explosion and damaging the pearl on Palkia's left shoulder in the process. As the two continue to battle, Tonio's hourglass finally hits the floor and breaks.

Ash and his friends are seen continuing on their journey through Sinnoh, this time en route to a Pokémon Contest in Alamos Town. However, they discover the town is raised on a mountain surrounded by a lake, and they are lost. A hot air balloon, flown by a woman named Alice and her Chimchar, descends, and Alice offers the group a lift. After Brock attempts to flirt with Alice, she takes out a leaf whistle and performs a song, attracting several flying Pokémon to her. Following on behind, Team Rocket appear in a Carnivine hot air balloon of their own, but they get sidetracked by a group of Drifloon and a Drifblim. After angering them by Jessie’s repeated failed attempts at capturing them, the Balloon Pokémon use Gust to send Team Rocket blasting off again.

Ash and his friends finally arrive over Alamos Town and end up in awe at the sights. However, disturbance in the air causes their balloon to go out of control, as Tonio's computer warns about a disturbance in time and space. After everything calms down, the group heads into town to soak up the sights, eat some cotton candy, and watch some Pokémon battles. In his excitement, Ash runs into a Torterra and its Trainer introduces himself as Maury, quickly followed by his friends Kai with Empoleon and Allegra with Infernape. Ash and his friends begin to battle their new acquaintances. Pikachu is able to topple Torterra with Iron Tail, while Piplup and Empoleon have a pride contest and Croagunk exchanges a flurry of attacks against Infernape. Finally, Piplup and Empoleon battle inside Piplup's Whirlpool, which explodes.

Continuing their sightseeing, everyone heads down some stairs and stops by a fountain, leading to a garden full of wild Pokémon. A Shinx, Luxio, Azurill, Azumarill, and Marill watch from behind the bushes, but greet Lisa once they see her. Sensing an opportunity, the group sends out all their Pokémon to play. Ash and his friends go to the end of a flowery pathway and check out the view of the lake and the mountains, leaving their Pokémon on their own. Meanwhile, as the rest of the Pokémon play, Piplup notices a Pecha tree with three Berries growing. However, as he goes to eat, Pachirisu grabs one, Aipom grabs another, and the Shinx nearly grabs the last before Piplup starts fighting for it. They roll down the hill and send several of the wild Pokémon flying, and Pachirisu instinctively uses Discharge. As the attacks increase, Ash and his friends run to see what is going on and discover their Pokémon in a stand-off against the wild Pokémon. Alice uses her leaf whistle from earlier to play the same song, and they all calm down. Aipom hands her Pecha Berry to Shinx and Piplup, and the two share it.

Interrupting their moment, a Gallade jumps through some trees in front of everyone. He tells them that there is trouble, so everyone returns their Pokémon and heads off. They find some strangely distorted pillars. A rather confident man named Baron Alberto comes out of an opening, greets them, and discusses the broken pillars. He believes that a Pokémon named Darkrai was responsible for it. Team Rocket watches from a distance with binoculars. He brings out his Lickilicky and has it use Hyper Beam into some bushes, only to hit Tonio and his Drifblim instead of Darkrai. Tonio shows Alice the disturbance readings on his laptop and then studies the broken pillars very carefully. As Tonio gets hit on the head with some debris, Alberto shows his love to Alice, but she rejects him, to the great relief of both Brock and Tonio. Alice runs to Tonio away from Alberto, and Tonio recalls being hugged by her after saving her a long time ago.

Meanwhile, back in the other dimension, Palkia and Dialga continue to fight each other. They both use Hyper Beam at each other creating an explosion. In the real world, the Pokémon sense that something is wrong, as the area begins to glow, and Tonio’s laptop screen shows a major disturbance in time and space. A dark shadow moves around the trees, eventually revealing itself to be Darkrai, and it yells at everyone to go away. Team Rocket looks at Darkrai through their binoculars and decides they want to capture it. Lickilicky uses Hyper Beam which doesn't connect, and Darkrai uses Dark Void, which hits Ash and puts him to sleep. The next thing Ash knows, he lands hard on the ground in the park, completely alone, and walks around. A huge shadow with glowing eyes appears in front of him, as a pink creature of some sort attacks him. Darkrai appears, and as Ash tries to throw call one of his Pokémon, the Poké Ball disappears. Darkrai drops down below the ground while creating a funnel in the ground that pulls Ash and Pikachu in, and they fall into a black void. Pikachu uses Thunderbolt and Ash finally wakes up from his nightmare, confused.

