Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life – Review

At the beginning of time, there was a Pokemon named “Arceus.” For whatever reason, and through no adequately described method, Arceus decided to create the universe that the Pokemon World is in. The plot follows an asteroid which is about to smack in to the Pokemon World, where a guy called Damos who has some kind of telepathic connection with Pokemon dwells. One night he goes out to see the asteroid just about to hit, and he sends out a telepathic message or whatever, and suddenly, at the last minute, Arceus emerges and plunges into the asteroid, blowing it up and saving the world. After the standard intro finishes, a recap of movies 10 and 11 runs, showing the feud between Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina. The movie then cuts to Arceus’s past and finally finishes with Arceus claiming justice to be brought to the human race.

I’ve never been big into Pokemon and ever since I turned…like 14…I haven’t had an interest in it whatsoever but I felt I needed to broaden my demographic so here we go. Arceus and the Jewel of Life is the third movie in the Diamond & Pearl trilogy, following The Rise of Darkrai and its sequel, Giratina and the Sky Warrior. The movie itself centers on Arceus’s imminent destruction of the world putting humans to justice through meteors bombarding the earth, the equivalent of the biblical Judgment Day. I was actually quite surprised how much fun this film was. The movie character exclusives seems to not had enough screentime for the audience to grasp their personalities. It was awfully cliched and linear and most certainly an obvious ending. But, knowing nothing about this universe beforehand, I left my elitest attitude at the door and it greatly benefitted me.

Nice addition added to the Pokémon Movie collection but the movie itself seems to have deteriorated over time. Great watch for veteran Pokémon fans, not very much sure about newcomers, as they’ll have to watch the 10th and 11th movie first to fully understand what the heck is going in the 12th. Arceus could have been used better to convey the story that he’s the god pokemon but it fell short of that. It reminded me of the Roman Times, such as the wars between Guardians and Gods, and the slavery of those poor Pokemon. Why they included the theme of slavery is a mystery but I applaud that the show took a giant step in maturity. There’s a kind of Harry Potter incremental philosophy behind it. Just like how Potter is intended for young readers, and then each subsequent book is a step up in difficulty and complexity until the final volume is an adult novel, so the Pokemon universe is intended to age up with their fans as well.

Now, let me make it clear, I don’t have an interest in Pokemon but I do have a general interest in anime and I found a lot to like here.  The animation is superb and the voice acting is terrible, just like in most animes. Some of the music in this movie is beautiful, as well. So in conclusion, unless you have an interest in Pokemon I don’t see anyone going out of there way to see this like I have, but it isn’t a terrible experience. To sound amateurish in my writing, it is what it is, nothing special. I don’t regret nor look forward to any future releases. To everyone else who is interested in Pokemon, this comes reccommended.