Pokemon Detective Pikachu

All right, guys. Full disclosure: I am not that big of a Pokémon person. I was only a casual fan in my youth, watching the 99-cent rental videos from Blockbuster (ask your parents) which detailed the adventures of Ash Ketchum, Pikachu, Misty, and Brock. After that, I know absolutely nothing about the franchise. I say all this to let you guys know that you should take this following analysis of Pokémon Detective Pikachu with a grain of salt.

Anyways, the story of Detective Pikachu concerns Justice Smith as Tim Goodman, a 21-year old former Pokémon trainer who gave up the profession due to personal tragedy. When Tim gets the news that his absentee father Harry has seemingly died in a car wreck, he travels to Ryme City, a haven where humans and Pokémon interact in a peaceful coexistence. It is here that Tim happens upon a Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds) whom only he can understand; the two embark on a quest to solve a mystery involving a strange gas called “R” that was found in Harry’s apartment, which leads them to believe that Harry may not be dead after all. Along the way, they come across a young reporter named Lucy (Kathryn Newton), who provides them with additional information.

Trying to condense that plot was not the easiest thing in the world because there is a plethora of things happening in this movie. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but the problem is that none of the things really land because there’s just so much going on. Because of this, the film is never really able to rise above the level of “passably entertaining”. One can really tell that this script has been through the wringer, which it was. The screenplay and story go credited to a total of five people, including an uncredited initial draft from Alex Hirsch – yes, as in the creator of Gravity Falls – and Nicole Perlman from Guardians of the Galaxy – who gets a “Story by” credit. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about (minor spoiler): in the last few minutes of the movie, the film pulls one final twist with Pikachu’s character that I won’t give away, but if you see it, you’ll probably guess it. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought how much more effective it would have been had it been reviewed somewhere in the beginning of Act III rather than in the last few minutes.

However, the film is not a total loss. Ryan Reynolds is great as Pikachu, the design of which is spectacularly well-handled. In fact, all of the Pokémon look spectacular in this movie, considering that Pokémon probably aren’t the easiest things to bring to live-action. Justice Smith does pretty well as Tim, while I feel like Kathryn Newton was a little flat at times, but not horrible; she’s definitely got a lot of spunkiness to spare, almost to the point where I wished the movie was about her. Henry Jackman’s score is the real standout, making great use of the electronics usually associated with videogame music – appropriate considering that he wrote the scores for both Wreck-It Ralph and Ralph Breaks the Internet.

All in all: it will entertain fans and non-fans, but you’ll probably forget about it after you see it. And yes, it is one of the better videogame movies to come out in the past few years, but honestly, my personal favorite videogame movie will always be Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Does anybody remember that one?