Ever walked into a movie theater and felt like you were staring at a high-speed car crash of glitter, lace, and physics-defying pigtails? If you’ve ever dived into the world of Pretty Cure All Stars movies, you know exactly that feeling. It is absolute chaos. But it’s the kind of organized, neon-soaked chaos that has kept a franchise running for over two decades.
Most people—especially casual anime fans—think these movies are just 70-minute toy commercials. Honestly? They kind of are. But if you stop there, you’re missing the weird, experimental, and sometimes genuinely gut-wrenching storytelling that happens when you shove 70+ magical girls into a single room.
The Messy Reality of the All Stars Timeline
Let's get one thing straight: trying to fit these movies into a logical timeline is a fool's errand. You'll give yourself a headache. One minute, the Kirakira team members are grown adults in a spin-off, and the next, they're back in middle school uniforms fighting a giant shadow monster in downtown Tokyo.
The "All Stars" concept started small. Back in 2009, Precure All Stars DX only had to juggle 14 girls. That’s manageable. You can give everyone a line. You can show off their signature moves. Fast forward to Pretty Cure All Stars F in 2023, and you’re looking at 78 Cures. Seventy-eight! At that point, it’s not a movie; it’s a demographic census.
Why the "DX" Era Still Hits Different
The original DX trilogy (2009–2011) is often cited by old-school fans as the gold standard. Why? Because the power scaling actually felt visceral. You had the Max Heart duo—Black and White—basically acting as the heavy hitters who didn't need magic beams because they could just punch a hole through a mountain.
There was a specific charm in seeing the "Pink Cures" from different seasons realize they all have the same "klutzy but determined" personality. It felt like a family reunion. Then things changed.
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The Great Shrinking: From "All" to "Some" Stars
Around 2017, Toei Animation realized they had a logistics problem. You can't pay 50 voice actors to show up for three lines of dialogue each without the budget exploding. This led to the Dream Stars and Super Stars era.
Instead of bringing everyone back, they limited the roster to the current team and the two previous generations.
- The Pro: The stories got tighter.
- The Con: If your favorite Cure was from five years ago, she was basically relegated to a non-speaking cameo in the background.
Fans were pretty split on this. On one hand, you got movies like Miracle Leap (2020) that actually had time to develop a plot. On the other hand, the "All Stars" name started to feel like a bit of a lie. It was more like "A Few Stars and Their Friends."
The Shocking Success of Pretty Cure All Stars F
Everything changed again with the 20th-anniversary celebration. Pretty Cure All Stars F didn't just break records; it shattered them. We’re talking over 1.5 billion yen at the Japanese box office.
But it wasn't just the money. It was the "Supreme" twist.
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Fact Check: In All Stars F, the movie introduces a brand-new character named Cure Supreme. Unlike almost every other movie-exclusive Cure, Supreme wasn't a hero. She was a god-like entity who had actually destroyed the Cures and recreated a world to understand why they were so strong.
That is dark. For a franchise that usually solves problems with the "Power of Friendship" and a glowing flashlight (the legendary Miracle Lights), having a protagonist who literally murdered the entire cast in the opening act was a massive pivot. It's why the movie resonated so hard with adult fans who grew up with the show. It treated the "magical girl" concept as something worth deconstructing.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Visuals
If you watch these movies back-to-back, you’ll notice something weird. The characters often look... different. Not just "higher budget," but fundamentally off-model.
This is actually intentional. Each season of the TV show has a different character designer. Heartcatch Precure has a very distinct, sharp, "DoReMi-esque" style by Yoshihiko Umakoshi. Go! Princess is lush and flowery. When they meet in an All Stars movie, a single animation director (often Mitsuru Aoyama) has to redraw everyone to fit a unified style.
This is why Cure Marine sometimes looks like a different person depending on which movie you’re watching. It’s a compromise for the sake of visual cohesion. If they didn't do this, the screen would look like a collage of five different art projects glued together.
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The CGI Controversy
Toei has been pushing 3D CGI dance endings since 2009, and eventually, that tech bled into the movies. Some fans hate it. They think it looks like "bad video game cutscenes."
However, looking at the recent Wonderful Precure! The Movie (2024), the blend is getting smoother. They’re using CGI for the massive, wide-scale battles where having 70 hand-drawn characters would be impossible, and sticking to 2D for the emotional close-ups. It’s a trade-off. Without the tech, we’d never get to see every single Cure on screen at once.
How to Actually Watch These Without Losing Your Mind
If you’re trying to catch up, don't just start from the beginning. You'll burn out by the time you hit the New Stage trilogy.
- Start with All Stars DX 3: It’s the peak of the "classic" crossover era.
- Watch All Stars Memories: This is the 15th-anniversary film. It holds a Guinness World Record for the "Most Magical Warriors in an Anime Film." It’s pure fanservice, but it’s done with so much heart it’s hard to stay cynical.
- End with All Stars F: It’s the most modern, highest-budget, and narratively complex entry.
The Future: Is "All Stars" Sustainable?
As of 2026, we’re seeing a shift. The latest series, Star Detective Precure, is already experimenting with new themes (like a purple-colored lead protagonist, Cure Answer). The question is: how much longer can Toei keep adding five new girls every year?
Eventually, an "All Stars" movie will have 100 characters. 150. 200. At some point, the screen will just be a solid block of primary colors. But honestly? The fans don't care. They’re there for that one five-second clip where their favorite girl from 2012 saves the new girl from 2026.
It’s about the legacy. It’s about the fact that no matter how much time passes, the "Precure" title still means something to the kids (and adults) in those seats.
If you're planning a marathon, your best bet is to look for the "Blue-ray" collections rather than individual streams. The theatrical versions often have "Miracle Light" prompts where the characters talk directly to the audience, which can be a bit jarring when you're sitting alone in your living room without a plastic flashlight to wave. Focus on the anniversary specials—they’re where the real budget and passion usually go.