Detective Pikachu Review · 10:32pm Jun 10th, 2019
Saberking2012-Well, this took forever(blame my work schedule…).
GhoulDash97-Now before we begin this review, I will tell you that I was an average fan of Pokemon. I played them in the Smash games (mostly as Lucario) and I used to love the anime on Cartoon Network when I was still in elementary school. But I was more of a Digimon fan and I was often hooked on Jetix (anybody remember that?). But as I grew older, my interest wained and I just didn’t care about it. But regardless, the series holds a special place in my heart and I had fun with it.
Saberking2012-Either way, a little backstory of my own before we get into this-I grew up with with Pokemon(and Digimon) and until 2013, I collected cards, played the games and everything in between. However, as time passed, I lost interested altogether(although I keep an eye on it from time to time). With that said, I(well, we) will be looking at this as a stand alone movie and with a unbiased opinion of the matter(although I will point out things that I like). Nothing more, nothing less. And the best part is, knowledge of pokemon isn't really required to understand the movie or the characters. As I said in our last review, we'll go over the plot-
GhoulDash97-*Smirks*
Saberking2012-If you make that joke again, I'll tell everyone about that collection you have with-
GhoulDash97-Okay, okay, I won't make that joke.
Saberking2012-That's better. Now, as I was saying, we're going to go over the plot first, give our thoughts and then move onto the verdict.
GhoulDash97-Bare in mind spoilers are ahead so you've been warned.
Saberking2012-I'm Saber.
GhoulDash97-And I'm Ghoul-Wait a minute!
Saberking2012-?
GhoulDash97-I'm suppose to introduce myself first. You're messing with the order of balance.
Saberking2012-Hey, I spent about three and a half weeks writing this script(including my off days) so no sass Mr.
GhoulDash97-You can be so... *Ahem* Anyways, here's our review of Detective Pikachu.
Saberking2012-In this Pokémon universe, it begins with Tim Goodman(played by Justin Smith) is a 21-year-old insurance salesman who has given up Pokémon training due to the death of his mother and the absence of his father, Harry. He heads over to Ryme City - a metropolis where Humans and Pokemon live in harmony - to collect Harry’s belongings following a car crash. While he was gathering his things, Tim stumbles upon a Pikachu wearing a deerstalker hat (played by the main man, Ryan Reynolds) who can speak and can only be understood by Tim; the duo were able to escape from a rabid party of Aipon under the control of an “R”-labeled purple gas unleashed accidentally by Tim.
GhoulDash97-After that little soiree, they regroup towards a local cafe where this Pikachu tells Tim that he is an amnesiac detective who worked with Harry before the car crash. They were investigating a case with one another before Harry vanished without a trace. Hearing of this, the two go and look for Lucy Stevens (played by Kathryn Newton), a fluff columnist and aspiring reporter whom TIm previously brushed off. She lead him and Pikachu to Ryme Wharf where they encounter, and interrogate a Mr. Mime there, who directs them towards an illegal Pokemon fighting arena owned by a sleazy owner known as Sebastian (played by Omar Chaparro).
Saberking2012-Before we go any further, I have to mention that I loved this scene. For once, Tim is at his best here trying to one up Mr.Mime and Ryan Reynolds being… well, himself, just makes the scene a thousand times better than it has any right to be.
GhoulDash97-Right?! I couldn’t stop laughing when they were interrogating the poor Mr. Mime. But I died when Tim dropped the imaginary match on the imaginary gasoline next to Mr. Mime. It’s comic gold!
Saberking2012-Keep in mind, at this point, it's been established that he himself says he doesn't like Pokemon(well, more or less) and yet, knows how to do this. Hmm...
GhoulDash97-Getting back on subject, when Sebastian notices the Pikachu he lost to in a match, he screams for a rematch. Tim does everything he can to resolve the conflict in a peaceful manner, but it proved fruitless. When Pikachu gets into the ring and is set to fight against Charizard, he tries to comically escape to no avail. But in the middle of the skirmish, Charizard was hit with a dose of the R-Gas, causing it to go berserk and attack everything in sight. This hits the Pokemon as well and chaos ensues everywhere in the wharf. But after everything was resolved, Sebastian told Tim that the gas was given to him by “the doctor”. After telling Yoshida (played by Ken Watanabe from Inception and The Last Samurai) about the leads he was given that were linked to Harry, Yoshida tells Tim and the Pikachu that Harry is indeed dead, breaking their spirits in the process. As they were sulking in the park, the duo were brought before the benefactor and founder of Ryme City, Howard Clifford (played by Bill Nighy from the Underworld series) who truthfully tells Tim that Harry did, in fact, survive the crash caused by a renegade Mewtwo which took him away and planted amnesia into the Pikachu. Howard also warns them to be aware of his son Roger, who claims him to be in control of Ryme City and his company.
Saberking2012-Tim and Pikachu recruit Lucy and her Psyduck on an expedition to the lab facility Harry was investigating, where they learn Sebastian's "doctor" was a researcher aided by Harry, who had been experimenting on Mewtwo, recaptured after escaping 20 years earlier-
GhoulDash97-Did you seriously just skip the funniest scene in the movie?
