Pokémon Detective Pikachu REVIEW

Slight spoilers ahead.

Directed by Rob Letterman, Pokémon Detective Pikachu stars Justice Smith and Ryan Reynolds as the son of a missing detective and his painfully adorable, caffeine addicted Pokémon partner.

Harry Goodman is dead, or so someone wants everyone to believe. Tim has every reason to think his estranged father is gone until he meets an amnesiac Pikachu claiming not only to be Harry’s Pokémon but that the man is still alive (he feels it in his jellies). And so, the unlikely pair form a tenuous alliance in order to uncover the truth behind Harry’s disappearance and his connection to a plot that could forever change the relationship between Pokémon and humans.

 

There are few live action game property adaptations that successfully capture the essence of its established world and characters. Most are often certified rotten, fan panned, box office flops. General audiences feel excluded from the mythology and fans loath changes made to the source material. The filmmakers may not take the source material seriously and veer to make it goofy or campy or they may make it gritty. It can be a hard balance to strike.

The best parts of Detective Pikachu give Pokémon fans a taste of what they are used to (the trainers, battles, and name drops of favorite Pokémon) all while remaining relatively accessible to casual fans.

Smith’s Tim serves as a great lead into the movie’s mythos. He’s fallen out of love with his dream of becoming a trainer and is generally disillusioned with Pokémon. So when he re-enters  that world by way of Ryme City, a metropolitan utopia where humans and Pokémon co-exist, the audience experiences wonder through his eyes. Akin to the introduction of the city in Zootopia, we get a slow pan up to the brilliant skyline and a montage of lingering shots that offer a slice of life window into how humans and Pokémon go about their day together.

Hats off to the animation team. Hats on top of hats. The Pokémon feel real, like you can reach through the screen and touch them. The texture and emotive nature of their expressions put a huge smile on my face. In a time where the live action blue CGI demon who must not be named exists, it’s almost a privilege to see fantasy creatures whose semi-realistic rendering remains loyal to their cartoon counterparts.

Kathryn Newton also stars alongside Smith as Lucy, a writer who would like to go from posting listicles on the cutest Pokémon (surprise they’re all cute!) to gum shoe investigative reporter. I do wish she would have Rita Skeetered it up more as her Psyduck outshines her in some scenes. While she has lots to do, she gets a bit lost in the commotion of the final act.

The fun of the mystery carries most of the narrative weight through the run of the movie, however the main plot and the villain’s plan are revealed to be frustratingly dull. One of two british characters are meant to be a red herring. But considering the uninspired casting of a certain aged billionaire it’s almost too easy to predict the proceedings. Bill Nigh is a dead give away. ALWAYS!

Image courtesy: Warner Bros.

According to Detective Pikachu’s cinematographer, the movie was shot with film instead of digital in order to emulate Blade Runner, giving it a stunning amount of depth. Although, that noir-Roger Rabbit-esque-cyberpunk-Asian influenced setting aesthetic is sorely missed in the climax of the movie.

Detective Pikachu is surprisingly emotional, full of heart and unexpected laughs thanks to the rapport between Smith and Reynold’s characters. The bond they form as they embark on their crime solving adventure lends itself to a heartwarming twist (the one of many that I did not guess) at the close of the movie. I give it four coffee cups out of five.