‘Pokémon Detective Pikachu’ is a great Video-Game Adaptation (But Has Room For Improvement) | Review

‘Pokémon Detective Pikachu‘ Stars Ryan Reynolds and is directed by Rob Letterman, and is an adaptation of the video game also named ‘Detective Pikachu’ centered around a crime mystery starring the most famous Pokémon, Pikachu.

When I first heard  about Warner Bros developing a Pokémon film, I immediately had red flags. Not only due to the news around this film being released around the same time as Pokémon Go! started to catch popularity. It all seemed like a very rush to production cash grab that I was NOT looking forward to. But then the announcement that Ryan Reynolds would be voicing Pikachu ‘Peeka’d’ my interest (I’ll see myself out, thank you.) While ‘Detective Pikachu’ isn’t a groundbreaking film, It’s arguably the best video game adaptation to come out and is actually a really fun adventure for adults and kids alike!

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I loved how much care and effort was put into building the Pokémon world and all the Pokémon we were able to see. Being a kid growing up with the original Pokémon Gameboy games, it was a nostalgic blast to actually see a REAL Poke-Ball being thrown at a realistic looking Pokémon. How integrated and lived in the world felt was great, the animation and designs for all the Pokémon were very true to the games and looked great. The jokes and the interplay with the Pokémon worked great, I think Mr. Mime is a scene-stealer with a very funny scene with him Pikachu and the human character Time Goodman (played by Justice Smith), who is investigating the disappearance of his detective father.

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For the most part I was pretty engaged with the story for the first half of the film, but during the second half, it tends to tip more towards pleasing the movies intended audience, kids. The story is fairly over explained, and the mystery gets to be pretty predictable but that is where I had to realize I am not this films demographic. Sure, they catered to the 27 yr white male sweaty boiis that convinced an entire studio to change the look of another mildly anticipated video game adaptation for the most part. But It won’t fully satisfy a die-hard Pokémon fan, because it isn’t really for them.. yet (hoping for a grittier sequel).

Ryan Reynolds did great work voicing Pikachu. He brought a lot of heart and humor to the story, and had great back and forth with Smith’s character. For myself, I think this is one of if the the best video game adaptation we have seen yet, and I hope that assuming they choose to continue in this world, that they now can funny commit to a story that can be for an older crowd that grew up with the games.

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I’m giving ‘Pokémon Detective Pikachu’ a 6.5/10

 

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