YMMV / Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life

• Complete Monster: In the manga adaptation, by Makoto Mizobuchi, Markus lacks the redeeming qualities of his anime counterpart. A manipulative Godhood Seeker, Markus seeks to kill Arceus in order to become a god himself, uncaring and ungrateful that Arceus nearly gave its life to save humanity. Unwilling to put himself in danger, Markus hypnotizes his own ally Damos to have him do the deed instead; this only results in Arceus killing both Damos and Markus in rage. When Ash and company arrive from the far future and Markus learns of his impending death, Markus immediately changes his scheme, using the lethal "silver water" to almost kill Arceus in a bid to rewrite history and become omnipotent. Foiled again in this, Markus blows up the temple they're fighting within so he can take the dozens of people and Pokémon still inside to the grave with him.
• Creator's Pet: The spikey-eared Pichu, which would go on to become a Promotional Powerless Piece of Garbage in HeartGold and SoulSilver (which even swiped Celebi's place from the original games' Ilex Forest shrine event). The poster of the film displays her like a main cast member, even though she has very little screen time compared to other (more notable) Pokémon.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • When Sheena tells the heroes about a legend involving a young trainer with an electric Pokémon, Dawn automatically assumes it's referring to Ash. He isn't so quick to agree however, probably because of what happened the last time he Jumped at the Call.
  • Some people said that Marcus was the human version of Shadow the Hedgehog when the movie was still in Japan, thanks to their similar appearances. The English dub then had Jason Griffith (the English voice of Shadow from 2005 to 2010) voice Marcus.
  • The movie involves Arceus and time-travelling to Sinnoh's past. Over a decade later we get a main series game about Arceus and time-travelling back Sinnoh's past.
    • As an add-on to the above, Legends: Arceus implied that the Arceus we know is a piece of a much more powerful being; so ultimately, the lightning and metallic water would only have killed that particular body, and not have killed Arceus's true form.
• Iron Woobie: The Creation Trio, particularly (and literally) Dialga. The three of them stand up against what is essentially their parent (and a literal God) to stop him from destroying humanity, and get repeatedly knocked down, with Dialga being the last man standing.^note However, it's not directly said in the movie that Arceus created the three, and the trio don't seem to be bothered about attacking their creator, so make of it what you will.
• Just Here for Godzilla: There's a part of the audience that skips most of the story just to see the Creation Trio battle against Arceus, since this is the first instance in the series where the complete trio plus their master are present simultaneously. A smaller segment just likes hearing Dan Green's performance as Damos.
• Narm:
  • Arceus, the Top God of the Pokémon; universe, somehow gets taken out by a meteorite. Legends: Arceus revealing that the Arceus we see is only a mere avatar sort of salvages this... "sort-of" because it turns the climax of the film into a "Shaggy Dog" Story as a consequence.
  • Thunder creature? Really? Sheena couldn't just say "Electric-type Pokémon" or even Pikachu?!
  • For some, Arceus' English voice is built out of Narm. Dan Green should have voiced him, not Damos.
• Obvious Judas: Marcus's role as the Big Bad is meant to be a twist. One look at his obviously evil-looking design (a design which no-one else in the movie matches), however, and you already know Damos isn't the (only) one to blame.
• Questionable Casting: Tom Wayland gives what is essentially the top god of the Pokémon universe a nasally, almost whiny, voice that is hard to take seriously, almost sounding like Meowth trying to sound like Giovanni. A contingent of fans would have preferred if Large Ham extraordinaire Dan Green (who already voices Damos) to be Arceus' English voice instead.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • At one point in the future, Team Rocket stumble across the real Jewel of Life as Arceus battles above them. You'd think that they'd try and use it to bait Arceus and get him under their control (or at least get him to cease his "judgement"). Instead they fumble around, do nothing with it and by the end the Jewel fades away thanks to the Timey-Wimey Ball. They might as well have never found the sodding bauble to begin with.
  • At least one critic persuasively argues that the Damos plot would be significantly more compelling if he had originally given in to temptation and refused to return the Jewel of Life, a good man betraying his morals for the sake of what he believes is necessary. Such a plot would also have made Marcus a bit more compelling and three-dimensional, using him first as a Devil's Advocate, and later, to try swiping the jewel himself in the endgame.

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