Surprisingly, even though Ash has been on television multiple times through his own journey, his father hasn’t been mentioned once … until now!
Ash exclaims at one point in the film that “watching [Koko and Zarude] reminds me of times with my dad.”
Outside of a brief mention at the start of the Pokémon anime (which was then remade in the 2017’s I Choose You! film), Ash’s father has been something of an enigma.
Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle | First Look