Movie Review: Detective Pikachu · 1:06am Jun 5th, 2019
Well folks, it's been a long, long, LONG time since I posted a movie review.
No really good reason for it. Just lots of little things - life, chores, my own laziness or reluctance... I've had thoughts I wanted to share about a number of movies I've seen, from Captain Marvel, Shazam and Endgame to John Wick 3 and even the new Dumbo. I must confess, I've been reluctant to share my thoughts on some of these movies, mainly the two newest Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. *shrugs*
But I plan to get to them soon enough.
Though first of all, I want to share my thoughts on some of the new non-superhero movies I've seen as of late.
And yes, that includes an urban fantasy mystery movie with an electric mouse voiced by Ryan Reynolds. XD
Based somewhat off of the 2016 3DS game of the same name, Detective Pikachu is the story of Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) a young man who once wanted to be a Pokémon trainer, but after the death of his mother gave up on that dream and now works as an insurance salesman in his hometown. Tim also has a strained relationship with his father Harry, a police detective who lives in the metropolis of Ryme City, a specially-constructed city where humans and Pokémon can live together as equals.
After a botched attempt by a friend to get him into Pokémon-catching, Tim then gets a call from the Ryme City police, informing him that his father is missing, presumed dead after a massive car crash. Heading out to the big city to collect his father's effects, Tim is rapidly swept up in some strange goings-on: namely, discovering a Pikachu in his father's apartment that can speak English, and that only Tim can understand.
This section of the movie, where we first meet "Detective Pikachu" is one of the moments where the film really kicks into wacky high gear. There is a special kind of surreal in hearing a Pikachu speak with Ryan Reynolds' voice... and Justice Smith's freaking out at all of this is just golden. 
Eventually, the two of them end up having to work together - Pikachu claiming to have been Harry's police partner and that they were working on a case together, and Tim being reluctant that his father is actually dead, wants to find out the truth of what happened.
Their efforts lead them around the city, from the docks to an illegal Pokémon combat arena, to a secret lab far outside of the city. Other players in this mystery include junior reporter and wannabe detective Lucy Stevens (Kathryn Newton); billionaire founder of Ryme City Howard Clifford (Bill Nighy) and his media mogul son Roger (Chris Geere)…
Now, I will readily admit, the mystery story of this film is quite basic. You can, with little trouble, figure out *who* is the real villain of the movie and who is the red herring of the story. That being said, the actual plan of the villain was something that legitimately took me by surprise, and proved to be a concept that I found quite interesting. In some ways I wish that more could have been done to flesh it out in some ways, even though I was satisfied enough with what we got... and also, the closing plot twist of the movie (namely, how a Pikachu has the voice of Ryan Reynolds and why Tim is the only one who can understand it) was a very effective surprise, and one that I actually found rather moving. :twilightsmile;
In my view, the biggest strengths of Detective Pikachu are twofold: Ryan Reynolds as the titular character, and the design effects for the Pokémon themselves. Reynolds delivers a very entertaining performance as the fast-talking, coffee-addicted electric Pokémon, and the juxtaposition of the adorable yellow mouse creature speaking with *that* voice offers numerous laughs. In particular during the scene where Tim first encounters Detective Pikachu and they end up fleeing from some aggressive Pokémon, as well as in a later scene where the two of them try to interrogate a Mister Mime. In all honestly, the Mr. Mime scene might be the absolute funniest part of the movie for me, just for how skillfully the film uses the mime gimmick (as well as for a conclusion that hysterically swandives into some pitch-black comedy )
On the second point... I can't state this enough, the visual effects of the Pokémon in this movie, and their integration into the realistic human setting, are freaking incredible. The scene where Tim first arrives in Ryme City is probably rife with endless amounts of rewatch material for all the different Pokémon that can be glimpsed, or subtle references to other installments of the franchise. Many of the Pokémon look realistic... and as well, there are plenty of them that can (or just ARE) creepy to look at too. And in all honesty, that makes sense to me. "Pokémon" is basically a contraction of "pocket monster" and if there's one thing that this movie manages to get across in an effective way, is that these strange and wonderful creatures *can* be monstrous. For adorable Pokémon like Pikachu or Bulbasaur, there are also weird and creepy-looking Pokémon like Mr. Mime or Psyduck (which, by the way, provides some great comedy in its interactions with Detective Pikachu). And then there are Pokémon that just look BADASS, like a snarling Charizard or even a freaking Gyarados!
(One last bit I'll say about the Pokémon in this movie... Detective Pikachu is one of those movies that, in my opinion, GETS how to use the Uncanny Valley. Especially in regard to one or two of the creatures that pop up in the final act of the movie. No spoilers for those who haven't seen the movie, but they readily mine a lot of creep factor out of two major antagonistic forces that come to play in the climax!)
While I've said that Ryan Reynolds is the strongest performance in the movie, Justice Smith and Kathryn Newton deliver some good material too. Tim Goodman makes for a fun character as the straight man to Detective Pikachu's antics, and some of his freakouts make for very compelling hilarity. Though Tim also gets his share of dramatic moments, a particular favorite of mine being when he - despondent over a low point in the case - ends up relating his regrets over his strained relationship with his father. (Reynolds also delivers some moving dialogue in this scene too.) As for Kathryn Newton, while Lucy is primarily more of a humorous character in her zeal to be seen as a daring intrepid reporter, she and Justice Smith have some good chemistry and play off of each other very well. (Plus, to my surprise, the two of them don't get together at the end of the movie, so points to the filmmakers for just having a professional relationship and friendship instead of a more token romantic arc.)
