Review of Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019) by Mbii — 10 May 2019

NOTE: The "professional" reviews are complete garbage as always. These people never heard of Pokemon outside the context of Pokemon Go.

Like most kids of my generation, I grew up on Pokémon. I lost interested in the franchise some time after the second generation of games/anime were released. I've come back to the series occasionally over the years when some new development piqued my interested. However, it was not until the first trailer for #DetectivePikachu dropped that my hype and love for the crazy critters returned in earnest.

I remember reading about the movie being announced some years ago and feeling quite skeptical. My primary thoughts were such: this movie probably won't end up happening and even if it does how the hell is it going to work? Pokémon have always existed solely in the realm of animation and seemed too... otherworldly and fantastical to render in a "realistic" way. Moreover, I was not really familiar with Detective Pikachu for the Nintendo 3DS, a lesser known spin-off of the main series of games, which serves as the basis of the film. The concept of a crime-solving Pikachu working with a human partner seemed goofy to me at best.

After some time had passed, I had forgotten about the movie. Maybe I assumed that my prediction of it never seeing the light of day had come true, like so many video game films announced before it. Even the game adaptations that do get released don't exactly have the best track record when it comes to quality and faithfulness to the source material. There's also the fact there are plenty of other game series that seem to lend themselves to a live-action adaptation much more than the cartoony world of Pokémon (Deus Ex, Bioshock, Metal Gear solid, to name a few).

So imagine my surprise when the first trailer for Detective Pikachu dropped. I was absolutely floored. The designs for the myriad creatures somehow managed to be accurate depictions of their animated forms while also blending it seamlessly into real world environments. Ryan Reynolds seems to play a variation of the same character in every movie (which is more or less himself), it happened to fit with this wise-talking case-cracking version of everyone's favorite electric rodent. The most exciting part is that this movie appeared to take place in a living, breathing, fully-realized Pokémon world.

As for the movie itself, it most certainly delivered on expectations. You can tell the director, writers, and actors took the time to familiarize themselves with the world they are representing. Though I haven't played the particular game that the film is based on, I read up on its plot and was pleasantly surprised at how much was used in the movie - Mewtwo's key role, the presence of the "R" chemical compound, and the main character of Tim Goodman investigating the mysterious death of his father. Speaking of Goodman, not using Ash Ketchum (of the anime series) in the film was probably the best decision the filmmakers ever made. His antics are the main reason I stopped watching the show way back when, and his never-ending quest to be the very best like no one ever was got old after a while.

The overall plot of the film is fairly standard but features some twists and turns along the way, including a very big one near the end. The atmosphere manages to feel like a genuine crime thriller/mystery at times which is surprising giving the colorful CGI creatures walking about and the general kid-oriented nature of the movie. In an interview, director Rob Letterman said the Mr. Mime interrogation scene was inspired by the classic psychological thriller Se7en. Nobody's cranium ends up inside a box but it's good to know the creative team had their heads in the right place (ahem).

As I stated before, the visual effects are absolutely phenomenal and really get their chance to shine in action sequences, including a Pokémon battle or two. Mewtwo looks freaky, as any genetic abomination should, thus making for an appropriately terrifying antagonist. To nobody's surprise, Ryan Reynolds as the titular character supplies a steady stream of jokes along with a healthy dose of heart. His human co-star, Justice Smith carries his weight as well, providing some deadpan humor and emotional depth of his own.

In conclusion, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu was just as great as I hoped it would be. It's a movie that will be appealing to general audiences who are not as familiar with Pokémon (hard to believe such people still exist) but of course will bring deeper satisfaction to long-time fans of the franchise. I exist somewhere in between those two groups, a once die-hard fan in childhood brought back into the fold with a movie that is sure to reignite the Pocket Monsters craze in the hearts of many while also jump-starting a new generation of Poké-fans into existence. With this film on track to being a financial success, I can't wait to see what other live-action Pokémon projects are in store for the future.