Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019)
Pokémon Detective Pikachu is easily the best theatrically-released Pokémon movie and the best video game movie adaptation. It’ll please those already familiar with the franchise but even if you’re not nostalgic for the anime, video games, cards, toys, or characters, this’ll make you see some of the franchise’s appeal.
In a world where humans have lived alongside Pokémon since the beginning of time, Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) travels to Ryme City to look after his recently-deceased father's things. After being exposed to a strange gas, he gains the ability to understand his father’s Pikachu (voiced Ryan Reynolds). Together, they're going to solve dad's murder.
Ryan Reynold’s getting really good at this voice-over stuff. In many ways he’s doing the same thing he’s doing in the Deadpool films but credit to him for his voice and comedic timing, who are perfect for this role. His delivery, paired up with that adorable electric mouse wearing a deerstalker hat makes for a visual stop that makes you smile.
A number of good decisions from director Rob Letterman go a long way. Any adult watching the Pokémon show will be driven loony by the creatures' “dialogue” - their names repeated over and over. Many of the creatures we see here are given animal-like cries or weird audio quirks to prevent them from becoming annoying and obviously, Pikachu speaks English so that pitfall's avoided. You're able to focus on the creatures’ designs themselves. They’ve translated Satoshi Tajiri’s designs them quite well to live-action. If you think that's nothing to praise, take a look at the Sonic the Hedgehog trailer. A sequence in which Tim, Pikachu, junior reporter Lucy Stevens (Kathryn Newton, delightful) and her Psyduck are caught in a landslide/earthquake hybrid is an awesome sequence full of peril with a great payoff.
Justice Smith's Tim is a bit of a bland character, stuck not liking Pokémon so he can serve as the audience’s avatar (even then, we still get a bit of clunky exposition to bring us up to speed). He’s got some good moments with Reynolds but the creatures easily steal the show from him. As for the detective work, you can probably deduce some of the conclusion based on the casting and a couple of big clues are easily spotted. However, they're accompanied by a number of clever reveals and red herrings. You'll be kept mostly guessing pretty much until the big finale, which is so weird and crazy, I actually kind of love it.
Pokémon Detective Pikachu has some rough edges but wow! it’s got an actual story, and characters you like! While I don’t think it uses its world and wild characters to their full potential every time, it manages to do so in more than a few scenes. (Theatrical version on the big screen, May 14, 2019)
