There has been many attempts at adopting video game properties to the big screen. Most of these attempts have ended in disappointment, pushing the idea of a video game ever becoming a successful movie franchise in the rear-view mirror. When it was announced that Warner Bros. wanted to adopt the Nintendo 3DS game Detective Pikachu into a movie, people were right to give hesitation as to not be hurt again by unattainable expectations. Thankfully, Detective Pikachu has broken the mold of “bad” video game movies and has blazed a path that could ultimately lead to a bigger and brighter future for Pokémon live-action films.
Detective Pikachu follows Tim Goodman (Justice Smith), a young teenager trying to not only find a place for himself in this world, but also a Pokémon companion. The opening scene shows Tim trying (and failing) at catching a Cubone that his friend Jack so lovingly said fit him perfectly. Watching Tim throw the Pokéball, Cubone escaping from it’s momentary prison and angrily chase down his would-be captor brought waves of nostalgia of watching Ash Ketchum try to catch a Sparrow in the anime. Having the film start like this was a great choice to slowly start building the world foundation and character development, while also incorporating a sense of nostalgia. Detective Pikachu does an incredible job of establishing it’s own identity, but still contains plenty of references to other Pokémon media that makes it feel as though everything is connected in some way.
Tim’s encounter with the Cubone ends with him receiving a call from the Rhyme City Police Department that his father, a detective, has died. Tim makes his way to his father’s old apartment where he stumbles upon a weird, purple gas in a vial marked “R”. Right on cue, the vial breaks and Tim takes a giant whiff of the gas. Momentarily dazed, the teenager hears something scurry in the room and out pops Pikachu. Finally seeing the electric mouse on screen in live-action form was something I thought would never happen. Typically, Pikachu makes a “pika pika” sound; instead, this Pikachu tells Tim to put down the stapler. In English. Now, you might think that the reason why Tim can understand this Pikachu has to deal with him being exposed to that weird toxic-looking gas, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. As the movie progresses, we learn that the gas doesn’t have an effect when humans come into contact, so if anything, the emphasis of Tim breathing the gas was merely a misdirection for a bigger reveal. After Tim accepts that the talking Pikachu is real, he discovers his father is actually still alive. We got ourselves a case to solve.
The greatest achievement of Detective Pikachu is how it shows off its beautiful world. Seeing all the different kinds of Pokémon working alongside humans was an incredible sight: Machamp directing traffic, Snorlax sleeping in the street to block the road (wonderful callback to the games), and Squirtle putting out fires. Much of the Pokémon brand has revolved around the concept of catching and battling Pokémon, but to actually see them contribute in more conventional ways in society helped build upon the foundation of this world. In addition to showing Pokémon in other areas besides battling, the majority of the monsters looked excellent. There also appeared to be no restrictions on which Pokémon could or could not be included in the film. We saw Pokémon from the original 151, but also plenty from the more recent generations. That was an interesting choice to have a more diverse lineup of critters, instead of sticking with more well-known Pokémon. Admittedly, there were a good handful of Pokémon that I was unfamiliar with. The unfamiliarity didn’t ruin those specific scenes, but obviously if I *had* known those Pokémon then those moments might have resonated more. The decision to be more expansive in that regard shows that the studio trusted the overall Pokémon brand in hoping that people would see the movie.
Many have tried to properly bring to life a video game entity on the silver screen, but none have gone it as well as Detective Pikachu. Showing such a massive world that’s filled to the brim of colorful, multi-textured, fascinating creatures to the different environments in a way that wasn’t rushed or forced is a tremendous accomplishment. The film left me satisfied in finally seeing these wonderful characters in live-action, while simultaneously brainstorming how they can build upon the freshly laid foundation. It’s an understatement to say that the decision to go with Ryan Reynolds as the voice of Pikachu was spot on. If we could just have another film of Reynolds-Pikachu I would be more than content. Kathryn Newton and Smith both had good chemistry, but Newton’s interactions with her Psyduck were amazing. She displayed high amounts of courage and determination investigating what happened to Tim’s father, and ultimately played a key role in helping him. It’ll be interesting to see if we see these characters again, Reynolds included, as there was no sequel to the Nintendo 3DS game, and the film ends on a pretty definitive note. Whether or not we do see more of these characters, Detective Pikachu succeeded in bringing the Pokémon world to life and that success should (hopefully) guarantee us more adventures in the future. Pokémon has dominated the gaming frontier for over two decades, it looks like they’ve found another home in movies.
Final Score: 8.5/10
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