World's End, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Hero. and it also became the highest grossing anime film of 2007. Overseas, the film grossed $, including $159,141 in Hong Kong and $99,154 in Taiwan. Worldwide, the film grossed $. Critical reception Carl Kimlinger, in his review of the film for Anime News Network, gave the film an overall grade of B−. He described the film's plot as "simple enough for kids to follow with ease", and added: "parents will find the message of teamwork and understanding, as well as the franchise's usual refusal to paint anyone as a villain, quite reassuring." Kimlinger also praised the film's imagery and use of CGI, writing: "Hardly a minute passes without a Pokémon spitting a shiny ball of CGI energy at something", and described a fight sequence between two Pokémon as "a fantastic tableau of spiraling darkness and swirling smears of soap-on-water rainbow light". However, he criticized the overall animation, saying: "[Oriental Light and Magic] never bothered to question how the meticulously rendered CG architecture and frequent bursts of 3-D action would mesh with the simplistic character designs and gaudy cartoon aesthetic of the Pokémon themselves." Jenny Sanders, writing for Den of Geek, gave the film a score of 4 stars out of 5. She wrote that the film "is very well structured, less-than-obviously scripted and has an impressively epic orchestral soundtrack", and praised the film's special effects and scenery, but stated that they "jar terribly with the rather more basic drawing employed for the characters and Pokémon themselves, which seem to have been lifted from the original creations." She concluded: "Despite its aesthetic faults and somewhat clichéd elements, The Rise of Darkrai is absorbing and entertaining – even if nobody over the age of eight will have any idea what’s going on by two-thirds of the way through." Film Music Central gave it a positive review saying that "While Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai did weird me out at times, I did enjoy the overall story. More than that, I’m eager to see where the story goes, since I know now that the next two films continue the story that was begun here" Notes References External links English Darkrai Site The Rise of Darkrai at Bulbapedia 2007 anime films 2000s Japanese-language films Rise of Darkrai Toho animated films Viz Media anime Japanese sequel films Films set in Spain Films directed