SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
A wacky laugh-a-minute rollercoaster ride, Detective Pikachu is sure to please fans everywhere, despite not fully delivering on the promise of live-action Pokémon.
After watching video game movies tumble and fall at the box office by the dozens, I’m just glad that it was a film about Pokémon that finally beat the odds. And make no mistake, Detective Pikachu is definitely a Pokémon movie. It serves up the light-hearted, family-friendly fun the franchise is known for, and everyone will be able to appreciate that. For fans like me, who’ve not touched a Pokémon game in at least half a decade, Detective Pikachu serves us best of all. It makes you want to dig out your old handheld to try to catch them all, rekindling a love that feels like it never died in the first place. That in itself is a gift.
Loosely based off the game of the same name, the film follows the adventures of Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) who arrives in the bustling metropolis of Ryme City after his father, a detective, is presumed dead in a mysterious car crash. Teaming up with a talking Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds) who once worked as his father’s partner, Tim decides to investigate his father’s disappearance and ends up uncovering a threat to the entire Pokémon world.
Smith, and Kathryn Newton who plays budding investigative journalist Lucy Stevens, give perfectly serviceable performances. The film’s human characters are in this to provide the bare necessities: exposition, emotional grounding and a little relatability for the audience, but never anything beyond the bare minimum. They’re not bad per se but feel bland compared to Ryan Reynolds’ voice-acting and motion capture performance as everyone’s favourite electric mouse. Reynolds’ caffeine-addicted, wisecracking Pikachu is the undisputed star of this film. Pokéfans have always had Pikachu’s voice actress Ikue Ôtani provide them with “Pika-Pika” for seven generations of games (she’s just as great here), but Reynolds brings his fantastic comedy chops to the world of Pokemon. This is a family film, and it’s almost ironic that fans of the R-rated Deadpool are among the people most likely to enjoy it.
The film benefits greatly from Reynolds. Detective Pikachu hits the mark every single time when it comes to humour, an impressive feat that keeps it moving forward from beginning to end. The story isn’t particularly inspired and perhaps that’s the worst thing about it, though kids likely won’t notice a thing. It could have gone a little further when it comes to delving into the Pokemon universe, but at the same time, I was more than happy to just sit back and play Spot the Pokemon and watch the hilarious hijinks of our buddy cop duo. I guess that’s all you really need. The film delivers consistently on that front, shuffling everyone’s favourite Pokedex picks onto the screen. Detective Pikachu finds a great middle ground between realism and the animated sprites of the games. The live-action Pokemon are ridiculously cute, intimidating, and on rare occasions, genuinely terrifying.
Nothing stops Detective Pikachu from being fun, and sometimes that’s all you really need. Fans will be charmed and captured, even if it’s not quite this year’s critical hit.
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