Despite script complications, Detective Pikachu wins the battle and breaks the video game movie curse with plenty of laughs, heartwarming moments, and a beautifully realized world.
From Warner Bros. Pictures, comes their first Summer release, Detective Pikachu. Starring Justice Smith, the voice work of Ryan Reynolds, and a bizarrely cast Bill Nighy. After decades of terrible video game movies and the “gold” standard of them being Paul W. S. Anderson’s Mortal Kombat, Detective Pikachu breaks the curse.
Combining lively computer generated Pokémon and live-action characters with an exciting production design, it becomes a world worth living in. Although it harps on the novelty of seeing Pokemémon freely roaming the streets of the Blade Runner-esque Ryme City too often, it adds to the identity of the world unlike any video game movie has yet. Rather than shying away from its roots, it takes its source material and completely leans into its identity. Merging two different mediums into a lane that is full of plenty of laughs and enough heartwarming moments in it’s sincere direction to get over from woes a part of the script. There are plenty of jokes specifically geared towards children, but there is still plenty of jokes for older audiences as well. Much to my surprise, hearing an English speaking Pikachu make a joke about cocaine definitely earned a laugh from myself amongst many others. This is due to a great performance from the beloved Ryan Reynolds.
Although his human counterpart Justice Smith could have given a better performance, Reynolds’ investment into the role is full of passion for the character and lore of the universe. Surprisingly, there are plenty of heartwarming moments that give it’s laughs some more narrative weight, and it opens up some of the themes of the film. There’s a showcase of “finding your own identity”, but using the bond between Pokémon and humans to help us uncover the truest and best version of ourselves. That Pokémon are more than just cute creatures who are used for battles by Pokémon trainers, but play more of a role in discovering our identity than we’ve initially been led to believe. This is the most surprisingly well thought out part of the movie, and it almost makes up for some bizarre choices in its final act.
No spoilers here, but beyond some bizarre decisions in the last third, Detective Pikachu ends up following the same structure that you’d usually find in a buddy cop comedy. Early on it felt like they were going to go their own route with it, but it falls into the same trappings we’re used to seeing and it doesn’t do anything unique with it. Then when it finally hits the final stages, the decisions they make stand out like a sore thumb. It obviously embraces the science-fiction elements of it’s world, but they go so out there that it becomes head-scratching and mind-boggling.
Overall, Detective Pikachu is a movie that I’d recommend for all ages. Young, old, anywhere in between, and all Pokémon fans should make this a must-see. Especially if you have hopes for Warner Bros. to make some in-universe spin-offs, to go beyond and finally give us the Mario Bros. movie we deserve, or to even make something like The Legend of Zelda. Those are a longshot, and most likely not going to be made, but any hopes for that will quickly be dashed if this doesn’t make any money. Detective Pikachu promises an open-world adventure full of plenty of laughs and beautiful CGI captured on 35mm film. The script could use some work, and the performances could have been much better, but Ryan Reynolds anchors this movie with a heartfelt and hilarious performance as everyone’s favorite electrically induced Pokémon.
“Psyduck!”
Detective Pikachu gets a 67/100