Detective Pikachu Movie Review.

Wednesday 15 May 2019

 


As a child Pokemon was a big part of mine and my sisters lives, not only did we have the games but we would watch the TV show and movie which was first released in 1998 when I was 10, our love for Pokemon never died as we got older, in fact, it stayed the same. My youngest sisters still have the first Pokemon card set's that were released, the Pokemon plushies and both have their Pokedex which I was always jealous of because them things are cool! As the years moved on and I saw a rise in how popular Pokemon was getting again I was pleasantly surprised, I also recently found out there are 122 known Pokemon games, which just goes to show how popular Pokemon really is.

One recent game in particular that I have been playing is Detective Pikachu, it's one of those games you can't help but love and has everything from mystery to the cute factor which is a big thumbs up in my books. When I saw that they were making a movie version of this game I was a bit worried how they would go about doing this especially because it was going to be a live action movie, I knew straight away I needed to watch it though.

I was lucky enough to watch the Detective Pikachu movie on Saturday and although I didn't have the best experience surrounded by people being rude and inconsiderate, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie itself. The movie had a nice pace to it and the action started fairly early, I was impressed by the sheer amount of detail that went into making Pokemon come to life even down to the fur on Pikachu's body, it made him look extra cute. There a lot of similarities with the movie and game but don't get too excited the movie simplifies Detective Pikachu whilst the game has a lot more mysteries to solve, but it's understandable seeing as they needed to put everything they needed for the story into 1 hour and 45 minutes.


So what's the story about in the movie if it isn't the same as the game? Harry, a detective gets killed in a car crash and his son Tim is notified, unfortunately, he and his father don't have a very good relationship and he went to live with his grandma when he was just a kid. As a kid Tim always dreamed of being a Pokemon trainer but when his mum passed away and he and his father became estranged that dream slowly died out. Harry was a good detective he did his job well but when he died his work died with him or did it? Well, this is where Tim travels back to Ryme city and meets Detective Pikachu who was his father's Pokemon, Tim seems to be the only one who is able to understand what Pikachu is saying. Ryan Reynolds who is the voice of Pikachu brings his character life in so many different ways, he brings humour, fun, cuteness, sarcasm all to the table and due to it being a PG movie he was unfortunately not allowed to be too rude (booo).

Pikachu's relationship with Tim develops quickly, they're so funny together, Pikachu has a way of winding Tim up but still is able to get Tim to him and help him find Harry. Tim goes from being a plain guy who wants nothing to do with pokemon to someone who is less cautious and coming out of his shell. Because of his past with his dad and his love for being a trainer dimming he never felt the need to have a Pokemon for himself. He has a pretty safe job in insurance and never had to worry about life outside of that environment, Pikachu brings out the best in him I would say.


The vast amount of Pokemon that was created for this movie was outstanding, it was like bringing my imagination from when I was a child to life, the Pokeballs however, looked awkward to use and slightly bigger than the ones from the tv shows and movies. Tim and Pikachu aren't the only two characters I found endearing the intern Lucy and her Psyduck stand out pretty well in the movie, Psyduck himself is a little ball of stress and I have never related more to a pokemon in my life until I watched this, being in stressful environments make the poor little fella scared, anxious and agitated so in order to help him and stop him from exploding his owner Lucy often plays calming spa music which Pikachu obviously hates.

Lucy is a strong headed woman who knows a good story when she comes across one, I thought I wouldn't enjoy her character at all but as time went on in the movie you could just tell that helping Tim was more than just about a story and she actually felt useful for once. The live action version of Psyduck isn't the best looking I've seen but he certainly makes up for that just by being himself and Pikachu seems to end up liking him more and more as the movie goes on. 


Ryan Reynolds role in this movie is a perfect fit, I don't know what it is about him but you could give his voice to any kind of character and he will instantly turn it into a goofy fun character who I find hard to hate. I have spoken to a few friends about the movie and they enjoyed it but hoped for more, I can understand their reason for this but seeing as this movie is a PG like I said before they seemed to have played it safe even down to the violence and underground battles that take place. I'm not saying this is the best movie but it is a good one and great for all the family, even if you've never watched or played anything pokemon related or want to introduce your kids to Pokemon I would say Detective Pikachu is perfect for this, I would give this a rating of 3/5 I felt that it was a reasonable score, I would have loved to have seen more of that beautiful Neon city and clue finding. 


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