Arceus 12th movie discussion
- Thread starter Ashebull
- Start date
Dude I doubt Arceus is a "god". More like something randomly made at the beginning or whatever because the performance was quite lame without plates. Reminds me of Tony Stark without the suit you know...
You know i finally watched the movie, like a couple of nights ago, after getting it for christmas. It was probably one of the best movies in the DP series so far, i thought it would be bad.
To me I don't consider Arceus to be a God Pokemon, instead of it just being a legendary Pokemon. I watched the 12th movie a while back, but during the movie Arceus didn't act like a God, since it was struggling in some of the situations.
I think the film's portrayal of Arceus was fantastic - they show it as a mighty Pokémon who saved the entire world from certain destruction, and a loving, caring powerful being. However, they severely downplay its abilities. If I had to guess why they downplay its power so much, I would have to say it's because of Pokémon's long-standing belief that "no single Pokémon is the strongest". (And they seem to have a thing with not wanting to have a true "God" of Pokémon, which I'm okay with.) In order to make it appear Arceus isn't an all-powerful god, they have to make it have weaknesses.
One of the most important points they downplay is Arceus' ability to nullify any and all attacks with the Life Plates. Remember, the only reason it was damaged by the betrayal and Pikachu's attacks was because it gave part of its life / power to Damos through the Jewel of Life. With every Life Plate, Arceus would be able to negate any attack thrown at it. You may ask, "but why didn't that work when it confronted the meteor?" The only answer I can give is to go back to one of my first points - they have to show that Arceus has weaknesses.
Another point they downplay is Arceus' ability to create entire worlds - they only mention it briefly when Sheena and Kevin are explaining the legend of Michina to Ash and company. They also downplay the fact it created Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina, who govern such powerful forces. (And they don't even mention its creation of the Lake Trio, though they had nothing to do with the films, so this is understandable.)
In the end, it's very easy to view their portrayal of Arceus in the 12th film as lacking for such a mighty Pokémon. However, this is only because they downplay its abilities so much - it is most definitely a powerful Pokémon.
One of the most important points they downplay is Arceus' ability to nullify any and all attacks with the Life Plates. Remember, the only reason it was damaged by the betrayal and Pikachu's attacks was because it gave part of its life / power to Damos through the Jewel of Life. With every Life Plate, Arceus would be able to negate any attack thrown at it. You may ask, "but why didn't that work when it confronted the meteor?" The only answer I can give is to go back to one of my first points - they have to show that Arceus has weaknesses.
Another point they downplay is Arceus' ability to create entire worlds - they only mention it briefly when Sheena and Kevin are explaining the legend of Michina to Ash and company. They also downplay the fact it created Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina, who govern such powerful forces. (And they don't even mention its creation of the Lake Trio, though they had nothing to do with the films, so this is understandable.)
In the end, it's very easy to view their portrayal of Arceus in the 12th film as lacking for such a mighty Pokémon. However, this is only because they downplay its abilities so much - it is most definitely a powerful Pokémon.
Actually, I think he was too powerful in the movie. I mean, Dialga, Palkia and Giratina together couldn't do a thing to it. And I'm atheist but I think Arceus is the god of Pokémon. They just don't explicitly state that to avoid religious problems. Anyway, I didn't like the movie plot. I think they should have explored more the theme of arceus being the creator of it all and its relation with its dragon "sons"... Instead, it's just a story about a human who tricked the god of pokémon lol... Weaker than the previous two DP movies...
Arceus was portrayed fairly in the movie. Fairly, but not accurately. Something just didn't click about his behavior, as far as social behavior, in the movie. His power was downgraded as well, as Xous said, but in all fairness, giving Arceus the appropriate power he uses in games would have made the movie a little less suspenseful/thrilling. The voice acting was strange, at best. But I've learned to appreciate it.
But seriously, for someone to be considered a God, and to nearly drown and get cemented, makes him sound really weak. Also XieRH it did say in the games that Arceus was a God and created everything in the world, starting with the Sinnoh region. Here's a link: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Arceus
Ashebull said:
Does creating something make you a god of that something? Or does being powerful enough make you a god? In that case arent all the legendaries as good as "gods" in their own right? There's enough to form quite a pantheon.
Plus, I re-iterate: The word "God" was not explicitly used. If you think I didn't read the article you might be wondering how did I know there was no citation from the game with "god" in it.
As far as implicit evidence are concerned:
Is Arceus worshipped by anyone as a holy or divine being in the game?
If you can answer yes to that question, with a valid and rational supporting argument I'll concede it is a god in the game and not just 'another powerful legendary'. Otherwise I'll stick to my stance that it is only the fanbase that calls it a God (and I can actually prove that, unlike people who say the game calls it a god and can't provide explicit proof).
While arceus's conceptual design is inspired by a creator deity, whether or not it is canonically an actual deity (in terms of reverence or worship) is a separate matter. A god is only a god by definition of being labelled as a god (or treated as one), just like a person can't be a king if there does not exist a kingdom that he reigns sovereign over.
XieRH said:
Yes, in fact, it is. Throughout Diamond and Pearl, you meet many townspeople (especially in Eterna City) who talk of ancient festivals in which Dialga and/or Palkia (And therefore, Arceus) were celebrated and worshiped, resulting in ancient folk lore and legends surrounding many towns/areas, including Spear Pillar. Shrines and carvings were also discovered in Celestic Town. The distortion world, ruled over giratina, is strikingly similar to the Underworld, described in many ancient religions. It's probably the closest thing to a religion you can find in the game. Game Freak/Nintendo probably didn't want to directly mention worship/religion in the games as to offend religious consumers. There is even more direct evidence of worship in the movie Arceus and the Jewel of Life. Even Arceus's name comes from the words arch (highest) and deus, which is Latin for god. So in a sense, Arceus is and is not worshiped as a deity. It's just my opinion on the matter, and may not be actual fact. I'm just trying to support my argument with what little evidence I have.
Well yeah but if that were the case, you could argue that Dialga and Palkia (and probably pokemon like Lugia and Ho-oh) are gods too (hence the whole pantheon thing I mentioned). I don't think it's wrong to call Ho-oh a 'god' anyway if evidence in terms of reverence supports it fair enough, why not? (and depending on your view on how much level of "reverence" constitutes as sufficient for 'godhood' status, we could certainly have a lot of gods in the pokemon world)
Exactly, as we have many types of gods and religions in our own world. But we're getting off the subject.
What strikes me as odd is that the movie hasn't even been released on DVD, yet. It aired on November 20th, 2009, and it's being released next month, in 2011! How strange. I'm guessing this has something to do with it being released in Japan before it was released in America.
What strikes me as odd is that the movie hasn't even been released on DVD, yet. It aired on November 20th, 2009, and it's being released next month, in 2011! How strange. I'm guessing this has something to do with it being released in Japan before it was released in America.