I guess I can never really understand the people who want a violent PG-13 movie out of this. I come to Pokemon because it's cute and endearing. I can get seeing battling as the focus, and I have a lot of friends who play more competitively. I just can't see some bloody "realistic" violence as the desirable result of all that, rather than flashy animation. In terms of appealing to nostalgia, did people who played the originals as kids really picture what they were playing as savage fights or closer to the anime?
But of course things like Transformers work because the darker "adult" version serves to justify still liking the lighthearted thing you enjoyed as a kid, so...
And I'm not saying I need things to be lighthearted all the time. But generally I'd rather watch Kamen Rider than a DC movie, you know? Marvel's good, often great, but the better moments and movies of what they've put out have always been the ones that know not to go too dark in my opinion. Which is to say that even a more serious take on Pokemon should keep that endearing nature at its core.