Ash wakes up in the Pokémon Center where Nurse Joy, Chansey, and his friends are there to make sure that he is okay. Tonio looks at the woodwork on the floor, says to everyone that time and space are going to be destroyed, and immediately leaves. Back at his laboratory, he looks through his great-grandfather Godey's diary and notices a picture of him and a young Alice’s grandmother, Alicia, on a bench. In flashback, Alicia runs outside and sees a group of Pokémon having nightmares. As a Luxray attacks Darkrai, it collapses, and she goes approaches the Mythical Pokémon as Godey looks on. Alice plays her leaf whistle so that all of the Pokémon can recover. Tonio looks at a picture of a very important tower that holds a large musical instrument.

Meanwhile, at Alberto's house, Team Rocket goes to him disguised as a TV crew so that they can help him go after Darkrai. The next day in the street, Dawn buys a Lunar Wing, as Ash remembers his nightmare. They see a large building that looks exactly like the one Tonio was looking at earlier: the Space-Time Towers. Once inside, they see they see a huge stone monument with a lot of Pokémon carved in it and several moving gears hanging from the ceiling. They enter Tonio's office, and after waking him up, he hands Alice the photograph that he was looking at earlier. Alice explains the picture to them. On the back of the picture is the music score of the song Oración that she played on her leaf whistle before. The Pokémon find some old music disks, and Ash narrowly catches one. Ash places the disk back where it belongs, and notices open spaces for other disks. Tonio tells them about the music-playing machine, and they decide to go and see it.

They start to climb up the enormous stairwell to go and see the instrument but start having trouble getting up the stairs because there are so many. Ash begins to get exhausted, only to see his friends riding in the hot air balloon to the top. Eventually reaching the top, they enter the new music disk and start the musical instrument as it begins to play. The whole town hears it as people start dancing in the streets. Having demonstrated this, the group heads back down to the ground, where they meet the trio of Trainers from before and is another battle. Meanwhile, in the other dimension, Palkia and Dialga continue fighting, causing another disturbance indication on Tonio's computer. Palkia tries to get away from Dialga and enters through a portal to try to escape it. The portal opens up in the real world, causing a pink light to shine, and strong winds to blow through the town. The portal eventually closes, leaving Dialga alone.

As Ash and his friends look up at the Tower, Darkrai reappears behind them. Ash wants to battle it, but Alberto decides to go after it instead and brings out his Lickilicky to attack, but Darkrai dodges and uses a mass Dark Void which hits many of the Pokémon on the street, including Buizel and Sudowoodo. Ash chases after Darkrai, but it continues to disappear into a dark alleyway. Ash sees what looks like a Bibarel mysteriously floating through the walls, as Darkrai reappears but continues to dodge Pikachu's attacks. Alberto and Team Rocket arrive to confront Darkrai. Lickilicky uses Hyper Beam, while Darkrai dodges and uses Dark Void to put it to sleep. Alberto checks on Lickilicky as Darkrai disappears again. As the floating Bibarel reappears, more strange occurrences start happening as Alberto turns into a Lickilicky, and he screams at the sight.

At the Pokémon Center, Nurse Joy, Dawn, and Brock look after all of the Pokémon that were affected by Dark Void, as several other spirits of Pokémon float around. Alice and Tonio join in to help, quickly followed by Ash and the transformed Alberto, who only convinces everyone that he is supposed to be human when Team Rocket drags Lickilicky in. Tonio looks at his laptop and theorizes that some disturbance is causing the real world and dream world to merge, leading to strange events. Just then, the three Trainers from before run in and tell the group about the strange fog surrounding the town outside.

Investigating, Allegra brings out her Honchkrow and has it use Defog, but the attack does nothing. Ash and Pikachu try to run through the fog to leave the town, but end up back on the other side of the street instead. Alberto is still convinced that Darkrai is responsible for everything that is going on, and rallies together the townspeople to find it. Alice and Tonio tell Ash and their friends that there is likely something else going on that is responsible for everything that is happening. Tonio explains that when he was a young boy, he witnessed Alice falling off a cliff, and Darkrai appeared to save her, believing her to be her grandmother. However, it disappeared as Tonio went to check on her, making her believe that he was the one who saved her and not Darkrai. Tonio explains the truth to Alice, much to her surprise. After hearing the story, Ash and his friends are convinced that Darkrai could not be responsible for everything that has happened, and Tonio explains that the distortion was caused by a multidimensional disturbance from when Palkia entered their realm.

