Review of Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019) by Vahn — 24 May 2019

First things first, I'm not a fan of Pokemon anymore and I've been stuck at gen 3 ever since then: I don't like pokemon, I don't care about pokemon, and I couldn't care less about pokemon on itself. The reason why I watched it it's because it tried to be something different, in a series of games and anime that is essentially the same - if not worse - and that never really innovated. This movie was a breath of fresh air and I was excited to see what was all about it, especially after playing the game which was REALLY good for an adventure game.

The movie is about a young boy named "nobody cares" who has to find his father "deadpool" while accompanied by "weebgirl" and a Pikachu, who's the movie real protagonist. Yeah I honestly don't remember any of the names of the main cast and for good reason: they're so bad and uninteresting that you could replace them with a cardboard figure and nobody would even notice the difference. The plot is about finding "nobody care"'s father and alongside they'll deal with Mewtwo, apparently from the region of Kanto - the first movie's region, if I'm right, making this is a sort of continuation...kinda? - and during this time they'll do some investigation, which brings one of the strongest points of the movie: it actually makes a good job at mixing real life with pokemon, much MUCH more than the original anime where it felt like we're invaders on an alien planet and I couldn't help but to say "wow this actually feels like a real pokemon world". Pokemon in the movie has a realistic look which tries to make them blend them but only works on some pokemon, like growlithes or aipoms, while others just feel out of place overall. Still, Kudos for the job done: I never really seen this kind of thing in any of the games or anime before (my sister plays them so I can see the "evolution" of pokemon) and I had no issue into believing that the world was our own just with pokemon in it. It really worked.

Too bad everything else sucks though.

So, story is all about finding the father of "nobody cares" and for doing that he'll find his father's pikachu, who can talk for some reasons - and I literally say for some reasons because it's never going to be explained - and later on they'll figure out that there's some conspiration and stuff, where they'll eventually find an area 51 kind of place and other stuff that nobody will care...seriously it's so badly explained I can't even remember half of it, it was so bad. Half of the plot is not explained, weebgirl literally pops out of nowhere and suddenly knows everything, nobody cares is such bad character that all he can do is whine and be confused, the bad guy is so OBVIOUS that I made a joke about him and I facepalmed so hard the cinema could hear my echo, and on top of that a lot of stuff is never explained and are just left behind.

On top of that the movie had a bad tendency to just be too kid friendly that it was disgustingly bad: a lot of "swearings" were teased, especially in my language, and there were even some scenes where "the blood" was basically removed by panning the camera over to not show the stuff. In fact, it was so badly done that I literally had no idea what happened, because in one scene Pikachu gets hit by a rock but it's not shown that he was actually wounded, so I just assumed he fainted.

Hey, hey you idiots, pokemon is a game/anime about monsters who fight with deadly gas, fire, psychic power, ice and more: I THINK some bruises or even some blood can be shown.

Bottom line, I really didn't like this movie: I was honestly curious about the detective Pikachu franchise because the game was pretty fun and Pikachu was a very fun character in the game - while the nobody cares of the game was just as bad if not even blander. Still, my point is that the movie is all about Pikachu and yes there were some funny parts, like the Mr. mime scene and even some chase scenes were okay. But that's the problem: it was OKAY, everything was just okay and I honestly blame the fact it tried to be too kid friendly, to avoid any violence so that the rating wouldn't be too high. I'm sorry but if you're trying to make an action movie for kids, make an action movie for kids like it should be and don't hold back.

As it is, this movie is just a mediocre adaptation overall: I only recommend it for the true fans of pokemon or if you have some kids who need some attention or you need to keep them at bay.

For everyone else...stick with the game this movie's based off. It's a whole lot better and it's much more fun to play.