So today we're looking at Pokemon: Detective Pikachu, a live-action film adaptation drawing the bulk of its inspiration from an obscure point-and-click adventure game, simply titled Detective Pikachu. I never played the original game, but from what I gather, it's best described as a homage to detective films, specifically detective noir, which is a very strange choice, since noir films are rarely family-friendly, and Pokemon is meant to be enjoyed primarily by children (which didn't stop it from catching on with adults such as myself). What's stranger is the game didn't even do that well financially or critically, being quickly forgotten and dismissed as a bizarre piece of merchandise that long runners like Pokemon are known for creating. I remember when this film was announced, the entire Pokemon fan-community dismissed it as a joke (one of the few times we actually managed to agree on something) and that Warner Brothers were off their rocker for even suggesting the idea. But they weren't joking. It was real. It IS real. And here we are, discussing to see if this fever dream of a film concept actually works in execution.
Pokemon: Detective Pikachu stars Tim Goodman (played by Justice Smith), a young man who after failing to become a successful Pokemon Trainer, is content to live out the rest of his days working for an insurance company. But when he gets a call that his loving but absent father, a brilliant detective named Harry Goodman, mysteriously disappears after a car accident,Tim must team up with the titular Detective Pikachu (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) to find out what happened to his dad. As well as unravel a conspiracy to use what can best be described as super steroids to weaponize Pokemon. "But wait!" you cry. "Pokemon are literally an entire species of warriors bred to harness the powers of nature itself! How can you weaponize something that already exists to fight!?" The film takes place in Rhyme City, a metropolis where Pokemon vs Pokemon battles are highly illegal (and so is keeping your Pokemon inside of a Poke Ball, but the latter is mostly used as an excuse for why there are dozens of domesticated Pokemon running around in broad daylight). Basically, Pokemon in Rhyme City are treated not as warriors (which is how they are portrayed in both the games and the spin-off anime), but rather, as pets and companions to their human owners.
| Mr. Mime. Haunting our dreams since 1996. |
So lets talk about the Pokemon themselves! Honestly, most, if not all, look amazing in the pseudo-realistic art style. The only Pokemon in the film that look strange, at least in my opinion, are Jigglypuff (who for some reason is depicted as being covered in fuzz) and Mr. Mime (pictured above). The latter can be forgiven, seeing as Mr. Mime's thing is that it it supposed to be unsettling to look at (its the closest thing to a Pennywise Pokemon. Think about that). But the decision to cover Jigglypuff in fur is one that confuses me. Yeah, it has a tuft of hair on it's head, but Jigglypuff's entire body is coated in fur, despite the fact that Jigglypuff is a balloon. No really, Jigglypuff is supposed to be an anthropomorphic balloon. See, Genwunners? Your precious Pokemon Red & Blue games had Pokemon based off of inanimate objects too!
One thing I have noticed is that there are a LOT of Gen 1-era Pokemon in the film. Now, don't get me wrong, there are Pokemon from more recent games, but it didn't take long for me to realize the majority were from Gen 1, in addition to the Gen 1 Pokemon getting the most screen-time. I've said it before, but I'll say it again. The Genwunner pandering has to stop. This isn't a real criticism of the film, by the way, but when all of your favorite Pokemon come from the same game that was mocked for having a literal garbage bag as a playable Pokemon, it hurts not seeing what your main boys (or girls) would look in this art style, considering how good the older Pokemon look. Seriously, where's Hydreigon? Or Volcarona? Or Zoroark? Or Samurott? Or Bisharp? There's no love for Gen 5 in this film. Heck, I remember seeing exactly one Gen 5 Pokemon at all in this film, and that was a cameo from a Vanillite, which was one of the Pokemon that caused Gen 5's bad reputation in the first place. Gen 7 gets more love than Gen 5, and that's sad.
But what about the aspects that matter in a film, like the story? Well, it's a decently executed, albeit very cliche detective story/buddy cop film. The villain is unfortunately the worse part of the whole film, as his plan is admittedly very stupid (in addition to being a plot twist villain 2019, when plot twist villains are getting over saturated). But in order to explain why it's stupid I'd have to delve into spoiler territory. Basically, the villain's ultimate plan is to fuse humans and Pokemon together. First of all, thanks for reminding us that Pokemon Re:Burst (a really bad Pokemon manga series about human-Pokemon fusions) exists. Good for you. But second of all, why does he want to make like *Goten and Trunks and do the Fusion Dance with a Pokemon, let alone force the entire human race to do the same? They established he's crippled, and they hint strongly that his plan is to use the Pokemon's signature ability to rapidly evolve to cure himself of his paralysis. Frankly that would have been better, but then again, Pokemon has historically had a really bad track record when it comes to villains. The only villains that work (Team Rocket and Team Skull) are low-stakes comedic villains who are a minor annoyance at best. But the more serious villains seemed to be cursed to be poorly written, one-dimensional, evil for the sake of evil, ultimately just being there to cause the conflict artificially. The only good "serious" villains in the franchise were N ( a charming and surprisingly idealistic anti-villain that forced us to reconsider the questionable morals of Pokemon battles) and Guzma (a gangster who only resorted to crime due to being rendered homeless), but they feel more like miraculous flukes rather than the Pokemon writing team suddenly gaining skill with writing villains.
