Review M13: Zoroark: Master of Illusions

[uSalt2]

EDIT: Oh, now I get it. You're referring to Zorua (in Ash's form) acting like a Pokemon, while walking like a human. Right? LOL, I remember that. It really looked as if Ash was acting like a Pokemon. XD

I think he/she was referring to this picture:

 

[Trainer Lisa]

Oh yeah! Now I remember that scene. XD

Haha, I LOVED that part! It's just like Ash to do something like that. ^_^

*saves picture*

 

[Sweenix]

well its not every day ash has his hat backwards'' not counting unova since he whores his hat now by turning it backwards 2 much

 

[CommanderPigg]

Oh god, Ash. That's just too great XD

You know, I think that out of all the annoying "cute" legendaries/main movie pokemon, Zorua's my favorite. He wasn't just a brat...he was a brat with a purpose

And who can forget Dawn freaking out over him transforming into her and crawling on the floor like that? XD

 

[Sweenix]

Oh god, Ash. That's just too great XD

You know, I think that out of all the annoying "cute" legendaries that have been in the movies, Zorua's my favorite. He wasn't just a brat...he was a brat with a purpose

And who can forget Dawn freaking out over him transforming into her and crawling on the floor like that? XD

is zorua a legend?

i thought it was just a normal poke

 

[Karamazov]

And I also hated how sadistic Kodai was. He's definitely the most evil villain from Pokemon.

I loved how bad he was. Often times, the villains of the movies are too snarky and loveable, so you kind of root for them (ie, Hades, from Disney's Hercules.) It's always good to have an antagonist you hate.

 

[Sweet Veil]

Zorua aint a Legend hes like Lucario.

 

[CommanderPigg]

I edited my post right before you said that, don't worry, I caught myself! XD

I loved how bad he was. Often times, the villains of the movies are too snarky and loveable, so you kind of root for them (ie, Hades, from Disney's Hercules.) It's always good to have an antagonist you hate.

I don't mind hating a villain...but I really found no substance to this guy. He has the power to see into the future and gets rich and famous from it...whoo. I dunno, it just seems really overdone and shallow. Does he have any other motives? Does he have more sophistacated methods of torture other than pulling on the heartstrings of a mother and using shock reinforcements?

Spoiler

Meh, I mean, one could raise the hopes up of a little pokemon to become stronger after putting it through brutal training for months only to abandon it after showing inadequate progress...and leaving it an emotional wreck

I was continuously reminded of "That's so Raven" when he got his "visions."

 

[Godzillawolf]

^ I think the main thing that kind of adds something to Kodai is the stuff we can assume about him from what kind of person he is. He's a greedy, selfish psychopath when you get right down to it. Think about it, I have little doubt he would've gone through will killing Zorua if Zoroark hadn't obeyed, and he actually commited the first real murder of the anime by intentionally killing Zoroark.

Now, put the fact he's perfectly willing to kill with no remorse with this line "I can see the future, and I must elminate all obsticals in my path", doesn't he suddenly become a good bit more frightening? I have little doubt, from that line and what kind of person he is that he's killed people before and in my opinion was probably going to kill Ash after absorbing the time ripple (said "No one will now what I did here today", to Ash. Considering how maticulaous a manipulator he is, that can't just mean he expects Ash to not tell anyone...)

Karamazov, I agree, there were MANY times that I wanted to throw him off a building for what he was doing.

 

[Eitarou]

^ I think the main thing that kind of adds something to Kodai is the stuff we can assume about him from what kind of person he is. He's a greedy, selfish psychopath when you get right down to it. Think about it, I have little doubt he would've gone through will killing Zorua if Zoroark hadn't obeyed, and he actually commited the first real murder of the anime by intentionally killing Zoroark.

Now, put the fact he's perfectly willing to kill with no remorse with this line "I can see the future, and I must elminate all obsticals in my path", doesn't he suddenly become a good bit more frightening? I have little doubt, from that line and what kind of person he is that he's killed people before and in my opinion was probably going to kill Ash after absorbing the time ripple (said "No one will now what I did here today", to Ash. Considering how maticulaous a manipulator he is, that can't just mean he expects Ash to not tell anyone...)

Karamazov, I agree, there were MANY times that I wanted to throw him off a building for what he was doing.

Or better yet, have him roll down a stadium

 

[Torterra Trainer]

I absolutely loved when Zoroark caused that last Illusion to get Kodai. It was just the most epic form of revenge, and then it smirked before it gave out...awesome.

Of course the fall from that platform only made him flinch when he hit the ground but....

Ash acting like a Pokemon made me facepalm myself as my mother was watching the movie with me. She was like "Uhh, I'm just gonna leave right now..." Which was fine with me since the rest of the movie was awesome!

 

[The Outrage]

I edited my post right before you said that, don't worry, I caught myself! XD



I don't mind hating a villain...but I really found no substance to this guy. He has the power to see into the future and gets rich and famous from it...whoo. I dunno, it just seems really overdone and shallow. Does he have any other motives? Does he have more sophistacated methods of torture other than pulling on the heartstrings of a mother and using shock reinforcements?

Spoiler

Meh, I mean, one could raise the hopes up of a little pokemon to become stronger after putting it through brutal training for months only to abandon it after showing inadequate progress...and leaving it an emotional wreck

I was continuously reminded of "That's so Raven" when he got his "visions."

More sophisticated than kidnapping what is essentially a child from its mother-figure and blackmailing her into doing his bidding unless the mother-figure in question wants the child to be harmed? I guess he could have just brain washed her but its not as if that hasn't been done a million times in the franchise.

