Detective Pikachu Review · 7:55pm May 19th, 2019

Quick disclaimer guys... I'm not a Pokemon fan. ... I'm not. I know about the source only vaguely, I only saw half of a single episode when I was very very very very very young, and that was all I recall of it. While I'm not a fan of the franchise, I do see it's appeal.

The Pokemon creatures look creative, I can see why some people have fun playing the video games or even the trading cards. It may not be for me, but I can definitely see why people like it. I don't know how they do film-wise, but I hope for the fanbase they have some decent films under their belt. Which is what we're talking about today; Detective Pikachu. If I can be honest, I didn't have much interest to see this film... except when I saw Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu. And Pikachu's animation. That was what hooked me in.

So does Detective Pikachu fare well? Let's find out! Without any further interruptions, lets look at Detective Pikachu!

Detective Pikachu follows this boy named Tim who finds out his father who works with the police department has been in a mysterious accident, so he has to go to Ryme City, a place where Pokemon and mankind exist. And while he's at his father's home, he finds this Pokemon in his own home, AKA Detective Pikachu, who he's actually able to understand. And so now, he has to team up with this fuzzy little detective and find out what happened to his father and finish the case.

First pro I gotta give; Ryan Reynolds, as Detective Pikachu.

Ryan Reynolds, once again, owns this performance. Pikachu is the best character in the film, and he is the one who gets all the laughs, he had the best jokes, best lines, and was probably the coolest character in the entire film. Whenever he's on screen, he is just a joy to see. And holy crap, I'm not going to deny... he looks ADORABLE. I just wanna scoop up that fuzzy little thing and pet him

And acting wise, everyone's pretty solid for the most part as well. Though for character-wise... we'll talk about later.

If you're a Pokemon fan, I imagine you are going to LOVE the amount of Pokemon that is shown in this movie. And from a non-fan perspective, Ryme city is friggin' awesome. This actually looks like a cool city to visit, and the amount of Pokemon runnin' around that you see, is pretty cool. And there seems to be a lot of interesting practicality of how the Pokemon help people around the city, it's pretty cool.

And even though I'm not a fan, I gotta admit... Gyarados? He looks awesome.

And that's another thing I need to give this movie; the representation of the Pokemon. The accuracy of the Pokemon here looks spot on, it looks like they came out of the actual anime. This is almost on levels with the Transformers in Bumblebee, you can tell the people who worked on this film actually gave a damn about what they were making, so that's another big plus right there.

And the comedy for the most part is pretty funny too. Most of it is delivered by Ryan Reynolds, but the others get a good laugh as well. There's some funny jokes with this one scene of Tim and Pikachu interviewing this Mime Pokemon... and oh good lord the way that ends

As for the story? Mystery wise, I don't think I would have seen some of the twists coming, though there are some that I think are a wee bit on the predictable side, but it's nothing that's going to irritate you or make you mad.

And I suppose the last thing I want to give pros to, is some of it's special effects. Some of the special effects are pretty good, as well as it's editing and music, that is handled pretty well.

Unfortunately... I do have a few issues with the film, nothing big, but I think are worth mentioning.

One of my problems with this film, is honestly with Tim.

Now the actor who plays him, is pretty solid. But Tim man, for the most part he's a big stick in the mud. He's pretty depressing, and I do get the point behind that, I do, but I don't know, it felt like he had too many sad moments for my taste. But that's just me.

And some of the effects? Ehh, some definitely do show a little bit that they're not real, but honestly, it's just a nitpick. Some of them may not look too great, but considering how true they kept to the original Pokemon designs, that's pretty forgivable honestly. Better than how they're doing to Sonic, huh?

And some of the human characters... not so great, some not so memorable. I didn't care for the reporter chick, she honestly got on my nerves a little bit, and the main antagonist? Ehhh... not so memorable either, though I don't think that's what they were going for, or at least, I think. I truly don't know.

But aside from that... I still enjoyed this film.

I'm not a big Pokemon fan, but I would still recommend this film, just for Ryan Reynolds alone. And if you're a Pokemon fan, I have a feeling you'd like this movie too. I may have some slight nitpicks, but maybe you guys won't have any. It's not a perfect film by any means, but it's a fun film for the Pokemon fans for sure. I hope.

I give Detective Pikachu, a 7 out of 10.

It's a fun film, definitely worth checking out.

Thanks for reading, have a great day!