Don’t you have to be divorced with a heavy drinking problem to be a movie detective? Maybe they left that part out. I find this movie much funnier considering Pikachu as Sam Spade or Popeye Doyle. Gene Hackman is Pikachu in The Manga Connection. This film is exactly what you get when you want to introduce film noir to a child: The detective’s partner “might” be dead; the detective “might” have substance abuse problem; the detective “might” (literally) chase tail. Hey, are you laughing? That’s a strict no-no for film noir, so I’m gonna call this particular iteration “fluffy noir.” And, yes, The Happytime Murders is another example.
Pokémon are real. Is the plural “Pokémons?” I never got that straight. Banking on the craze I caught and dropped in a cool twelve minute interval several years ago, Pokémon turned their fan obsession into a film. And in the film, the little turds are real physical beings, like stuffed animals come to life. Some are cute, others … less. And some attach themselves to you while others will fight you. Except for the film’s titular exception, only Pokémon can understand what other Pokémon are saying. That said, these are sentient thinking beings; capturing them for your own private circus may work fine on an app, but I have a bit of an issue with it when presented with “live” evidence.
I guess that doesn’t matter. What does matter is there exists a city called Ryme where the Pokémon and humans live side-by-side in harmony. Awwwww. Well, except for the vaping and the cage matches, it’s kind of adorable. And except for the part where Tim (Justice Smith) is informed that his detective father Harry is dead without Ryme or reason. So Harry’s gotta go to Ryme and collect whatever one collects when one’s estranged father has been murdered. [If you actually know the answer to that unasked question, please forgive my glib; the film just wanted to get the kid to where his father lived.] And while checking out Harry’s office/bachelor pad, Tim discovers two things: 1) some sort of bottled chemical that makes Pokémon go wild [look movie, you were already pushing the Zootopia parallel long before you added a Zootopia plot] 2) Harry’s partner is alive, is a Pokémon, specifically Pikachu (voice of Ryan Reynolds), and can be understood by Tim.
This was a longer way than seems necessary to attach Tim and Pikachu. BTW, is there more than one Pikachu? It seems like every distinctive Pokémon is its own species. This raises more questions like: Where did this Pikachu come from? Are they life Smurfs, all made by one bored evil guy? Do individual Pikachus go by a different name when among other Pikachus? Nobody calls me “human,” after all. Although several people do call me “Frog.” Hmmm. And if Pikachu is a one-and-only run-of-the-mill working mon, how is it so notable? I mean, everybody seems to know Pikachu because they all mimic his “Pika Pika” squeak in anticipation of contact.
This is the heart of the picture: Tim and Pikachu solving Harry’s demise. With the voice of Deadpool, Pikachu may look like a toy for a six-year-old, but it has a serious coffee habit and a very dry sense of humor. You don’t often find that in stuffed animals … well, except for lion-crab, of course. There are worse set-ups than a young man taking cues from an adorable plush cynic. Is it enough to enjoy? Hard to say; would you enjoy, say, a cage match between a giant, angry fire breathing dragon and a teddy bear? How about if you were forced to root for the bear?
On eof the on-going messages to Tim in this picture is: “Find Mewtwo and you’ll find your father…” which is funny cuz I found U2, but I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.
With the bizarre fantasy world set-up, a vague mystery, and Ryan Reynolds’ voice bouncing around my head, I was reminded several times of R.I.P.D. That’s not gonna do your film any favors. Pokémon Detective Pikachu -in all honesty- did put me to sleep, which I can attribute to being overtired, but still isn’t doing you any favors, either. Lastly, this film is replete with references and humor that only Pokémon enthusiasts will enjoy. Once again, that’s not doing you any favors, film. Not being an enthusiast of this nature, I could recognize several spots in which I might enjoy the joke if I only knew something about Duckblob or Tonguedude or Insanomutt or whatever the Hell these things are actually called. For Pokémon fans, there’s a fun film here; the rest of us are better off at Angry Birds.
With alacrity, I need to dispatch
News that your mind may not catch
Modern world folly
Amazes, by golly
My stuffed bear is in a cage match
Rated PG, 104 Minutes
Director: Rob Letterman
Writer: Dan Hernandez & Benji Samit and Rob Letterman and Derek Connolly
Genre: Fluffy Noir
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Pokémen and Pokéwomen
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People hoping Detective Pikachu would slap Peter Lorre around a bit
