Cristina Fowler Blog | Movie Review: POKÉMON Detective Pikachu

I’m not sure when it happened. But my family is DEFINITELY a Pokémon family.

Miles has a lot of “friends” (in the form of stuffed animals) and books of trading cards. We have watched several of the animated series. Both he and I play Pokémon GO every chance we get. Heck, we even got our babysitter hooked on Pokémon: Let’s GO Pikachu!

All that to say, we knew we wanted to see POKÉMON Detective Pikachu the moment we heard it was coming to theaters.

It did not disappoint.

For the first several minutes of the movie, it was all I could do to keep Miles from calling out each and every new Pokémon that came on screen. And there were a lot of them.

Director Rob Letterman says there are over 50 Pokémon featured in the movie. I think Miles named at least half of them. Sorry, folks sitting near us!

Per Warner Bros.:

The story begins when ace detective Harry Goodman goes mysteriously missing, prompting his 21-year-old son Tim to find out what happened. Aiding in the investigation is Harry’s former Pokémon partner, Detective Pikachu: a hilariously wise-cracking, adorable super-sleuth who is a puzzlement even to himself. Finding that they are uniquely equipped to communicate with one another, Tim and Pikachu join forces on a thrilling adventure to unravel the tangled mystery. Chasing clues together through the neon-lit streets of Ryme City—a sprawling, modern metropolis where humans and Pokémon live side by side in a hyper-realistic live-action world—they encounter a diverse cast of Pokémon characters and uncover a shocking plot that could destroy this peaceful co-existence and threaten the whole Pokémon universe.

Although some of the movie was a bit dark/suspenseful, I loved the idea of “film noir” for kids. There were a couple of scenes that may be intense for smaller children (I’m looking at you, Greninja). But overall, it was pretty mild.

The film took on the challenging task of balancing live actors and a lot of CGI. And I think they nailed it. I for one was ready to take more than one of those adorable Pokémon home with me. Plus, it was funny for the younger audience, but still engaging for the grown-ups.

Casting was pretty great, too. I always worry a little with Ryan Reynolds. Don’t get me wrong; I like him a lot. He just tends to play a certain kind of character. It was nice to see him try something new and hit it out of the park. Other than him, I always love me some Bill Nighy. I would not have pegged him for a Pokémon fan, but apparently working on this movie made a fan of him.

Beyond the actors themselves, it was also great that they chose to feature a multicultural family. Very clever to parallel Tim’s story and that of the Pokémon themselves – all trying to figure out their place in the world.

Overall, I really enjoyed POKÉMON Detective Pikachu. And I highly recommend it to any Pokémon fan out there.