Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (2019)

(Cable TV, January 2020) I don’t have much direct experience with Pokémon (I was clearly too old to respond to the craze when it first hit North America in the late 1990s), and that places me in a strange position in trying to evaluate Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. On the one hand, I clearly don’t have enough knowledge to evaluate how well the film reuses the series’ mythology on the big screen. On the other hand, I had quite a good time immersing myself in the imagined world portrayed here in which humans co-exist with fantastic creatures. Showcasing a Science Fiction noir atmosphere is another surefire way to get my interest. The plot itself is very familiar and toned down somewhat to address a younger audience, but fortunately, there’s more than the plot to take in. Namely, we have Ryan Reynolds providing colour commentary as Pikachu, coming closest (as many others have said) to reprising Deadpool for the PG set. Reynold’s irreverent patter does a lot to elevate Detective Pikachu from the usual doldrums of contemporary fantasy movies for kids—the sass and reaction lines are often genuinely funny and add a lot to the result. Once you throw in the numerous special effects that manage to create the reality of the film’s world (and throw in a vertiginous forest-set action sequence), the result is a bit better than expected and more distinctive than many others. Director Rob Letterman keeps a lot of things going and the result is simply fun for the entire family. I’m glad I got my first full-sized introduction to the franchise through Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. By the time the sequel rolls in, I expect my daughter to have schooled me in the finer aspects of the mythology.