Pokemon 3: (U) **

In case parents have been lucky enough to forget, the first movie was a shameless, plotless cash-in, while the second gave us some semblance of a story (and not a bad one, either). This one falls somewhere between the two.

Darker and more studied than either of its predecessors, Pokemon 3: The Spell of The Unknown offers some big ideas for its young constituents - childhood loneliness, loss and redemption among them.

After some preliminary mumbo-jumbo involving Pikachu and a city full of brand new Pokemon, the main feature finds Ash and his pals in a once-beautiful land which has been made ugly by strange crystal formations controlled by the imagination of a girl called Molly, who has lost her mummy and daddy. Her power is derived from a new Pokemon created to be her guide in this virtual world by ancient proto-Pokemon known only as The Unknown.

In order to return the land to normal (that is, brash primary colours and ridiculously cheap-looking animation) the crew must convince Molly that everything will be all right in the real world and that she can let go, not only of Ash's mum who Molly has adopted as her own, but also of her tormented imagination.

Along the way there are umpteen Pokemon fights - more than the first two films put together - which tends to make the plot feel like some flimsy thing cooked up to link the set pieces. Which is fair enough because the Pokemon battles are pretty much all the under-tens want to see anyway. Just in case it became an issue, there is a heavy-handed politically-correct parting shot in which Ash helpfully explains that, far from getting hurt by whiplashes, thunder shocks, flame throwers and electric attacks, the Pokemon creatures actually love to do battle.

So while the film is unlikely to win any prizes, let alone new fans, those still tuned into this most mystifying craze will love it to bits.