Warner Bros. Pictures
Big Pokémon fan here. Huge Pokémon fan. Okay, I am a Pokémon nerd. Ever since the 2nd grade I’ve loved Pokémon. I am not ashamed to admit that I am 27 years old and still love Pokémon. I was beyond excited when Warner Bros. announced that they were going to make a Detective Pikachu movie with Ryan Reynolds voicing the title character. I have seen all of the other Pokémon movies, but this is the first live-action Pokémon movie. As the movie started, I leaned over to my friend (a big Pokémon nerd as well) and said to him, ‘I can’t believe we are actually here witnessing a live-action Pokémon movie.’
Pokémon Detective Pikachu is based off of the popular Nintendo game Detective Pikachu. When detective Harry Goodman goes missing, his son Tim tries to find him with the help of his father’s Pokémon partner, Pikachu. Together they venture through Ryme City trying to solve the mystery of Tim’s missing father. Along the way, Tim tries to discover why he is the only one that can hear Pikachu talking to him. Oh, and Mewtwo is involved.
One thing that I was looking forward to seeing on the big screen is all the different Pokémon. Throughout the movie there are plenty of Pokémon to see interacting with humans or living in the wild. I tried so hard to not point out every single one to my friend, but a couple of them I couldn’t resist. The Pokémon look very similar to how they look in the video games and other movies. At least they don’t look like Sonic in his upcoming movie. Pikachu got the bulk of the runtime and he was so adorable, even if at times Ryan Reynolds seemed a bit aggressive.
Ryme City is a place I want to live in. The city felt lived in and the daily routines the humans had with the Pokémon seemed causal. There is a lot of attention to detail when it comes to the city. There are many billboards and building names that are nods to the original games and show. It is a movie that you will want to watch twice just so you can see all the different things.
Justice Smith plays Tim, the main human character, and son of Harry Goodman and he does a fine job in his role. I really didn’t care for his character in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and it’s the same here. It’s not like he is a bad actor by any means, it’s just that his character was written poorly. I didn’t find his character story to be interesting and engaging. Most of the human characters were written bland and I didn’t care much for them. That’s okay, the Pokémon were fun to watch instead.
Ryan Reynolds was a great choice to voice Pikachu. I know many fans wanted Danny DeVito to voice Pikachu, but Reynolds was able to add a certain spark to the character. He times his jokes well and always keeps the scenes upbeat. It was odd though to hear Pikachu use the word ‘hell’ in the film since I am used to the cute ‘Pika Pika’, but it worked.
I was honestly expecting more Pokémon hunting and battles throughout the film. The movie opened up with a friend of Tim’s trying to convince him to catch a Cubone in the wild. Tim doesn’t see the point in having a Pokémon partner, but gives in anyways and doesn’t end up catching the Pokémon. It was a fun way to open the film, but I wish I would have seen more of that. Also, whenever the Pokémon are battling each other, it was thrilling and reminiscent of the show and movies. The problem with them though is that there are only a few of them. If Pokémon Detective Pikachu is successful, I would like to see a movie based around the first game, Pokémon Red and Blue.
I loved Pokémon Detective Pikachu. It wasn’t perfect, but neither are any of the other Pokémon movies. I got what I wanted and they was a city with plenty of Pokémon to look at and a chance to see Pokémon on the big screen once again. Any fan of Pokémon will love this movie and anybody who isn’t a fan may enjoy this movie as well. It’s full of thrills, laughs, and of course, cuteness.
Pokémon Detective Pikachu has a run time of 1 hour 44 minutes and is rated PG for action/peril, some rude and suggestive humor, and thematic elements.
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