Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Pokemon: The Arceus Chronicles’ on Netflix, A Movie That Focuses Too Much on Pokemon Drama and Too Little on Pokemon History

Pokemon: The Arceus Chronicles is the latest entry in the long-running Pokemon series. It’s a series of four special episodes of Pokemon Journeys: The Series that were apparently squeezed together, made specifically to promote the debut of the Switch-exclusive Pokemon Legends: Arceus video game. As a tie-in to help bring better context to the ancient world seen in-game, its storyline explores the legend of Arceus and its status as a Pokemon “god” in the world, more or less, a bit further. Though it starts out as a “research” adventure for Ash Ketchum and friends, it soon involves the evil Team Galactic and their plan to bring back their former leader Cyrus.

Pokemon: The Arceus Chronicles: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: We see a multitude of Pokemon from both older generations and new through a plume of smoke, first stylized like the “olden” days and moving into the clouds, then underwater, then the mountains, and fields as we see wild Pokemon of all types marching along. Then, we see the mythical Pokemon named Arceus, who’s described as “watching over Pokemon and people alike”.

The Gist: Trainer Ash Ketchum (Sarah Natochenny) and his traveling companion Goh (Zeno Robinson) travel to the Sinnoh region’s Canalave City. There, as research fellows, they’ll investigate how people lived there in the distant past — much like the past Pokemon Legends: Arceus is actually set in. While there, Ash and Goh meet up with trainer pal Dawn (Emily Bauer) and gym leader Cynthia (Emily Bauer), who’s heading up the Sinnoh Festival. They end up at Mount Coronet, where they receive a message from Arceus itself that threatens everything they know about Pokemon and their way of life – with Team Galactic acting as the instigators.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Of course, this special is just like the rest of the Pokemon series, with slightly different animation, so that’s one constant reminder. But it’ll also conjure images of the Digimon and Monster Rancher series, both shows based on properties that center on collecting monsters.

Our Take: The premise for this outing is solid, but it just isn’t as interesting in practice as it is on paper. The first half is strong, as we get to see Ash and friends learning about the ancient Sinnoh region back in the olden days, complete with them learning how to capture Pokemon with steam-powered Poke Balls and digging into series lore, like why there are starter Pokemon from three different generations in the game.

But the momentum doesn’t last once Team Galactic enters the fold, as their desire to use Arceus and the powerful Pokemon Heatran to starts to tank things completely. They’re boring, one-dimensional characters with only one real goal and purpose, and it gets old hearing them talk about Cyrus slavishly over and over. It would have been much more fun and exciting to watch an anime adaptation of the Arceus game, or see things blur together a bit more. Instead, this self-contained story is a bit of a snoozefest that could have been half its runtime.

Sex and Skin: Absolutely none. This is Pokemon, after all, one of the most squeaky-clean franchises you’ll see in anime.

Parting Shot: With Team Galactic felled and tied to a rock, Cynthia tells the group, including our heroes, that no one is ever alone, as Arceus is always there to help them and guide them. But there are still problems, she laments as we see the Pokemon and humans looking up into the starry sky, that humans still have to figure out for themselves. Brock tries to thrust flowers upon Cynthia, who rejects his advances, and Ash, Dawn, and Goh wrap up their adventure back in Canalave City. Suddenly, the point of view shifts to the trainer seen in Pokemon Legends: Arceus, as we travel back in time.

Sleeper Star: Bill Rogers sounds as close to the original Brock as possible, and lends a little more maturity to the former Pewter City gym leader. We get to see a different side of Brock as a budding Pokemon doctor, and Rogers is a great choice for this new evolution of the character.

Most Pilot-y Line: “The dream of Team Galactic! The first step in the creation of a brand new world.” Team Galactic makes sure you know exactly what it’s up to while conducting its bad-guy business, and we know the next few episodes are going to be all about taking them out before they can use Arceus for their not-so-pure purposes.

Our Call: SKIP IT. Pokemon: The Arceus Chronicles spends far too much time concentrating on Team Galactic’s nefarious plans to bring back its boss, Cyrus, and far too little exploring the days of old that we see in Pokemon Legends: Arceus. It’s so far removed from the Pokémon series of old where it’s all about less outlandish ideas like space-time travel that it feels like it’s part of a different franchise. Further, it drags along at a snail’s pace about halfway through before ramping up to a rushed conclusion. While there are things fans will enjoy about this first chapter of a miniseries bridging seasons together, it’s a mostly weaker entry in a classic show that’s had far more successful moments. And we’re just gonna go ahead and come right out and say it: Team Galactic pales in comparison to the bumbling Team Rocket. Pokemon just doesn’t do evil well, and it’s so much better when it’s played for laughs.

Brittany Vincent has been covering video games and tech for over a decade for publications like G4, Popular Science, Playboy, Variety, IGN, GamesRadar, Polygon, Kotaku, Maxim, GameSpot, and more. When she’s not writing or gaming, she’s collecting retro consoles and tech. Follow her on Twitter: @MolotovCupcake.