The townspeople continue to hunt for Darkrai, and it is eventually spotted by Maury. Tonio's Drifblim flies overhead to record everything as, inside his lap, he watches the footage of one of the disturbances. Noticing something strange, he zooms in to discover Palkia. Meanwhile, a huge group of Pokémon attacks Darkrai, but it holds on through many attacks and uses Dark Pulse followed by Dark Void on all of the Pokémon that attacked it. Alberto decides that he should give battling a try, but his attacks miss as well, and Darkrai sends him and Team Rocket blasting them off across town.

Back at the Pokémon Center, Tonio shows the footage of Palkia to Ash and his friends. Outside, the winds from the portal appear again, while Darkrai tries to use Dark Void towards it. Ash suddenly realizes that during the nightmare he had, Darkrai was trying to warn him about Palkia and Dialga. Palkia suddenly emerges, attacking Darkrai, as Ash and friends run to the Tower. As Darkrai attempts to attack, Palkia transports the town to its dimension, which has the side effect of resolving all the strange occurrences, as the sleeping Pokémon wake up and Alberto transforms into a human again.

With all the Pokémon awake again, Darkrai and Palkia continue to battle as Dialga suddenly appears and attacks the two, but as they battle, the outskirts of the town begin to fade away. Eventually, Palkia uses Spacial Rend while Dialga uses Roar of Time, and the attacks collide, causing an explosion that sends strong shock waves through the town, speeding up the rate that the edges disappear. Alice runs up to Dialga and Palkia and yells for them to stop fighting. They fall towards her, but Darkrai steps in and uses Dark Pulse to send them backward, saving her. Attempting to stop their fighting, Darkrai gets hit by Dialga and Palkia's attacks, sending it flying through the trees.

Everyone runs towards Darkrai, and Alice approaches it. However, she has to tell it that she is not Alicia, but her granddaughter. Ash and Dawn apologize for not believing and understanding Darkrai earlier as it disappears to find Dialga and Palkia again. The town continues to fade away, now reaching the buildings in the center, and Tonio's laptop predicts that the whole town will eventually disappear if the Pokémon continue battling. Tonio remembers reading Godey's diary about the music machine and the Oración song the diary talks about, suggesting that they should play it with the music machine as that it can calm down any Pokémon.

Alice heads inside the Tower and remembers her grandmother telling her about the song, but as everyone else arrives, they realize they need to choose the correct music disk. Noticing a pattern on the photo of Alicia, the group obtains the correct disk, as Ash, Dawn, Alice and Tonio go to place it in the machine at the top of the Tower. Meanwhile, Brock and Nurse Joy evacuate the townspeople, using their Pokémon to stop Dialga and Palkia's attacks.

Chimchar begins to propel Alice's hot air balloon into the air, but the Pokémon's attacks cause another shock wave, and Piplup falls out, only narrowly being saved by Staravia. One of Dialga's Draco Meteors breaks open the basket of the hot-air balloon as Dawn almost falls out. Ash grabs her hand, but another gust causes the two of them to fall onto the tower itself, followed by their Pokémon. With Alice and Tonio diverting, another attack sends the balloon hurtling towards the ground, and Alberto runs after it. Alice and Chimchar manage to jump onto a ledge, but Alice slips and falls. Lickilicky tries to save her, but it slips and Tonio barely saves her by holding onto Drifblim. However, with everyone saved, the street starts to disappear as well.

Ash brings out Aipom and Turtwig and has them climb the tower with him. As the buildings of the town start to disappear, Ash's Pokémon need to work to deflect Dialga's attacks. Meanwhile, Brock and Alice recover Darkrai from a pond, just as Alicia did in the past. Eventually, the stairs of the Tower begin to disappear too, and Dawn brings out Buizel and Buneary to create new steps out of ice. The wild Pokémon of Alamos combine their attacks to try to stop the town from disappearing. Dialga and Palkia prepare to use their signature moves once again as Tonio's computer shows that the attacks would have devastating results, and hearing this, Darkrai gets up out of the water. As Dialga and Palkia attack, Darkrai gets in the middle of them and surrounds them in a shadowy orb to take the hits. Ash looks on, knowing that they only have as much time left as Darkrai can take.

As the Tower continues to disappear, Ash falls out, followed by Dawn as she tries to save him, but Buizel uses Water Gun to push them onto another part of the building, and the Trainers and Pokémon make their separate ways up. Darkrai's protection finally runs out, and together, Dialga and Palkia attack it. Out of energy, Darkrai takes both attacks and fades away into nothingness as a result. Ash's group finally reaches the music machine, but Ash realizes that Oración's music disk does not fit in. Dialga and Palkia continue fighting as they prepare to use Roar of Time and Spacial Rend one last time. Tonio says to everyone that if the two attacks connect, the town will be destroyed.

