Are the movies canon? | Bulbagarden

All pre-alternate universe movies are canon, (Gen 1-6)
the alternate universe ones (I choose you, the Mewtwo remake, Power of us, Secrets of the jungle) are not canon with the ones except Mewtwo being in the same timeline

It's questionable which of the Zekrom/Reshiram movies are the “canon” one but doesn't seem to matter

I suppose I should ask the elephant in the room and say “does a movie being ‘canon’ really matter in any way?”

I’m not memeing here, it is a legit question.

In some ways yes, in other ways no.
It's not like they learn new moves or evolve or get a new badge/ribbon/key in the movies so in that aspect they don't matter

Some things they connect with the show like in AG Drew is from the city in the Deoxys movie, which doesn't matter but it's worldbuilding and canonizes that city

I forget which one but in one of the XY movies the Mega Absol Trainer Astrid battles Ash in the movie, battles Alain in his specials, and we see her in the Kalos league and little stuff like that

Ash’s Aura is also first touched on in the movies which reoccurs in the series

Plus the Pokemon knowledge stuff like Ash knowing Mewtwo, currently what's going on with Latias, and just general knowledge that implies they learned them in the movie first

In some cases they're good like I imo the Jirachi movie is crucial for Max’s character, the Celebi adds some depth to Oak’s character etc

Personally for me they're simply better “filler” episodes as they may not have plot progression but they generally look better, have better stories, and etc than most of the “filler” episodes

I would rather watch the five OS movies instead of all of the “filler” episodes in OS as in some ways it's a better viewing experience and that also applied for AG and DP for me

Like to me it seems the only movies that you would “need” to watch are Movies 1, 5, & 8
As 1 is actually decently connected with the show, 5 has the current Latias stuff they seem to be connecting, and 8 has the Lucario Aura stuff that makes JN and that one arc in DP have some more value