class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-45747″ title=”Pokémon- Arceus and the Jewel of Life logo” src=”https://www.heyuguys.com/images/2010/09/Pokémon-Arceus-and-the-Jewel-of-Life-logo.jpg” alt=”” width=”220″ height=”150″ />With Pokemon Black and White released in Japan and the new anime series airing in Japan, now is the perfect opportunity to review the twelfth Pokemon film, Arceus and the Jewel of Life.
Due to be released in America on DVD on the 23rd of November, with a UK release date TBC, even with the franchise making this many films, it does not quite live up to my childhood feelings on the very first film.
Following the continuing adventures of Ash Ketchum (Sarah Natochenny), Dawn (Emily Bauer) and Brock (Bill Rogers) from the latest anime series, the trio find a small town where the legendary Pokémon Arceus (Tom Wayland) awakens from his long rest and attacks the town before three other legendary Pokémon, Dialga, Palkia and Giratina, join forces to stop the attacking legendary monster.
During the battle, Dialga uses his powers to teleport Ash and the gang back in time in order to stop the event that made Arceus hate humans and begin his mission to destroy the town’s land.
Even though I have not seen a Pokémon film since the release of the second one at cinemas, this is pretty weak storytelling in comparison to how the writers of the past films have used the creatures and it shows that while they are trying to bring in something new to the familiar series, it just falls short from how I first felt when watching Pokémon: The First Movie.
What did surprise me after watching the film was that it was directed by the same director of all the Pokémon films which was disappointed as most of the shots felt lazy and un-imaginative and lacked the excitement of the battles that take place in the video games.
One interesting thing to note is that this film is part of a trilogy, whereas the previous films were separate from each other. Even though I have not seen the other films in this trilogy, they added flashbacks so that I knew what was going on and so I appreciate the fact that even they know that the series is in need of a new, fresh approach to its own property.
Unfortunately, the animation is not really up to scratch with the other animated films that I have seen this year, mainly because the movements look quite awkward at times and some of the smooth quality only appears on either the human characters or on the small Pokémon.
The voice acting is not good either and although the appeal for children is how the Pokémon speak, it is actually quite annoying for older audience members and for some of those who grew up with the series. Even Tom Wayland, who voices Arceus, can sound really off-putting as this is supposed to be a powerful, legendary Pokémon and yet he mostly sounds like a dodgy villain from a cheap cartoon.
While it was interesting to see how the films have changed after ten years, it just simply does not offer anything for filmgoers. The only audiences that will enjoy this are either people who still watch the anime television show, people who truly love the Pokémon characters or for young children. This will not appeal to those who once loved the anime television series or those who really love their anime films and it is no surprise that it may, most likely, not see a release in the UK.