Eventually, Dawn notices one slot in the middle of the music machine, but the machine does not have enough power. With time running out, Pikachu and Pachirisu attack the machine, as it finally works into life. The music starts playing loudly across what's left of the town, causing Dialga and Palkia to stop their attacks. The machine begins to glow, returning the Tower to its normal state. The whole Tower shines, forming huge golden wings, as Palkia's injury is finally fully healed and Dialga returns to its dimension. Ash, Dawn, and Pikachu ask Palkia to restore everything to the way it was before, and it obliges, returning the town to the real world before disappearing.

As the sun sets, and with disaster averted, Ash and his friends look across the lake, upset at the thought of never seeing Darkrai again. However, as he walks away, Ash notices a mysterious shadow on the cliff face, a shadow being cast by Darkrai, fully healed and stood on top of the Tower. Overjoyed, Alice moves in closer to Tonio as Darkrai looks over Alamos Town, safe at last.

As the credits roll, life in Alamos Town is shown returning to normal as Dawn finally competes in the Pokémon Contest alongside Maury, Kai, and Allegra, although Allegra wins. As Dialga and Palkia also rest in their dimension, Ash, Dawn and Brock head off on the road again, continuing their adventure through the Sinnoh region.

Featured Pokémon

• Dialga
• Palkia
• Darkrai

Major events

Allegra holding the Alamos Ribbon

• Dawn obtains a Lunar Wing.
• Dawn competes in the Alamos Town Pokémon Contest, which is eventually won by Allegra.

For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.

Debuts

• Darkrai
• Infernape
• Empoleon
• Torterra
• Lickilicky
• Chingling
• Finneon
• Lumineon
• Gallade
• Drifblim
• Tangrowth
• Yanmega
• Luxio
• Luxray
• Gible
• Bronzor
• Honchkrow
• Purugly
• Shellos (East Sea)
• Cherrim

Characters

Ash and his friends

Humans

• Ash
• Dawn
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Nurse Joy
• Marian
• Raoul Contesta
• Mr. Sukizo
• Alice
• Tonio
• Baron Alberto
• Maury
• Allegra
• Kai
• Godey
• Alicia
• Mother and daughter
• Old shopkeeper
• Citizens
• Pokémon Coordinators
• Misty (movie montage)
• Melody (movie montage)
• Lawrence III (movie montage)
• Maren (movie montage)
• Carol (movie montage)
• Tobias (movie montage)
• Delia (movie montage)
• Molly Hale (movie montage)
• Liza (movie montage)
• Sam (movie montage)
• Iron-Masked Marauder (movie montage)
• Oakley (movie montage)
• Annie (movie montage)
• Ross (movie montage)
• May (movie montage)
• Max (movie montage)
• Butler (movie montage)
• Diane (movie montage)
• Tory Lund (movie montage)
• Rafe (movie montage)
• Sid (movie montage)
• Rebecca (movie montage)
• Audrey and Kathryn (movie montage)
• Queen Ilene (movie montage)
• Jenny (movie montage)
• Kidd Summers (movie montage)
• Freddy (movie montage)
• The Phantom (movie montage)
• Jack Walker (movie montage)
• Lizabeth (movie montage)
• Galen (movie montage)