You're kind of underplaying this. As for the shock torture, what, did you expect them to go all Higurashi-leveled torture in a kids show?

The way you talk about his achievements make him sound like a fortune teller. He got famous because he knew when to manipulate people and where to be because of his powers. He could put himself on top of the world and trample on every person on the way up and his foresight would allow him to get there without much opposition.

I mean really, Cyrus is a 27 year old who had parents that expected too much from him (I don't know, sounds like a lot of people, so what made him so different?). Logical conclusion? Destroy the universe. Right. See, you can make anything look stupid if you downplay it.

I also don't see how he's any different from say, Giovanni who's only reason for creating Team Rocket is the money he gets from Pokémon poaching.

 

[Godzillawolf]

More sophisticated than kidnapping what is essentially a child from its mother-figure and blackmailing her into doing his bidding unless the mother-figure in question wants the child to be harmed? I guess he could have just brain washed her but its not as if that hasn't been done a million times in the franchise.

You're kind of underplaying this. As for the shock torture, what, did you expect them to go all Higurashi-leveled torture in a kids show?

The way you talk about his achievements make him sound like a fortune teller. He got famous because he knew when to manipulate people and where to be because of his powers. He could put himself on top of the world and trample on every person on the way up and his foresight would allow him to get there without much opposition.

I mean really, Cyrus is a 27 year old who had parents that expected too much from him (I don't know, sounds like a lot of people, so what made him so different?). Logical conclusion? Destroy the universe. Right. See, you can make anything look stupid if you downplay it.

I also don't see how he's any different from say, Giovanni who's only reason for creating Team Rocket is the money he gets from Pokémon poaching.

Very well said. Also, here's the thing, shock torture is EXTREMELY painful, in fact, some scientists believe it's the absolute most painful thing someone could survive. So it's actually an extremely sadistic choice of torture methiod. Also, please note, it's made rather clear that Kodai isn't using the Pokemon style electricty, his is clearly extremely dangerous as one quick shock rendered Zorua almost unable to walk and a slightly longer, about the duration of an average Pokemon attack, mortally wounded Zoroark. Kodai must've been using an extremely high voltage (or something like that). Anyway, point is, it's impressive he was able to do it.

Also, who here is willing to bet Kodai probably got life in prison? I mean he did pretty much commit 2nd degree murder and attempted two others, that alone would've got him life.

 

[The Outrage]

Also, who here is willing to bet Kodai probably got life in prison? I mean he did pretty much commit 2nd degree murder and attempted two others, that alone would've got him life.

Pssssh he's rich.

 

[Godzillawolf]

^ I don't think that would help him out here. He commited a capital crime and also things that would amount to terrorist acts. In all likelyhood, his assets were frozen during the investigation, plus they've got him on tape admitting all of it and a number of reliable witnesses, including Zorua, who is fully capable of speech and was one of the victims of his cruelty.

Then again, maybe life of prison is kind of lucky, just imagine what Zoroark probably would've done if it'd been up to her, after everything he did to her family, and what she went through to try and protect Zorua.

 

[ehh123]

Does anyone know who did the voice of Zorua?

 

[Froakie]

I'm pretty sure it was Eileen Stevens, or the person that voices Lyra and Iris.

 

[Blue1225]

Watched the movie 2 days ago and thought it was pretty good. Decent plot, funny new talking pokemon, got to see the legendary dogs (Normal AND shiny). Personally I thought it was one of the better pokemon movies that i've seen in a while.

 

[xzoticftw]

it was good 7/10

 

[CommanderPigg]

More sophisticated than kidnapping what is essentially a child from its mother-figure and blackmailing her into doing his bidding unless the mother-figure in question wants the child to be harmed? I guess he could have just brain washed her but its not as if that hasn't been done a million times in the franchise.

You're kind of underplaying this. As for the shock torture, what, did you expect them to go all Higurashi-leveled torture in a kids show?

Perhaps "unsophisticated" was a poor word choice, apologies. I understand that that there is a level of complexity behind it, and black mailing an angry mother has the possibility of opening a large range of emotions.

I don't really expect that much torture, no, of course not. (Never watched that anime, though I've heard wonderful things about it)

I mean really, Cyrus is a 27 year old who had parents that expected too much from him (I don't know, sounds like a lot of people, so what made him so different?). Logical conclusion? Destroy the universe. Right. See, you can make anything look stupid if you downplay it

I also don't see how he's any different from say, Giovanni who's only reason for creating Team Rocket is the money he gets from Pokémon poaching..

Haha, well that's exactly how I viewed that, actually XD I do tend to downplay things in pokemon just because of the nature of the show, but it doesn't mean that I don't find entertainment value in it.

Let's just put it this way: I don't expect pokemon to have deep complex plots or morals behind their stories; If I derived anything substantial from it, I'm inclined to think that I just BSed it myself XD What I do expect are entertaining characters with decent interactions. I like it when the antagonists have some sort of back and forth with the other characters rather than just being cruel and being plot devices.

He was vicious, yes...but I couldn't find anything else to grab on to with his personality. There wasn't a strong connection between him and other characters (connection through fear, respect, anger...I just couldn't sense it) Perhaps this is just me.

My main problem with Kodai's motives and methods was that the execution didn't appeal to me. I suppose prophecies and "mysticism" are pretty common in the pokemon world, but they never really wowed me. At least with Team Rocket, I can see how their organization directly affects its members and the people they terrorize (though, I admit, I tend to romanticize certain aspect of it XD). Simple motives: Entertaining executing.