I love me some Pokemon. I would never argue that I am the biggest fan, but I would also sit you down and name pretty much all Pokemon without hesitation. Being a fan I can't lie that I was a little hesitant when I first heard of 'Pokemon Detective Pikachu' (2019). The idea of a Pikachu with the voice of Ryan Reynolds just seemed a little wrong. But my hesitancy turned to intrigue when I saw the first trailer, and my intrigue turned to excitement as the release date grew closer. So by the time it came for me to see it I had pretty high hopes. And these hopes were pretty much met. Not necessarily in a narrative sense or an acting sense, but in my love of Pokemon? Well you can bet that that area of the film met and succeeded my expectations. The film follows Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) as he travels to Ryme City when he finds out his estranged father has gone missing. When he arrives at his father's apartment he is met by Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds), his fathers Pokemon partner. From here Tim and Pikachu set off on
a mission to discover what happened to Tim's father, and uncover a dark mystery in the process.
Like I said in the introduction, this film does not exactly hit it out the park. The story of the film starts in a pretty standard 'person gone missing' or 'who done it' style narrative, with a decent level of mystery but never really adding anything new, except that it is told in a Pokemon world. But the second half of the film goes off the rails and starts to become insane and nonsensical. You go from invested in the mystery to just hanging along for the ride because the narrative jumps the shark. The acting is also not top tier. It isn't bad, not at all, but it just doesn't knock any doors down. Reynolds is, obviously, very funny as Pikachu, and Ken Watanabe and Bill Nighy both put in typically good performances , even if they are just fleeting. Kathryn Newton puts in a likeable performance as Lucy Stevens, an aspiring reporter who comes along with Tim and Pikachu, but she never sets the world on fire. The same can be said for Justice Smith. He is able to play the reluctant hero quite well and is able to portray some more emotional moments well enough, but again he doesn't wow you (although he is pretty much Daniel Day Lewis compared ot his turn in Jurassic World: Evolution [2018]). There are also a couple moments in the film where the CGI is a little shoddy. I am not going to tear for film down for this because it is a film filled with CGI and for the most part it is absolutely impeccable, especially when it comes to the Pokemon. But I would be amiss to not mention that it in't always perfect.
At the end of the day, however, none of these criticisms really matter all that much because the film is just that damn fun. From start to finish it is endlessly entertaining and I never stopped smiling. It captures the heart of Pokemon brilliantly whilst also adding enough interesting and fun changes to stop it from just becoming a film completely fuelled by fan service. There is plenty of fan service of course, but it never really overrides the whole film as it so easily could of. The films comedy is pretty much spot on, helped hugely by Ryan Reynolds infectious charisma and comedy chops. It knows how weird the whole concept is and runs with it which gives the film an identity which you can easily grasp onto. The gag of a Jigglypuff singing its famous song in a dark and dingy bar is a perfect example of both the fan service and humour being used in unison in a very effective way. I have already mentioned the impeccable CGI on the Pokemon but I do want to mention it again because it is, for the most part, superb. Most of the designs on the Pokemon are also fantastic, giving them a real world look to them while also keeping pretty faithful to their original designs. There are a couple of designs which don't exactly hit home for me, but nothing was really offensive or bad. The realistic style of design also led to a couple of these Pokemon being terrifying to look at, but this was an element of the film I really enjoyed because it continued to make this nonsensical world feel a bit more real. And then we come to the MVP of the Pokemon in this film. You may think I'm talking about Pikachu who does look brilliant and is pretty adorable as you would expect. But no. The MVP of this film is Bulbasaur. The Bulbasaur in this film are genuinely the most adorable things are have ever seen. From the moment they came on screen I was sold and I would pay any amount of money to have one as a pet. I have always liked Bulbasaur as a Pokemon but the design of them in this film has made it shoot right up my power rankings of Pokemon.
Pokemon Detective Pikachu is an absolute blast of a film and in that regard it achieves its goal perfectly. As a piece of entertainment is succeeds with flying colours. As a piece of film in the snobbiest of terms it is pretty hit and miss, as it is when it comes to the film as a narrative piece. But like I said, these elements don't really matter because of just how entertaining the film is. It also surprised me in how well it managed to translate the world of Pokemon in to a live action film without it feeling forced or hockey. They manage to create a world which feels pretty real despite how insane the whole premise is. If you are a Pokemon fan you won't need me to tell you you should go and see this film. This film is perfect for Pokemon fans and I think it is those fans and kids who will get the most out of the film. If you are not a Pokemon fan it may go a little over your head, but I think there is still enough about this film for anyone to enjoy. So I would say definitely go and see this film no matter if you are a fan or not. And if you are not a fan I think you might just be by the time the credits role.