Pokémon

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Piplup (Dawn's)
• Aipom (Ash's)
• Staravia (Ash's)
• Turtwig (Ash's)
• Buneary (Dawn's)
• Pachirisu (Dawn's)
• Buizel (Dawn's)
• Sudowoodo (Brock's)
• Croagunk (Brock's)
• Happiny (Brock's)
• Chansey (×2; Nurse Joy's)
• Chimchar (Alice's)
• Drifblim (Tonio's; debut)
• Infernape (Allegra's; debut)
• Honchkrow (Allegra's)
• Empoleon (Kai's; debut)
• Torterra (Maury's; debut)
• Lickilicky (Baron Alberto's; debut)
• Darkrai (movie; debut)
• Dialga (movie)
• Palkia (movie)
• Rattata (×2)
• Sunflora
• Wurmple
• Beautifly (multiple)
• Psyduck
• Sentret
• Bellsprout
• Croconaw
• Grumpig
• Rhydon
• Stunky
• Crobat
• Masquerain
• Ledian
• Pelipper (multiple)
• Chingling (debut)
• Chimecho
• Finneon (multiple; debut)
• Lumineon (multiple; debut)
• Kirlia
• Gallade (debut)
• Drifloon (multiple)
• Tangrowth (debut)
• Yanma (multiple)
• Yanmega (debut)
• Shinx
• Luxio (debut)
• Luxray (debut)
• Gible (debut)
• Bronzor (debut)
• Murkrow
• Honchkrow (debut)
• Purugly (debut)
• Shellos (East Sea debut)
• Cherubi (multiple)
• Cherrim (multiple; debut)
• Kricketot (multiple)
• Unown (multiple)
• Azurill
• Marill
• Azumarill
• Burmy (multiple)
• Wormadam (multiple)
• Wooper (multiple)
• Quagsire
• Houndour
• Girafarig
• Teddiursa
• Tropius
• Bibarel
• Combee (multiple)
• Pidgey (multiple)
• Pidgeotto
• Budew (multiple)
• Roserade
• Mew (intro)
• Mewtwo (M01; intro)
• Lugia (intro)
• Zapdos (intro)
• Moltres (intro)
• Articuno (intro)
• Unown (intro)
• Entei (intro)
• Celebi (intro)
• Suicune (intro)
• Latios (intro)
• Latias (intro)
• Groudon (intro)
• Jirachi (intro)
• Deoxys (×2; intro)
• Rayquaza (intro)
• Lucario (intro)
• Regirock (intro)
• Regice (intro)
• Registeel (intro)
• Kyogre (intro)
• Manaphy (intro)
• Ho-Oh (intro)

Movie montage only

• Togepi (Misty's)
• Bulbasaur (Ash's)
• Charizard (Ash's)
• Squirtle (Ash's)
• Mewtwo (M01)
• Mew (first movie)
• Gyarados (Fergus's)
• Nidoqueen (Fergus's)
• Tentacruel (Fergus's)
• Vaporeon (Fergus's)
• Hitmonlee (Corey's)
• Rhyhorn (Corey's)
• Vileplume (Neesha's)
• Ninetales (Neesha's)
• Rapidash (Neesha's)
• Lugia (movie)
• Charizard (Liza's; Charla)
• Entei (illusion created by the Unown)
• Celebi (movie)
• Suicune (movie)
• Magikarp
• Gyarados
• Corsola (Misty's)
• Latios (anime)
• Latias (anime)
• Wailmer (Ross's)
• Jirachi (movie)
• Groudon (Meta Groudon)
• Flygon
• Rayquaza (movie)
• Deoxys (movie)
• Plusle
• Minun
• Mime Jr. (Queen Ilene's)
• Lucario (movie)
• Mew (eighth movie)
• Regice (movie)
• Chatot (The Phantom's; Casey)
• Manaphy (movie)
• Seaking (multiple)
• Wailord
• Chinchou (multiple)
• Lanturn (multiple)
• Luvdisc (multiple)
• Mantyke (multiple)
• Mantine (multiple)

Cast

Cast
Ash	Sarah Natochenny	Satoshi	Rica Matsumoto	サトシ	松本梨香
Pikachu	Ikue Ohtani	Pikachu	Ikue Ohtani	ピカチュウ	大谷育江
Brock	Bill Rogers	Takeshi	Yūji Ueda	タケシ	うえだ　ゆうじ
Dawn	Emily Jenness	Hikari	Megumi Toyoguchi	ヒカリ	豊口めぐみ
Jessie	Michele Knotz	Musashi	Megumi Hayashibara	ムサシ	林原めぐみ
James	Billy Beach	Kojirō	Shin-ichiro Miki	コジロウ	三木眞一郎
Meowth	Billy Beach	Nyarth	Inuko Inuyama	ニャース	犬山イヌコ
Narration	Rodger Parsons	Narration	Unshō Ishizuka	ナレーション	石塚運昇
Special appearances by
Darkrai	Scott Williams	Darkrai	Kōji Ishizaka	ダークライ	石坂浩二
Tonio	Rich McNanna	Tonio	Kōji Yamamoto	トニオ	山本耕史
Alice	Khristine Hvam	Alice	Rosa Katō	アリス	加藤ローサ
Baron Alberto	Ax Norman	Baron Albert	Kōichi Yamadera	アルベルト男爵	山寺宏一
Kai	Sean Reyes	Dai	Ryūji Akiyama	ダイ	秋山竜次
Maury	Joshua Swanson	Katumi	Hiroshi Yamamoto	カツミ	山本　博
Allegra	Emily Williams	Maki	Shōko Nakagawa	マキ	中川翔子