But aside from the terrible villain (which is sadly a staple of the franchise at this point) the story is decent. The dynamic between Tim and the titular Detective Pikachu not only lends itself to good comedy but is also surprisingly adorable. Frankly the best thing in the film (aside from the Pokemon themselves) is the bond between the two main leads. Tim is basically a more civilized version of Guzma, as they're both failed Trainers who turned away from the fantastical world of Pokemon to pursue more mundane lives. They go about it in completely different ways, obviously, but the concept of what happens to people who fail to complete their Trainer journeys is always something that has fascinated me. Detective Pikachu himself on the other hand completely steals the show. Thanks to a stellar performance courtesy of Ryan Reynolds, he brings in a tsunami of coffee and sarcasm with every scene. Speaking of, can we all appreciate the sheer absurdity of Ryan Reynolds' resume? In addition to voicing Detective Pikachu, he also plays the role of Deadpool. Yes, the actor who played the least family friendly super hero in the universe is now voicing the most family friendly mouse in the universe (no, Mickey Mouse doesn't count). Oh, and there's also a girl named Lucy, and frankly the only thing I remember about her was the ridiculously over-the-top monologue when she was introduced (as well as serving as an obligatory love interest for Tim, because heavens know EVERY detective story needs a romantic subplot).
The action in the film is, for lack of a better term, fun. The cage fight between Detective Pikachu and a battle hardened Charizard was great, the chase scene with the Greninja was great, and while it ultimately didn't have much to do with the overall plot, the scene with the giant Torterra was great and weirdly prophetic considering that Pokemon Sword & Shield's gimmick is turning Pokemon into giants. The comedy was mostly great as well. As previously stated, Detective Pikachu is a walking goldmine of quips and snarks, and the Mr. Mime interrogation scene is a prime example of mime humor done right. That said, there is a joke in here where Detective Pikachu, after seeing the giant Torterra awaken and cause a massive earthquake, says "How can you NOT believe in global warming after this!?" Now, regardless of your feelings concerning global warming (spoiler alert, since the Earth is moving in a spiral, and not a perfect circle, it's only going to get hotter and hotter as it reaches the sun. No amount of human interference will change that, though we might have sped up the process inadvertently), I feel the set up for the joke was out of place. While one could make the argument that the joke works because of a of hypothetical link between global warming and seismic activity (which, to the extent of my knowledge, hasn't been proven yet), I feel the joke would have worked better if they used it during the Charizard cage fight, given Charizard's status as a fire-breathing dragon monster who leaves a raging inferno wherever it goes.
As for the presentation, the Pokemon themselves look great. Rather than making them look completely realistic and delve deep into the uncanny valley, the animators just took the regular cartoony models and applied realistic textures to them, which I feel is a great compromise between whimsy and realism. The only Pokemon that looked bad in this style was Mewtwo, who looks strangely rubbery, and the way its mouth moves when it talks verbally just doesn't look right at all. Then again Mewtwo is a genetically augmented humanoid abomination, so maybe the unsettling design was intentional, but I have a feeling that it wasn't. But aside from Mewtwo, just about every Pokemon in the film looks great. The set pieces look great as well, with neon signs providing most of the light, the various parts of Rhyme City all look how a city in the Pokemon universe would in real life (although the presence of Fire-Type Pokemon who super heat their surroundings just by existing begs the question of why nothing is on fire despite there appearing to have no fail safes to accommodate Fire-Types). The music is pretty good, too. You get the main theme of the franchise as a leitmotif, and Detective Pikachu even sings the main chorus of the theme song from the 90's anime series ("Pokemon! Gotta Catch 'em All!").
| A wild Snorlax appears! |
In conclusion, Pokemon: Detective Pikachu is a great time for Pokemon fans new and old alike (though it definitely caters to older fans more so *cough cough* Genwunner pandering *cough cough*), and it could potentially spark interest for newcomers that have never played a Pokemon game before. But it's time to answer the age old question, is this the best video game movie ever? The answer to that is, well, yes and no. While it is based off of an obscure spin-off that didn't even perform well enough to justify additional support (yet here we are), it is a Pokemon movie first, and a video game movie second. But in all honesty, is it even possible to make a good video game movie? A game's interactive components lend it an entertainment value that is impossible to recreate with cinema, which is primarily a passive form of entertainment. But turning a point-and-click into a film is a step in the right direction, considering that point-and-clicks are cinematic by the nature of their design, and as such are easier to translate into a passive medium than say, a fighting game, or a platformer. With all that being said, I give Pokemon: Detective Pikachu 7 pocket-sized monsters out of ten.
*That there is what we call "a Dragon Ball Z reference".
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