All in all, while I would never put Detective Pikachu on a top 10 list of 2019 (in part because there's still so many films to come out this year!) I had quite a nice time watching it, and was very pleasantly surprised by how entertaining this quirky movie bringing anime pocket monsters into live-action really was. 
I'm no Pokemon expert or fan, but I agree, representations in the film looked A+ solid.
And solid review! I pretty much agree with the points you nailed here.
5069549
Thank you very much!
I honestly enjoyed the SHIT out of this movie. It was a lot of fun, the Mr Mime scene being absolutely fantastic. A lesser movie might have skirted around such a thing or tried to anti Mr Mime's joke, but NOPE! This movie went ALL IN with the joke. Mr Mime wants to mime? Alright, let's mime. Plus, Mr Mime being a Psychic types means that some of the things he makes being physical, if invisible constructs actually checks out.
A lot of the Pokemon DID go DEEP into Uncanny Valley, but that was the idea. They're not human, not by any stretch of the imagination. Some Pokemon are, well, you said it, monstrous, so they don't try to hide it, they play it up. A lot of Pokemon in that style look creepy as shit and it works.
And here I thought the scariest Pokemon in the movie would be Mewtwo. I mean, considering who it is, it makes sense that the guy's pretty intimidating, but, NOPE. The giant Torterras scared the crap out of me WAY more than Mewtwo. Mewtwo was never intentionally malicious to Tim or Pikachu nor did he ever want to harm them. Mostly because if he DID, they would not have made it to see the next sunrise. The giant Torterras? They probably didn't even know our protagonists were THERE. They could have killed them by pure accident.
Also, this movie gives credence to the theory that Pokemon world humans are A CRAPTON tougher than our world humans when you consider what our protagonist goes through and comes out unscathed.
5069638
So wonderfully, darkly brilliant.
Oh, I totally agree. The Mr. Mime scene might just be my personal favorite in the entire movie.
And yeah, again, they were smart to lean into some of the more monstrous parts of the various Pokemon. This ain't a cartoon movie, this is a setting with real live humans. Honestly, I think that if they'd tried to emulate the look of the cartoon more, it'd come off as MORE uncanny.
Hmm, you make a good point about the giant Torterras. That was pretty fucking intense, I honestly did wonder at first if this was some crazy Psychic shit going on, but nope. Though for my money, the really scary Pokemon? Ditto. I mean, a blob monster that's advanced enough to not just mimic Pokemon but also duplicate their powers, but also impersonate humans?
And those fucking eyes, man. Black beady eyes in a human face are SERIOUS uncanny valley. Especially when it turns into Lucy and continues to spout "Ditto!" as it hits Tim.
5069781
To be fair, it's DITTO. It had a bad case of Uncanny Valley in its anime debut and in the games. So in live action? I very much want to know what else you expected. Considering what it is and does, there's no way it was going to be anything else.
Something I get a kick out of still is the Big Bad calling Mewtwo the strongest Pokemon there is considering the statues we first see him with. Then again, Those 3 are very much moreso GODS than Pokemon and Mewtwo was the best he would ever GET. Because let's be real, there's no goddamn way they could have him get his hands on, much less incapacitate Dialgia or Palkia. MUCH less Arceus.
5069784
Fair enough. Still, I didn't expect to see that degree of ability from Ditto. I only saw one episode of the anime with it and that was YEARS ago, maybe over a decade by now. *shrugs*
Yeah, I know. XD
5069787
I think it was mentioned that it was the Big Bad's assistant, and it's mentioned he does genetic experiments so.. it's probably a lot more capable than your average Ditto.
5069788
All very true. Though again, it's fairly subtle foreshadowing from what I remember. You see the Ditto once in the newsroom scene, then after that it's all Mrs. Norman.
Oh shit. That's a great pun. A Ditto pretending to be a NORMAL woman named Mrs. NORMAN. Hah!
5069791
Ah, now he gets it. But yes, this movie has SO much more effort put into it than you would ever expect for being a Pokemon movie starring Will Smith's son in the main role. And I am ECSTATIC that it had so much work put into it. They did not need to go as far as they did, but they did, and I'm SO pleased. Ah, this movie makes me happy. It was no Endgame but, to be fair, that movie has made it weeks what Avatar took 10 years to make. Well, almost. It's nearly caught up. It also broke ALL sorts of records. Disney must be Scrooge McDucking it up right now. I would too, honestly.
5069792
Hehe. Yeah... honestly "Scrooge McDucking" might be the best description I could use for how Disney seems to be doing as of late. My dad told me that apparently last year, one of every three dollars spent on movie tickets was for a Disney movie. That means that they're taking in at least a fourth of the global box office, or something along those lines. *whistles*
I'm glad that this movie is doing well too. I wasn't too sure at first but again, it was a lot of fun. ^_^
5069797
Long story short, Endgame had a budget of 356 millions dollars. It has made almost 2.7 BILLION. That is a ludicrous amount of money. It has made its budget almost 7 times over, if not more.
5069798
Exactly! Jaw-dropping.