Warner Bros.
This review comes with a full disclosure. I am a Pokemon fan. Not just a small fan either, but a dangerous whirling ceiling fan. Pokemon may just be man’s greatest accomplishment. However, this in no way leads to bias in this review. I can say this confidently after my favourite superhero – one played by Ryan Reynolds – was previously butchered in its feature outing – a film that I have no problem labelling as “quite the disappointment”. Where that film saw me zipping up my jacket to hide my Green Lantern t-shirt as the credits rolled, I am happy to report that POKÉMON Detective Pikachu had me beaming with pride. The biggest downside is that with the weather getting warmer, it’s very hot trying to fashion so much Pokemon apparel.
And yet, there was a time when the prospect of a Pokemon movie was very worrying. Video Game adaptations range from passable to more painful than an N64 joystick during a Mario Party mini-game. As studios began to bid on the Pokemon property, the imagination ran wild. Would it be an underdog sports drama similar to Rocky? Would we capture that coming-of-age heart of Stand By Me? Or would it adapt some of the anime’s key plot points? Such questions were answered, and all hopes dashed, when it came out that this Pokemon movie would be based on a bizarre spin-off that hadn’t even received an English translation at that point. More worries came when Reynolds was revealed as the voice of the titular dick. No problem there, but was it just star casting due to the success of Deadpool? Was he right for the role? All such concerns dissipated after the release of the first trailer. They’d somehow brought these weird creatures to life.
POKÉMON Detective Pikachu is a massive success and that success can be explained in a single word. Commitment. The film works because it is so committed to its source material, because it’s so committed to world building, and because it’s so committed to being a genuinely well made film. The film starts strongly by just placing you straight into this universe. No intrusive voice-over, no clunky exposition, this world exists and you pick it up as you go along. This confidence means you rarely question what you are seeing. Hollywood frequently cowers away from incredible worlds, as evidenced by two upcoming video game adaptations. Paul W.S. Anderson brings Monster Hunter to the screen, where soldiers from our world enter the world of monsters, while Sega’s mascot Sonic gets his own film that looks like generic weird creature arriving in our world nonsense. Although these films could very well be good, it’s a strange habit of investing in popular franchises, and then not having any faith that the audience will accept the far-out premise.
You never forget which world you’re in here. There’s so much background detail and incredible Pokemon to spot that you spend the entire time searching the screens for little Easter eggs. The world feels alive. Another plus is seeing London transformed into Ryme City. Although the most famous of landmarks are gone, you’ll still spot The Gherkin, The Walkie Talkie, and The Shard. This makes the city sequences feel realer than shooting on a sound stage, and once again adds to the world with buses and taxis weaving around Pokemon. John Mathieson’s cinematography captures the action as beautifully as his work on Gladiator and Logan. Shooting on film and treating every scene with respect, there’s nothing about Detective Pikachu that feels cheap. The sets and lighting create a family friendly vibe with a film noir background. There are huge traces of Blade Runner in the aesthetic.
The story focuses on a mystery of Tim Goodman’s (Justice Smith) missing father. Along the way he is aided by his father’s partner Pokemon, Pikachu (Reynolds). The mystery won’t be one of earth shattering interest to adults, as it does play to a few tropes, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t surprises. The real driving force is Reynold’s quick wit as Pikachu, that gets him landing better lines than his role as The Merc with a Mouth. He fires off jokes so quickly, while also maintaining a touching relationship with Tim. Smith is also brilliant as the film’s human hero. Having been fairly annoying in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, here he has enough comedic support and a lot less slapstick to play to. Tim is also very easy to care for, and this isn’t a case of the film shrivelling up each time there isn’t a Pokemon on screen.
There is so much thrown into Detective Pikachu, that not everything can land. There’s still unnecessary and flat fart and pee jokes, and the relationship between Tim and wannabe reporter Lucy Stevens (Kathryn Newton) would have been far more constructive as a platonic one, instead of shoehorning in some romance. Besides, it’s the double team of Pikachu and Psyduck that real fans will warm to. The ending also goes a bit wild, which may sound ridiculous coming from someone simply loving a film about tiny monsters captured in balls, but it feels as though the end is mostly for spectacle rather than story.
POKÉMON Detective Pikachu is a delight for fans, and doesn’t exclude those stepping into the unknown. It creates a world, commits to it, while still delivering an insular story that isn’t desperate to set-up a cinematic universe just yet, but the possibilities truly are endless. Incredibly cute, insanely enjoyable, and in spots beautiful, this simply can’t be the final Pokemon live action film. Although it won’t have broken the video game adaptation curse, judging by the Sonic trailer, it has shown how to do one right. From the hilarious interrogation of Mr. Mime, to the battle with Charizard, there are stunning sequences wonderfully punctuated with small titbits. These Pokemon are fighting fit, and we hope to see them again soon.
POKÉMON Detective Pikachu is released in cinemas on 10th May 2019.