Staff

Created by 原案	Satoshi Tajiri Jun'ichi Masuda Ken Sugimori	田尻　智 増田順一 杉森　建
Production supervisor スーパーバイザー	Tsunekazu Ishihara	石原恒和
Animation supervisor アニメーション監修	Yōichi Kotabe	小田部羊一
Executive producers エグゼクティブプロデューサー	Masakazu Kubo Kenjirō Itō	久保雅一 伊藤憲二郎
Producers プロデューサー	Chōji Yoshikawa Jun'ya Okamoto Takemoto Mori	吉川兆二 岡本順哉 盛　武源
Animation producers アニメーションプロデューサー	Shukichi Kanda Toshiaki Okuno	神田 修吉 奥野 敏聡
Screenplay 脚本	Hideki Sonoda	園田英樹
Storyboard 絵コンテ	Kunihiko Yuyama Jouji Shimura Naohito Takahashi Tetsu Kimura Yuji Asada	湯山邦彦 志村 錠児 高橋 ナオヒト 木村 哲 浅田 裕二
Assistant directors 演出	Kazyuyo Matsumura Masakatsu Iijima Naohito Takahashi Hiroaki Yoshikawa Yuji Asada Yoshinobu Tokumoto	?
Character design キャラクターデザイン	Kazuaki Mōri Norihiro Matsuhara Sayuri Ichiishi	毛利和昭 松原徳弘 一石小百合
Executive animation directors 総作画監督	Kazuaki Mōri Kazumi Sato	毛利和昭 佐藤 和巳
Animation directors 作画監督	Akira Miyanaka Eikichi Takahashi Isamitsu Tajima Koichi Taguchi Masahiro Aizawa Miwa Sakai Taka Sato Takayuki Shimura Takuya Matsumoto Yuko Inoue	? 高橋 英吉 ? 田口 広一 相澤 昌弘 堺 美和 佐藤 陵 志村 隆行 松本 卓也 井ノ上 ユウ子
Color keys 色彩設計	Chizue Saitou Haruka Yoshida Yukari Goto	斎藤 知津江 吉田 春加 後藤 ゆかり
Colorist 色指定	Haruka Yoshida Yukari Goto Chizue Saito	?
Art supervisor 美術監修	Katsuyoshi Kanemura	金村勝義
Art director 美術監督	Minoru Akiba	秋葉 みのる
Director of photography 撮影監督	Takaya Mizutani	水谷貴哉
CGI	OLM Digital	OLM Digital
CGI director CGI監督	Makoto Satō	佐藤　誠
CGI producer CGIプロデューサー	Misako Saka	坂　美佐子
Editor 編集	Toshio Henmi	辺見俊夫
Music 音楽	Shinji Miyazaki	宮崎慎二
Music producers 音楽プロデューサー	Kazuo Shinohara Yūji Saitō	篠原一雄 齋藤裕二
Sound recording mixer 劇場用レコーディングミキサー	Jūji Nakamura	中村充時
Original score (partial) 一部原曲・作曲	Gō Ichinose Morikazu Aoki ?	一之瀬　剛 青木森一 ?
Sound director 音響監督	Masafumi Mima	三間雅文
Recording studio 録音スタジオ	Aoi Studio	アオイスタジオ
Audio production 音響制作	HALF H・P STUDIO	HALF H・P STUDIO
Production 制作	Shogakukan Production	小学館プロダクション
Animation production アニメーション制作	OLM Team Koitabashi	OLM Team Koitabashi
Director 監督	Kunihiko Yuyama	湯山邦彦

Events

Darkrai distribution artwork

Pre-order distributions

Fans could choose from a poll Pokémon that starred in previous movies. The winner, Deoxys, was made available for those who pre-ordered their tickets to the film. Deoxys was later made available in GameStop stores in America.

Movie distribution

Darkrai knowing Roar of Time and Spacial Rend, signature moves of its co-stars in the film were made available in theaters in Japan and various stores worldwide.