Saberking2012-You mean Mr.Mime? I already talked about that.
GhoulDash97-No… the other one. You just skipped over what was shown in the trailer.
Saberking2012-Um… I don't think we're at that point in Jojo just yet.
GhoulDash97-Wha- No-I- Ugh, fine I'll explain it. While they were on their way to abandoned facility which held the previously captured Mewtwo, the music inside Lucy’s car was filled with nothing but Jazz. She claims that it is needed to keep her Psyduck calm so that it wouldn’t explode. Pikachu felt annoyed by it and Tim felt awkward when he was sitting next to Lucy. To add on top of that, Psyduck kept asking for a foot massage much to Pikachu's annoyance, using Tim as leverage. It gave me a pretty good chuckle from that situation.
Saberking2012-Oh… yea, I remember that. I got a good chuckle out of that.
GhoulDash97-I swear, I think you did that on purpose just to-
Saberking2012-As we were, the foursome were suddenly attacked by several Greninja who proceeded to chase them out of the building, but were being held off by Psyduck. They were able to escape a huge field of Torterra, but Pikachu is gravely injured in the process. Luckily Tim was able to communicate with a group of Bulbasaur and they take Pikachu deep into the forest to heal it where they are greeted by none other than Mewtwo. But before it could reveal its true purpose to the duo, it was suddenly captured by Roger. Believing that he betrayed both Harry and Mewtwo to Roger, Pikachu leaves Tim while the latter, Lucy, and Psyduck, return to Ryme City to warn Howard of this treacherous act. While it was busy sulking, Pikachu comes across the same bridge where Harry’s car crash happened and he also finds out that it was caused by a Greninja, not Mewtwo.
GhoulDash97-Tim was able to reach Howard, but he learns too late that the latter plans to fuse his consciousness into Mewtwo and use his newfound powers to fuse the other Pokemon with their owners, with the use of the R-Gas. Tim even finds out that Roger turns out to be a shapeshifting Ditto while the real Roger (played by Chris Geere) was tied up in Howard’s closet. While Howard was busy playing God, Pikachu makes it into Ryme City and finally summons his electric powers to fight against Mewtwo, fending it off long enough for Tim to free the Mewtwo from Howard’s consciousness. After saving Pikachu from plummeting to its death, Mewtwo immediately begins turning everyone back to normal while Howard is being arrested. Afterwards, Mewtwo approaches both Tim and Pikachu and tells the duo that the latter was fused with Harry, so that he could heal from his fatal injuries while keeping his consciousness awake inside the Pikachu. After Mewtwo unfuses both Harry and the Pikachu before disappearing elsewhere, a fully revived Harry gives Tim the chance to return home, but the latter refuses the offer and decides to stay with his father and the Pikachu in order to learn how to be a detective while wishing to spend more time with him.
Saberking2012-Okay, with that out of the way, we can get to the good stuff. I liked the fact most(and keep in mind, this is on first viewing) of the small bit of Pokemon cameos. It's a nice touch to a overall good movie.
GhoulDash97-It was so mesmerizing to see that this is actually one of the few video game movies that turned out to be rather decent and holding true to the source material from the original games.
Saberking2012-Not to mention they made a great choice picking Ryan Reynolds of all people to voice act Pikachu. You really can't go wrong with him(expect maybe the Green Lantern movie but even then…). As for the other actors, with the exception of Roger(as I know him), the rest did pretty well for what they were given.
GhoulDash97-I believe everybody in this movie did a good job holding this movie together and having fun. I loved their performances, especially Ryan Reynolds with his charismatic energy and his ability to make his various characters come to life (with the exception of Green Lantern, which I’ve never seen…).
Saberking2012-With that all said and done though, I do have a three issues I wish to point out(with two of them being nitpicky so take it with a grain of salt). First(and probably the only really issue with the movie) is Tim(aka, the main character himself) is completely unlikable for most of the first act. Now, to the films credit, they at least explain why he acts like that but even then, it was a chore to get through until Ryan himself appears and steals the spotlight. To me, it seems rather unfair and unjustified to hate his father for what happened.
Now, don't get me wrong- I'd probably be the same way if my mother died and what not but he didn't even attempt to care during the first part when he finds out. Granted, he does eventually forgive and regret his actions but it doesn't make it any less annoying to work around. My other complaint is a very minor nitpick but when I originally heard Psyduck was going to be a side character, I was hoping Misty was going to be in it as well.
Alas, she wasn't. Sure, I knew that was gonna happen but I'd be lying I'd I didn't say it left a bitter taste as my hope died a little. Again, it's not the movie's fault and it's a personal grip on my part. That's all.(waiting for people to call me a Genwunner and we're walking and we're walking….
