If you were a kid in the ’90s and always wondered what a live-action attempt at Pokémon would be like, guess everything has come true now since Detective Pikachu is here to provide everything you wanted ever since they played either the video games or the trading cards. But can this be a good enough please the hardcore fans to always wanted to be a Pokémon master?
What’s the Story: Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) leaves his small town and travels to Ryme City, a metropolis where humans and Pokemon live together, after finding out his dad has gone missing. When he finds Pikachu (voiced by Ryan Reynolds), his dad’s partner, in his apartment, the both of them team up to uncover the mystery about what happened to his dad and trying to figure out how they can communicate with each other.
The nostalgia factor that was flowing through Detective Pikachu for everyone wasn’t there for me, in all honesty. That’s really because I’ve never been that into Pokémon when I was little. I can recall watching a few episodes of the show (that theme song is still the best), watching Pokémon: The First Movie, and been around during the Pokémon GO craze of 2016. But the idea of a live-action version of the worldwide anime and of the video game of the same name didn’t sound too ridiculous. It wasn’t until the first trailer came out that sold me quickly. Detective Pikachu was quite entertaining and will be enjoyable for fans alike.
If you’re worried about Deadpool being the voice of the titular yellow rodent who has the power to electrocutes, fear not. Reynolds was the perfect man to voice Pikachu. He literally steals every scene in here as he brought a lot of personality to the famous character that actually talks without hearing his signature “pika pika” every time. being Without his voice towards this, the movie wouldn’t be as good, to be honest. I also have to add that Pikachu is adorable.
Smith also gives a good performance that’s way better in here than in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The chemistry between Pikachu and him was promising considering he’s interacting with a CGI creature the whole time.
Director Rob Letterman (Goosebumps) knows how to contribute to the brilliant world-building of Ryme City about how humans and Pokémon co-exist is well-handled where it feels like a place that could possibly exist. Why couldn’t the trash heap known as The Happytime Murders do just that? And there were some references that fans will clearly know by heart that the other audience members won’t understand. The visual effects work for all the Pokémon creatures are so good. Some were very noticeable that kind of took me out for a brief moment, but it’s impressive overall.
Also, the humor is what’s to be expected, and it did become funny when Pikachu finally showed up. They got jokes for the little ones, but a few for the adults will get quickly. By far, the funniest scene that was hilarious throughout was Pikachu and Tim interrogating Mr. Mime.
The action was exciting whenever it needs some energy to the fast-paced runtime. It also gets a bit of credit for having emotional moments to fairly worked to a surprising degree.
Where it has problems comes from the story department. Yes, it all silly, but there wasn’t any that we haven’t seen before with these kinds of mystery flicks. Predictable, you can say that. It does truly go for that Who Framed Roger Rabbit? type of feel throughout it. And I wasn’t expecting anything groundbreaking from a Pokémon movie, but it’s there to please those around. It also was a good thing that the plot didn’t follow Ash Ketchum and his friends on some adventure just yet. Besides that, it was feeling a bit dull in the first ten minutes or so until it goes the ball going again.
In the end, Detective Pikachu was pretty fun. Though the story could’ve been a lot better given the type of movie it’s going for, it surprisingly gives fan and non-fans of Pokémon something to actually like. Plus, I think we’ve finally gotten the first good video game movie. Took us long enough. You’re next to be good adaption with a CGI animal, you awful Sonic the Hedgehog movie.
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