Pokémon: Detective Pikachu – Movie Reviews by Ry!
Pokémon: Detective Pikachu – Gotta Catch Them All … In a Mystery
The nostalgia of your childhood, it is something that garners emotions far and wide. No matter what kind of experience, the littlest hints of the past can bring about the biggest smile for all of us. With a brand like Pokémon, it brings about joy that spans generations. With its first foray into live-action, it is a film that manages to bridge the imaginative thoughts of a child’s dream come true. Bringing to life creatures of fiction, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu brings a story surrounded with mystery. Even when generalities abound, the world of Pokémon has never felt so alive.
The story follows Tim Goodman (Justice Smith), a boy who travels to Rime City after learning about a situation with his father. Through some convenient circumstances, he encounters a talking Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds). From here, the direction leads down a linear path of mystery style elements within the world of Pokémon. At the onset, you realize that the overall story is an amalgamation of a procedural crime drama laced with the buddy cop formula. This is presented with Tim and Pikachu working together through various scenarios that is driven by the situation with Tim’s father. Playing along a simplistic outline, the obviousness bleeds through with the foreshadowing of motives, lackluster development of the secondary human cast and one-liner distractions that fall flat on delivery. Even with a generic plot, the core enjoyment comes from the journey. As Tim and Pikachu traverse each scene, it feels lively because of the world. From the country side to the sprawling metropolis of Rime City, you become engrained as if you’re living with the Pokémon. With each creature having its own unique bravado, every detail of the creatures is awe inspiring. This endearing focus on world building and character design brings the imaginative through a realistic lens.
Right when the film pulls the audience into the world, the good vibes slowly unravel under the weight of the mystery. With a need to complete a lot of forced ‘loose ends’, the generic plot elements lead to a convolution of ‘good vs. evil’ with no explanation. This causes the beautiful to fuse with the mundane, leading to a third act of various clichés. As the film winds down through its anti-climax, it comes back around to putting its focus on the world in the epilogue. Pokémon: Detective Pikachu brings about the realism of a child’s dream. Even when the plot is hindered by simplistic direction, you never stop smiling from seeing Pokémon in live action. The film overall is average, but this will be worth it for all the fans, check it out on the big screen.
Full Score –3.5 out of 5 (Matinee)