Pokemon Detective Pikachu, go it’s great entertainment

I rolled my eyes when I saw that movies were being made based on video game characters. At its core, that shouldn’t really matter because all a good movie needs is a great character and video games have those in spades. Comic book movies were once relegated to the bin of low expectations also. Even James Bond films have the ‘every other Bond’ disclaimer attached to them as a way to inoculate them to critics and fan expectation. Video game movies though have truly been horrible. Looking at the list of video game films through 2019 and only a couple of them, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil and Silent Hill are worthy of mentioning as something that was close to memorable. Enter the potentially annoying, but highly cute squirrel like character from the world of Pokemon. And Pokemon Detective Pikachu has accomplished what dozens of other well known characters and franchises have failed to do.

Pokemon Detective Pikachu is a very good movie that will entertain people seeing Pikachu for the first time; as well as, those fans that go to the theatre with their Pokemon paraphernalia. To some it’s not news to say: this film is very good. Few studios make a bad movie on purpose; it’s just that, more often than not, the end result is less than what you hoped that it would be.

In the case of Pokemon Detective Pikachu we expected it to be bad and were incredibly pleased when it turns out to be very good. In the case of our 9 year old test market whom we saw the film with, it’s better than Shazam!-which he raved about for a couple of days. It’s even more remarkable because this kid is not a fan of Pokemon. He knows the basics, like Pikachu looks like a squirrel with a lightning bolt on his tail, but that’s it.

All I know about Pokemon is that our kids collected the cards for a season or two, never played the game and then stopped asking about it. If that’s you, then Pokemon Detective Pikachu has you covered. You don’t need to know anything about these sometimes cute, sometimes explosive animals that have live amongst us. It also establishes a world in which some Pokemon live in civilized society, while others prefer to be in the wild, which could be a key ingredient to a sequel.

The film works because of the CGI and Ryan Reynolds. Reynolds’ voices Pikachu in a calm, snarky manner that makes the character lovable and very easy to root for. The CGI in the film is fabulous. It makes you want to hug him, but ever so carefully so that you avoid the tail. The other Pokemon characters also have a texture and visual depth to them that makes it easy for you to believe that they’re real. The marketing for the film has been great also. Reynolds has been sharing sarcastic comments, previews and even ‘leaking’ the film online. Said ‘leak’ was actually an hour and forty two minutes of Pikachu dancing to 80’s type soundtrack music, utterly brilliant.

Pokemon Detective Pikachu is great for those who are 13 and younger. It’s rated PG and rewards elementary school movie goers with a fun time that balances action, sight gags and humor. There are some older jokes that are provided through Reynolds’ dialogue that make the film seque a bit older too. It won’t have mass appeal to where high school students will see it en masse, but will demo up to those middle school kids who want a fun time at the movies.