Pokémon Detective Pikachu Review: Video Game Adaptation Misses Its Mark

Synopsis courtesy of IMDb.com: “In a world where people collect Pokémon to do battle, a boy comes across an intelligent talking Pikachu who seeks to be a detective. ”

Directed by: Rob Letterman (Monsters vs. Aliens)

Starring: Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool), Justice Smith (Paper Towns), Kathryn Newton (Big Little Lies)

Music by: Henry Jackman (Kingsman: The Secret Service)

Pokémon Detective Pikachu is rated PG.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

Since the first Pokémon game was created in 1995, the beloved characters have been featured in 122 video games, an anime series with over 1,000 total episodes, and 22 animated films.  With Warner Bros. Pokémon Detective Pikachu, the franchise has now been brought to the big screen in live-action for the first time.  In the various video games and previous adaptations, humans capture and train a wide variety of pokémon and use them to battle other trainers.  In Detective Pikachu, Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) is involuntarily partnered with a pikachu while investigating the death of his estranged father.  The two are set out on an adventure through a vibrant and fantastical world where humans and pokémon live amongst one another, albeit not always peacefully.

If the prospect of a live-action film featuring a crime-solving ball of electrified fur doesn’t strike you as an inspired piece of creativity, I’ll admit that you’re probably correct.  Film adaptations of video games have often been historically laughable, and despite Pokémon’s worldwide recognition, Detective Pikachu is unlikely to change that perception much.  Perhaps the most inspired part of this film though, was the casting of Ryan Reynolds as the voice of Detective Pikachu.  Not only has his presence given the film a boost at the box office, Reynolds feels like the perfect choice to play the wise-cracking and deceptively adorable sleuth.

Unfortunately for Reynolds, his heroic effort to pull this film out of the muck is undone by his co-stars, who seemed intent on tanking the film.  I hate to be negative about performers who are doing their best, but most of the characters in this film are completely lifeless and absolutely forgettable.  The villains are inexplicably motivated to wreak havoc, and Justice Smith’s leading role could probably have been performed by a sticky note with a bit of writing on it.  It is as if the production budget ran dry halfway through, and after rendering the computer generated pokémon there wasn’t enough vibrancy or color left over for the characters.

With that being said, the visuals in Detective Pikachu do an almost seamless job of blending the real and the virtual worlds as one.  A plethora of digital cameos highlight all of a variety of well-known characters, and bring them to life in stunning three-dimensional form.  The visual effects team manages to make Pikachu appear lifelike and tangible, without making him any less cute. At times Detective Pikachu can feel more like a wildlife sightseeing excursion than an actual story, with many scenes existing as plot devices to introduce the next pokémon appearance, but the beautiful visuals make these scenes some of the best in the film.

For all its flaws, Detective Pikachu could have turned out a lot worse than it did, and is surprisingly funny at times.  Although not all of them pay off, this film is one that takes a lot of risks, and that is something worth appreciating.  The film struggles to find a workable balance when it comes to introducing new audiences to the property, and seems to alternate between spending too much time explaining mundane aspects of the Pokémon world and spinning itself into a confusing mess.  The dialogue and banter are fun, but the script lacks any sort of intelligible story. Detective Pikachu is a huge swing for the fences that comes frustratingly close to hitting it out of the park, only to fall just short.

Reel Rating: 5/10

Pokémon Detective Pikachu is now playing in cinemas.