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POKÉMON DETECTIVE PIKACHU
Director: Rob Letterman Cast: Justice Smith, Ryan Reynolds, Kathryn Newton, Bill Nighy, Ken Watanabe, Chris Geere, Karan Soni, Suki Waterhouse, Rita Ora, Diplo, the voices of Ikue Ôtani, Rina Hoshino, Kotaro Watanabe MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:44 Release Date: 5/10/19 |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | May 9, 2019 Pokémon Detective Pikachu appears to ask its audience to forget just about everything they knew about the media franchise based around "pocket monsters." I think that's what the movie is asking. If that actually is the case, this was, on a personal level, a far easier task, since it was simply a matter of forgetting everything I didn't know about the brand. The pop-culture phenomenon began as a series of video games (Some may recall a recent one from a couple of years ago, or at least you probably will remember the sight of kids and adults wandering around the neighborhood with cellphones stuck in front of their face, mumbling about gyms and celebrating the successful capture of an invisible creature), only to branch off into a couple of animated TV series and many movies. None of that really matters in this entry, which is the first live-action installment in the 23-year-old mega-craze, featuring real humans interacting with computer-generated Pokémon. The creatures look realistic enough, for better (the eponymous yellow guy) and for worse (There are a few, such as an annoyingly squawky duck that emits an explosion of energy when it has a panic attack, that are probably best left in the realms of drawings and pixels). The CG artists still give thee Pokémon a vaguely cartoonish appearance in coloring, which heavily leans bold and bright, and in parts of their design, which is really just to say that even the more dangerous ones are provided softer features in an effort to make them look cute. That cuteness, apparently, is how the Pokémon have survived for millennia in this alternate reality, where they've lived and, at times, worked alongside humans. Well, there was that section of history, quickly dismissed by the movie, when humans would capture the creatures, imprison them in balls, and, for some sick reason, force them to fight each other. The fighting, of course, was the crux of the franchise since its inception, although this version of the world has some humans realizing the inherent cruelty of that concept. The story mostly takes place in utopian Ryme City, where humans and Pokémon actually live and work side by side. Tim Goodman (Justice Smith), who grew up with dreams of becoming a Pokémon trainer, is called to the city after the apparent death of his absentee father, a police detective, in a car accident. While going through his dad's apartment, Tim receives an unexpected visitor: his father's supposedly-dead partner, a deerstalker-wearing Pikachu Pokémon, whom we'll just call Detective Pikachu (voice of Ryan Reynolds). As a result of the car crash, Pikachu has amnesia, but he's convinced that Tim's father must be alive. Somehow, Tim can understand Pikachu, so they—Pikachu talking to Pokémon, Tim talking to humans, and pair talking to each other—can help each other in solving the mystery. The two determine the crash must be connected to a purple gas, vials of which Tim discovers in his dad's place, that turns Pokémon feral. The pair investigates the source of the gas with the help of Lucy (Kathryn Newton), an unpaid intern at the city's major news network (along with her Pokémon partner, the aforementioned anxiety-ridden, squawky duck), and some advice from Ryme City founder Howard Clifford (Bill Nighy, who—along with Ken Watanabe as a gruff but kind police lieutenant—makes one ask, "How did he end up in this?"). The plot is fairly straightforward, with the duo moving from one clue to the next throughout Ryme City, as one would expect of a mystery story aimed primarily at children and younger teenagers. The movie's central appeals have little to do with a plot, anyway. One is seeing these creatures in the digital flesh, convincingly interacting with the real world in the foreground and backdrop. Some of the earlier gags take advantage of these weird creatures (Tim and Pikachu interrogating a mime Pokémon is quite funny). After a certain point, though, the other Pokémon mostly fall into the backdrop—as does the promise of exploring what roles Pokémon might play in the real world and, more specifically, within the context of a detective yarn. The movie even inserts a couple of battles in an underground fight club, because that, apparently, is what everyone requires of these characters, and the entire climax, an extended fight among the skyscrapers of Ryme City with a villain whose plan and motive make no sense, follows that expectation, too. The second major appeal is in the characterization of Pikachu as a sardonic, coffee-addicted gumshoe, whose snide attitude (always in the PG-rated realm, of course) belies his adorable appearance. The joke is amusing at first, and Reynolds' vocal performance is admirable in how it doesn't take the character too far into the sarcasm, allowing for a couple of sincere scenes of Pikachu bonding with Tim—before the entire affair becomes an action-oriented spectacle. Ultimately, all of it feels like a missed opportunity. Pokémon Detective Pikachu neither successfully satirizes a noir tale nor expands the Pokémon world in a way that could appeal to newcomers. It feels wholly routine, and that's coming from someone with no prior experience of the franchise. Copyright © 2019 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
Buy Related Products Buy the Soundtrack (Digital Download)
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(for action/peril, some rude and suggestive humor, and thematic elements)
