Pokemon Detective Pikachu Movie Review Rating: 3.5/5 Stars (Three and a half stars)

Star Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton, Ken Watanabe, Chris Geere, Bill Nighy

Director: Rob Letterman

Pokémon Detective Pikachu Movie Review: A Childhood Dream Come True!
Pokemon Detective Pikachu Movie Review: A Childhood Dream Come True!

What’s Good: Despite targeting the kids, makers have made sure to keep a pretty balance with the visuals & witty writing, Ryan Reynolds’ Pikachu could easily do a crossover with Deadpool in an R-Rated version of this (But then, we would have same voices for both the characters)

What’s Bad: It comes with a baggage of fulfilling the high expectations of the anime’s fans, but let’s look at this with a fresh view!

Loo Break: Do you really want to get electrocuted down there?

Watch or Not?: For those (In India) who’ve grown up watching Pokemon regularly at 5 pm, this one is for you and those haven’t – this one is for you!

User Rating:

The movie starts with a high-on-CGI Mewtwo attack on a car that registers him as the antagonist (as if his structure wasn’t enough to do that). Next scene, we see two teenagers, Tim (Justice Smith) & Jack (Karan Soni) trying to trap a Cubone to their Pokeball. Tim doesn’t want to be a Pokemon trainer & he has a sob story behind it. He loses his Pokemon expert father, Harry Goodman, in a crash & is called to grab his last collectables.

On reaching Ryme City, where Pokemon and humans live together happily, Tim meets his father’s poke-partner Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds). This Pikachu is suffering from Amnesia and remembers nothing about Harry Goodman. Tim along with Pikachu go for a quest to help him gain back his memory and clear the mystery of his father’s mysterious car crash. Where is Team Rocket though?

Pokémon Detective Pikachu Movie Review
Pokémon Detective Pikachu Movie Review

Pokemon Detective Pikachu Movie Review: Script Analysis

Story by Dan Hernandez, Benji Samit and Nicole Perlman isn’t a smooth ride throughout but it’s backed by fascinating VFX & Ryan Reynolds’ uproarious Pikachu. I, so, wished there should be more of the rest of Pokemon but it was just about Pikachu & a good chunk of Psyduck. We’ve grown watching the anime version of the show, so watching them in a live action movie was surely refreshing.

There are scenes which are stretches but, thankfully, great writing saves the day. Also, writers, where was ‘Team Rocket’? *sad emoji* (I know that was Ash & Pallett town, but still a reference would’ve been nostalgic). The CGI is top notch and the Pokemon battles (which are very few) are a delight to watch. Also, giving Pikachu an emotional angle (as the show) was a masterstroke by the makers.

Pokemon Detective Pikachu Movie Review: Star Performance

Ryan Reynolds rules the film with his voice for Pikachu. You still feel the Deadpool in him, and there were scenes which provoked me to wish for an R-Rated version of the film. His idiosyncrasy matched perfectly with Pikachu & that’s what works in favour of the film. Justice Smith justifies his character of Tim, and he gets being sophisticated & idiotic at the same time.

Kathryn Newton has nothing much to do apart from saying a surprising dialogue and smile whenever she’s on screen. Bill Nighy & Chris Geere as Howard and Roger are pretty ordinary. Mewtwo had a better thrilling presence than them (#TeamRocketMajorMissing).

Pokémon Detective Pikachu Movie Review: Direction, Music

Rob Letterman, after a pretty ordinary Gulliver’s Travels & Goosebumps, levels up his game with this one. His love for Pokemon was visible as he adapts the storyline from the videogame. He keeps you hooked and entertained; the best thing about the film is you don’t have to be a Pokemon lover to like it.

Want to EDM-ize the Pokemon theme tone? Who better than Henry Jackman? His absorbing background score matches up to the dazzling visuals on screen. Thankfully Henry didn’t choose the chaotic way exploding our listening sense.

Pokemon Detective Pikachu Movie Review: The Last Word

All said and done Pokemon: Detective Pikachu brings back your childhood in a very entertaining manner. Also, it’s just a start to a lot of more coming ahead. The second instalment is already announced and it would be interesting to see the proceedings. Highly recommended!

Three and a half stars!

Pokemon Detective Pikachu Trailer

Pokémon Detective Pikachu releases on 10th May 2019.

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