Pokemon has been a
bit of a staple in my life. As a kid I watched the anime, I collected
the cards, and I played the games. But as I grew older I fell into that pit of
"I'm grown up and I don't like Pokemon". When I returned to the series
it was when the Sinnoh games were released. I loved generation four, but unfortunately, I fell out of the series again until about a year ago. Now I'm
pretty confident the franchise is here to stay in my heart.
I love Pokemon, so I had to see Detective Pikachu. And I'm happy to say that the film did not
affect my love for the pocket sized monsters. In many ways, it increased my
feelings towards Pokemon as a whole.
As you've probably
seen, Detective Pikachu is a live action Pokemon movie, using real actors and
cgi for the monsters. While first seeing the realistic Pokemon in the trailers
was a little hard to accept, I think the movie did a wonderful job. Each one...
With maybe the exception of Mr. Mime, looks adorable or powerful. The film
never enters uncomfortable areas with it's creatures and none of them supply
nightmare fuel. So if your biggest worry was how the Pokemon look, you can rest
easy.
So what about the
story. The film opens on a scene fans of the anime and games know all too well.
We see Mewtwo in a secret lab, being held in this orb while scientist work
around him. We see the Pokemon get startled by something before saying
"They're getting away" ( or something to that effect.) He breaks out
of his confinement and leaves the lab, chasing after a car that's speeding
away. We see Mewtwo use some of his powers and the car is damaged before
getting blown over a hill. Mewtwo hovers over the wreckage menacingly before
taking off. The scene fades out.
We then see Tim
Goodman, a teenager/young adult being beckoned outside by his friend. His
friend leads him to a clearing where a Cubone is crying - as they often due.
Tim's friend brought him here so that he could catch his very first Pokemon.
Despite his age, Tim is still without a Pokemon. Our hero argues that he
doesn't need or want a Pokemon but attempts to catch the Cubone. He fails and
the two friends head back into town. Tim continues to insist that he's fine, if
not better, without a partner. This is when Tim gets a troubling phone call
that his father, Harry Goodman, had died in a car accident - the very same one
Mewtwo was involved in. Tim then has to travel to Ryme City to deal with the
death of his father.
Upon entering the
city we are treated to a gorgeous scene of humans and Pokemon walking side by
side. We learn that the inhabitants of Ryme City don't so much as own and train
Pokemon, but rather they live side by side with them. Seeing hundreds of creatures
living in such a realistic setting gave my heart a joyous flutter. So Tim goes
to see the police and deals with the captain, getting his dad's key and
directions to his apartment. We see during this interaction that Tim has a
shaky relationship with both his father and Pokemon in general and that the two
are most likely related. Tim, once having dreams of being a trainer, now
refuses to so much as interact with the monsters.
So Tim enters his
dad's apartment and has some heart breaking flash backs. We learn more about
his personal life and get glimpses of all the strife he's had to deal with. Tim
moves around the home before finding a strange vile containing something purple.
The letter "R" appears to be inscribed on the object and Tim
accidentally opens it, releasing a poisonous gas. He rushes to a nearby window
and forces it open, causing some Aipoms to breath in the substance and become
blind with rage. After a little more exploring Tim hears a noise and discovers
a Pikachu wearing a detective hat. To both of their surprises, he can clearly
understand the Pokemon. He learns that this was his dad's partner, whom was
presumed dead.
They talk for a few
moments but are chased off by the angry Aipoms. They flee and walk around town
for awhile. Pikachu eventually convinces Tim that if he was able to survive,
then surely Harry must also be out there. Tim reluctantly agrees to the partnership and the two begin to try to find Harry and learn more about the
"R".
I won't go any
further into the story, since I'm sure you got the basic idea now. It's a fun,
buddy cop movie in every sense of the classification. There are many laughs,
mostly from Pikachu's quips, and some intense scenes. Unfortunately, it does
fall into some tired cliches that I'm sure you can figure out. Also, some of Pikachu's quips just don't hit the mark - such as a climate change joke being
out of place, though I do appreciate the movie raising awareness. There are a
few twists, some that I didn't see coming while another one becomes readily
apparent when the climax begins. Another complaint I have is that there are few
Pokemon battles in this movie. While narratively they explain why, battles are
outlawed in the city, I would love to fan boy over seeing realistic Pokemon
duking it out. The acting in the film for the most part is good, though some
scenes are a little awkward because of the cliches. I was also disappointed in
how little the supporting lead interacted with her Pokemon, a Psyduck. They
don't really have any nice moments together but the story was focused on Tim and
Pikachu, so this can be forgiven.
When it's all said
in done, if you're a fan of Pokemon - go see this movie. If you want to support
a good video game movie, go watch this film. If you want to see a funny buddy
cop movie or aren't really into the franchise you should probably skip out on
this one. With that said, I give Detective Pikachu an 8/10. I loved watching it
but the cliches and lack of battles does hurt the film for me. The best praise that I can give it, is that it made we want to live in a Pokemon World.
What did you think
of Detective Pikachu? Have you seen it yet? Do you plan on seeing it? Let me
know in the comments and please consider subscribing to the blog so that you
get email updates every time I post something new. Thanks for reading and ad
always, good night and joy be with you all.
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