Pocket Monsters in the house

Film review: Pokemon Detective Pikachu

MANILA, Philippines — As the highest grossing media franchise of all time, and second all-time grossing video game (Mario still occupies the No. 1 spot), Pokémon (roughly translated as Pocket Monsters) would still find another new extension — this time a live-action/animated film. It’s a Japanese-American joint venture between Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures, the Pokémon Company and Toho Co. Ltd.

Directed by Rob Letterman, who also co-wrote the screenplay, the film is loosely based on the 2016 video game Detective Pikachu. 

Ever since Satoshi Tajiri and Nintendo gave the world Pokémon in 1996, it has been a global runaway success, spawning trading cards, video games, TV series, apps, stuffed toys and collectibles, and even full animation films. The 2019 film release comes on the heels of the worldwide mania created over Pokémon Go, the augmented reality game, in 2016. So does this film deliver on its promise, and open a new chapter for the media franchise? Even before the film opens in the USA (Japan had first dibs with a May 3 opening), a second installment for the film franchise was announced — that’s how confident the producers collectively are about the prospects of the film.

For the loyal Pokémon fans and followers, this will be a “slam dunk”; as finally, we have live-action humans interacting with the Pokémon creatures, and that has never been done before. The surprise here is how the film will work even for the moviegoers who aren’t Pokémon-initiated. It’s a fantasy buddy film at its heart, as we’re introduced to Tim (Justice Smith), who may be the only human who isn’t interested in finding his Pokémon partner. 

We follow the exploits of Tim, the son of a detective who has gone missing, as he heads to Ryme City, where humans and Pokémon interact as a facet of everyday life.

At the screening, I caught the audience audibly sighed and cheered, recognizing the array of Pocket Monsters who inhabit the streets of the city. After the mysterious circumstances relating to his father’s disappearance are revealed to him, Tim stumbles across his father’s Pokemon partner, fellow Detective Pikachu (voiced by Ryan Reynolds). What follows is a meandering Odyssey to find Tim’s father, and exposing/thwarting the nefarious plans of the city’s powers-that-be. It’s at this point that an intern reporter (Kathryn Newton) and her Psyduck make their appearances — she serving as the one who regularly explains what’s going on.

Whoever had the bright idea of getting Reynolds to voice Pikachu deserves the grand prize. It’s a watered-down GP version of his Deadpool, but it works beautifully, giving the film a rhythm and beat that’s pure fantasy-superhero with comedy and sparkling buddy-dialogue. The interaction between Pikachu and Tim is what gives the film its sparkle and cinematic magic. 

With no Ash in sight, and little of the whole “collect and train” aspect of Pokémon culture, it’s the wonderful world-building of Ryme City and how Pokémon creatures interact with humans that turn the film into a bounty of Easter eggs for the fans. Sure, the plot has more holes than Swiss cheese, but from the moment Pikachu appears, we don’t really care. This is Pokémon carving a new chapter in its franchise’s lifespan, and I predict it’s one bound for strong success.