And the last one is the final act. The story tries to play the element of surprise but fails to do so. The conjunction of the last two acts takes place in a nuclear factory, from where the story starts going downwards as it eats up a lot of screen time that doesn’t do anything except giving exposition. Now, that's not to say the finale wasn't good (it was amazing) but it was bogged down by the overwhelming amount of plot-twists, which should’ve been avoided at all costs. Now, to give the movie the benefit of the doubt, that may be more so because I'm used to plot twists and this is aimed at younger audiences so I won't give the movie to much flank in that regard.
GhoulDash97-I agree with you on the first bit. Tim was somebody you would punch in the face. He was a dick and he was completely unlikable for the first half of the movie. Though to be fair, I could sympathize with the sentimentality of his inner struggle, having never seen his father much as a kid and his mother dying just made him give up on having any semblance of a family. But then again, he wasn’t willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and he was reluctant in capturing a Cubone (which failed hilariously). He does get better though, later on.
The third act was a little shoved in, but it did pay off decently well. I mean, I had no idea that Harry was the Pikachu the entire time and Howard was trying to play off Tim’s weakness in order to have him assassinated. And I will not lie. I kinda liked this Mewtwo. It wasn’t this cliche anti-hero character we’ve all known him to be. Also, Roger wasn’t a terrible character. He didn’t get much screen time per se, but he wasn’t that corporate scumbag we, the audience, were all making him out to be. I’d say it was decent in its own right.
Saberking2012-Now, before we get into the score, I will admit I was sceptical due to how most anime adaptations work out(just ask Death Note…) but to my surprise, this adaptation of the world phenomena successfully takes off by bringing a new genre to the world of Pokémon while also breaking the shackles for video-game based movies.
While the games and anime focused on the joy of living in a Pokémon World, this film focuses on the downside of living in that world, especially in the first act when the protagonist - Tim Goodman finds it hard to befriend a Pokémon unlike many others of his age. His inability to do so is questioned constantly and so is his intricate relationship with his father.
While the first two acts are good, it’s the third act that messes up(with the execution of the battle).
GhoulDash97-Same here. Going in, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. I thought it would be one of those movies where it’d be like the Resident Evil movies and that terrible live-action Dragon Ball movie where we have this main character trying to seize his destiny or that other bullshit. But luckily, my expectations were subverted and I had a rather decent time with this movie. Doesn’t mean the curse to bad video game movies is vanquished, but it is a step in the right direction (which we could be seeing with the new Sonic movie).
Saberking2012-Give RE credit- it was a good kind of bad(for the most part). With that said, like with Brightburn, I'm giving this a 8/10 but unlike that review, this was earned and not due to circumstances that bumped it up. The final twist is surprisingly good and ends the film on a high note. As for the acting, Ryan Reynolds does an exceptional job as always and the other actors, especially Justice Smith (despite the criticism I threw at him prior). The credits start with an 8-Bit battle sequence from the original ‘Red and Blue’ game and progresses to the film’s version, showing the legacy of Pokémon, which has now reached new heights. The action was amazing and to an extent, I wished I was in the game/world. They did their work and treated with respect.
GhoulDash97-I give this movie an 8/10 as well. I thought the acting was terrific, especially for Ryan Reynolds and Justice Smith (despite his character’s faults). The movie stayed true to the source material and ended off with a bang. Hell, the end credits showed the artstyle we're all familiar with alongside the main theme for the Pokemon games, detailing the legacy that was given to us in the late 90s to early 2000s. I enjoyed the story the movie had going for it and if we’re lucky, the sequel could branch out to Kanto and any other regions that general audiences aren’t familiar. It would also be a great way to introduce newcomers who aren’t familiar with Pokemon and its universe. With the Sonic movie coming out next year, we could get a Smash Universe (but don’t quote me on that).
Saberking2012-Again, I do want to apologize for the delay of this review. I didn't intend for it to take as long as it did. But hopefully, you guys enjoyed the review. I had fun making it and co-hosting it. Anyways, I'm heading out to(hopefully) post more and get more readers. As usual, I thank you for letting me co-host and make the script, Ghoul. I will see you guys later.
GhoulDash97-I’m glad to see you all here to read this review me and my associate have written. I had a lot of fun with this and I hope to do more in the coming future. You should check out my other stories. I’m currently editing for Saber on his story, but check out my Spider-Man story on my profile. I’m trying to experiment on other stories for different characters and I wish to subvert all expectations with them as a writer. But I still am writing Clop and will hope to do it with other characters, straight or otherwise. If you all wish to look at my other explicit stories, check out my profile on Archive Of My Own. You will be satisfied. But anyway, I will be closing out on this review with Saber. This is Ghoul. I’ll see you on the other side.
You guys did a good job with this review. It sounds like a really awesome movie. I kind of didn't know what to expect after watching the trailer, but this makes me want to check the movie out. :)
5072631
Thanks! I hope you find the movie to your liking.
5072756 Honestly, the predictably wasnt really an issue. I can handle that. It qouldve been even better if the MC didn't make things annoying for the first act.
5072756
The only thing we can say that it is the first decent video game movie we ever had. But that opinion's subjective.
5072657 I am sure that I will. :)
5074037
Great.