Pokemon: Detective Pikachu
review by Bobby Blakey
I have never been a fan of Pokemon, but my son was a huge fan or at least Charizard. When I heard they were bringing them to the big screen in a live action filmcalled Detective Pikachu, I had little to no interest. I still don’t understand this direction, but it does feature a great cast including Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton, Suki Waterhouse, Omar Chaparro, Chris Geere, Ken Watanabe, Bill Nighy and Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu. Could this film somehow manage to bring these crazy creatures to life successfully or will they fail to capture them all?
Detective Pickachu follows an ace detective Harry Goodman who goes mysteriously missing, prompting his 21-year-old son Tim to find out what happened. Aiding in the investigation is Harry’s former Pokémon partner, Detective Pikachu: a hilariously wise-cracking, adorable super-sleuth who is a puzzlement even to himself. Finding that they are uniquely equipped to work together, as Tim is the only human who can talk with Pikachu, they join forces on a thrilling adventure to unravel the tangled mystery. Chasing clues together through the neon-lit streets of Ryme City—a sprawling, modern metropolis where humans and Pokémon live side by side in a hyper-realistic live-action world—they encounter a diverse cast of Pokémon characters and uncover a shocking plot that could destroy this peaceful co-existence and threaten the whole Pokémon universe.
I can honestly say despite being a fan of Ryan Reynolds I still wasn’t overly interested in this film, but tried to give it a chance and I am glad I did. This is a silly, fun film that delivers exactly what it wants to and works. Sure there are some bumpy moments as the story progresses, but they managed to fully craft a world that you can buy into and just have a ton of fun. There are plenty of generic and predictable moments, but there are also some fun twists and turns to keep you interested as the story unfolds. The young cast do a good job and it is no surprise that Reynolds brings his usual wit to bring a new element of the famed Pikachu to life like never before.
While its good the story works we all know the real reason fans want to see this film is the Pokemon themselves and they do not disappoint. They bypassed some useless long drug out story of their origins and just explained simply why they all coexist and if you let yourself have fun it works. They CGI brings every one of these silly creatures to life and as bizarre as it is at times it just works and I ended up having a great time. This is one of those films that offers up a little bit of everything for everyone and more Pokemon than you knew you needed so get out there and try to catch them all yourself.
In addition to the film this release includes bonus content including commentary, alternate opening, detective mode, a music video and numerous featurettes taking you behind bringing this film to life. Get on the case and grab your copy of POKEMAN: Detective Pikachu available now on digital and then on 4K Ultra, Blu-ray and DVD on August 6th from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.