Pokemon: Detective
Pikachu - and the case of the missing plot.
Story time; When I was
seven I asked my Mum to buy me some Pokemon cards so I could trade with my
friends. She said no and when I wailed and asked why she said “it’s a waste of
money and they’ll just go out of fashion in a few weeks.” To which I said the immortal
words in our family “ Mum, Pokemon will never go out of fashion” and twenty
years later ...I TOLD YOU SOOO MUM!! And what’s more if she had bought me those
cards then, they’d probably be worth some money now!! Mums huh ... what do they
know? (Eye roll)
Turns out a lot
because the new film was decidedly average. For a film who’s demographic is
made up of a large proportion of people my age, i.e mid-twenties, who were
there for the original 151, it was very much tailored to children.
On a positive the CGI
special effects were incredible. The film starts with a gorgeous countryside
sequence, where the camera flies alongside a Pidgey through an autumnal
Poka-world and we soar past a menagerie of Pokemon new and old, and that visual
alone probably kept me positive about the film far longer than perhaps I would
have been without it.
Justice Smith was very
watchable in the starring role of ‘Tim Goodman’ and I’ll enjoy watching him in
something else far more befitting his talents.
This film would have
died on its arse without Mr Ryan Reynolds. Perhaps I’m too used to associating
his voice with Deadpool that I missed some of the crude/rude sassiness but he
was brilliant as Pikachu.
Which leads me onto my
main issue with the film. The trailer made it look so much darker than it
turned out to be, I think Pikachu could have been a bit more twisted, the plot
line far far less obvious and the general tone given much more layered shading.
‘Coco’ was a great children’s film that came out last year and that was plenty
dark so I don’t know why Pokemon felt like they couldn’t have gone down the
same route, especially when as I’ve already said such a massive chunk of their
audience will be adults.
Another weird part of
the film for me was the acting/character choices made by Kathryne Newton. She
really irritated me in this film and I couldn’t tell if it was just bad acting
or someone had told her this was how her character was meant be. It felt so
forced that I half expected her to be the evil mastermind pulling the strings
but that never went anywhere ... weird. Also speaking of baddies SPOILER (like
it matters), I love Bill Nighy but he was decidedly average in this film and it
felt like everyone including Ryan Reynolds had just given up by the end of the
movie.
All in all I’d give
this film A RATING OF 6.1 with a recommendation of the visuals but not the plot
but I will say I really want Ryan Reynolds as my pet Pikachu, super duper
CUTE!!!
We’ll be reviewing
this movie more in depth in a Pokemon Reel Easy Podcast Special with some guest
appearances!
I’ve been Christopher
Whitmore, thanks for reading.
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