Soundtrack

Main article: Dialga vs. Palkia vs. Darkrai Music Collection

Manga adaptation

Main article: The Rise of Darkrai (manga)

Trivia

• This movie was released between DP039 and DP040 in Japan.
• This is the first Pokémon movie:
  • To feature the opening theme of the season after the one it corresponds to. In other words, despite being the tenth movie, it features a version of the opening theme of the eleventh season, We Will Be Heroes.
  • To be dubbed by DuArt Film & Video.
  • To be rated PG in the United States and the first to be rated in the United States at all since Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias.
  • To feature a Japanese ending theme that is sung entirely in English by a duo of English singers.
• Players who had pre-ordered tickets for the Japanese run could receive a Deoxys. In major cinemas, a Darkrai could be downloaded. Instructions on how to get Darkrai were provided before and after the feature presentation by Meowth.
• Kayzie Rogers returns to the anime in this movie, portraying Alicia, following the hiatus that she went on after Following a Maiden's Voyage!.
• During the theatrical release, promotional cards were released as the 10th Movie Commemoration Set.
• This is the only Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl movie not to have a human antagonist.
• In the trailers, Ash is seen flying over Alamos Town on a Pidgeot. This scene was never in the movie itself.
  • Another scene shown in the trailers is Ash encountering a seemingly evil/darker version of himself, but this scene was also never shown.
• The number of Pokémon debuts in this movie is matched only by Mewtwo Strikes Back, Spell of the Unown: Entei, and Jirachi: Wish Maker; this is because these were the movies that began new generation. With the exception of the first movie (which was released more than two years after Generation I had debuted), no Pokémon were introduced in any of these three movies that could not be found in the games of the respective generation. Counting the corresponding Pikachu shorts, Mewtwo Strikes Back had 22 debuts (of which three were Generation II Pokémon), Spell of the Unown: Entei had 16 and Jirachi: Wish Maker had 14, or 15 if including Groudon as having a live debut. This movie had 18 debuts within itself, or 20 if considering Dialga and Palkia's appearances as their live debuts.
• This film contains plot points similar to the previous nine movies (it is unknown if this was intentional):
  • Three Trainers appear who each have one of the fully evolved first partner Pokémon of that region (Mewtwo Strikes Back).
  • The resolution to the plot involves a song being played (The Power of One).
  • The Unown Dimension appears (Spell of the Unown: Entei).
  • Balloon transportation is utilized throughout (Celebi: The Voice of the Forest).
  • Human-to-Pokémon transformations occur (Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias).
  • Two of the guest characters begin a romance at the conclusion of the story (Jirachi Wish Maker).
  • The beginning of the story and part of the main plot involve two Legendary Pokémon battling (Destiny Deoxys).
  • Part of the story is told through flashbacks (Lucario and the Mystery of Mew).
  • The plot resolution involves Ash needing to solve a puzzle (Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea).
• This movie started a trend in which the final form of all three first partner Pokémon of the generation's region appear in the first movie of the concurrent generation, as seen in White—Victini and Zekrom and Black—Victini and Reshiram, Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction, and Secrets of the Jungle.
• Five minor characters from other movies make a cameo appearance in this movie:
  • The man and his daughter, who were briefly seen with Aipom in the beginning of Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias, are given a similar appearance alongside Chimecho and Chingling.
  • A character resembling Bogie, the man from Jirachi: Wish Maker who sold May her wishing star, sold Dawn a Lunar Wing.
  • Finally, the mother and girl that were reading the legend of Rota in the beginning of Lucario and the Mystery of Mew were seen buying cotton candy and running away from Darkrai. These two are seen again in the next movie.
• The Lunar Wing that Dawn buys in the movie appears again in Sleepless in Pre-Battle!, making the movie canon with the main series anime.
• This is the first and only movie where the title sequence music does not contain the introduction theme of the original games.
• The Shellos that appears in the movie is in their East Sea form. According to a recent map of the anime, Alamos Town is actually on the western side of Mt. Coronet, although it is unknown whether or not the Shellos was from Alamos Town.
• All of the Legendary Pokémon from previous generations with the exception of Raikou make a brief appearance in the beginning of the movie.
• Lucario is the only Pokémon in the intro sequence that is neither Legendary nor Mythical.
• Originally, the nightmare that Ash was having while under the effects of Dark Void was going to be directly shown, which would have entailed a world without Pokémon. This was ultimately removed from the final version of the movie, although the concept was ultimately retooled for I Choose You! a decade later.
• In a February 2021 poll held by the official Pokémon website, this movie was voted the most popular movie of Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl.

Errors

• The same Japanese voice over that is heard in Tanks for the Memories! is heard when Dawn sends out her Pokémon to play.
• During part of the scene where Ash and Dawn's Pokémon are running up the spiral staircase in the Space-Time Towers after being separated from their Trainers, Aipom was mistakenly left out.
• During the scene where Ash is chasing Darkrai, a group of Murkrow is seen flying over a rooftop. However, their voices are left undubbed in the English version.
• When Dawn's Buizel and Brock's Sudowoodo return to their Trainers after waking up and Lickilicky runs past them, Lickilicky momentarily overlaps with a tree behind it.
• When Dialga and Palkia's attacks collide and explode, Dawn and Brock's Sudowoodo disappear during the shock-waves going through the town, only to reappear with everyone else on the ground in the following scene when Alice asks if everyone is alright.
• When helping to stop Dialga's Draco Meteor attack, Kai momentarily disappears beside Empoleon while Allegra, Maury, and their Pokémon are dodging it.

Dub edits

• In the English dub, Darkrai is referred as a he, even though Darkrai is gender unknown in the games.
• Together2008 is replaced by a movie version of We Will Be Heroes as the opening theme.
• I Will Be With You is replaced by I'll Always Remember You and Living in the Shadow as the ending themes.
• The opening title sequence is shortened slightly, resulting in an abrupt edit in the music.
• The pun between the names of Baron Alberto and his Pokémon is removed; Alberto now is referred to as "Baron Lickilicky" when he is transformed.
• In the original Japanese version, Ash calls Palkia an idiot while asking it to bring Alamos Town back to normal. This is not included in the English dub.
• The original Cartoon Network airing excluded the scenes of Dawn's Contest and Team Rocket sneaking into Alberto's residence.
• In the original Japanese version, there is an ending segment that shows designs made by the winners of a promotional drawing contest. The designs feature scenes and Pokémon from several Pikachu shorts.

Box office performance

Source: goo 映画

The Rise of Darkrai earned a franchise record of 5.02 billion yen (US$47 million).

2007	July 14 to 15	July 21 to 22	July 28 to 29	August 4 to 5	August 11 to 12	August 18 to 19	August 25 to 26	September 1 to 2	September 8 to 9
Overall ranking	► 1st	▼ 2nd	▼ 3rd	▼ 5th	► 5th	► 5th	▼ 8th	▼ 9th	▼ 10th
Domestic movies	► 1st	► 1st	► 1st	▼ 2nd	▲ 1st	► 1st	▼ 2nd	▼ 3rd	▼ 5th
Animated movies	► 1st	► 1st	▼ 2nd	► 2nd	► 2nd	► 2nd	► 2nd	▼ 3rd	► 3rd

In other languages

Language		Title
Albanian		Kryengritia e Darkait
Chinese	Cantonese	決戰時空之塔 帝牙盧卡VS帕路奇犽VS達克萊伊 * 帝牙盧卡VS帕路奇犽VS達克萊伊 *
	Mandarin	決戰時空之塔 帝牙盧卡VS帕路奇犽VS達克萊伊 * 帝牙卢卡VS帕路奇犽VS达克莱伊 * 决战时空之塔 帝牙卢卡VS帕路奇犽VS达克莱伊 *
Danish		Pokémon: Darkrai slår til
Dutch		Pokémon: De Opkomst van Darkrai
Finnish		Pokémon: Darkrai nousee
French	Canada	L'ascension de Darkrai
	Europe	L'ascension de Darkrai
German		Der Aufstieg von Darkrai
Greek		Το Ξύπνημα του Ντάρκραϊ
Hindi		डार्कराय - दोस्त या दुश्मन Darkrai - Dost ya Dushman *
Hungarian		Pokémon 10. - Darkrai felemelkedése
Italian		Pokémon: L'ascesa di Darkrai
Korean		디아루가VS펄기아VS다크라이
Norwegian		Pokémon: Darkrai sin oppstand
Polish		Wzejście Darkraia
Portuguese	Brazil	Pokémon: O Pesadelo de Darkrai
	Portugal	A Ascensão de Darkrai
Russian		Восход Даркрая
Spanish	Latin America	El surgimiento de Darkrai
	Spain	El desafío de Darkrai
Swedish		Pokémon: Darkrai slår till
Tamil		டார்க்ரை - தோஸ்த் யா துஷ்மன் Darkrai - Dost ya Dushman *
Telugu		డార్క్రై - దోస్త్ య దుష్మన్ Darkrai - Dost ya Dushman *

See also

• Dialga vs. Palkia vs. Darkrai Music Collection

External links

Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai on Prime Video (English)

Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai on Google Play (English)

Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai on iTunes (English)

Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai at IMDb

Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai at Wikipedia

Official website for Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai (English)

Official website for Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai (Japanese)

References

← M09 : Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea

Pokémon movies

M11 : Giratina and the Sky Warrior →

This movie article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.