‘Detective Pikachu’ Review

Honestly, I was more excited for Detective Pikachu than I was for Avengers: Endgame. Granted, that’s partly because of how my opinion on the MCU has fluctuated recently, but it was also because that first Detective Pikachu trailer kind of blew me away. It looked like a really unique and fun approach at Pokémon that still loved the source material. Then the second trailer had MEWTWO. MEWTWO BABY!! MY BOY MEWTWO!!!

All I wanted out of this was to watch a weird fun Pokémon movie with funny Pikachu and MEWTWO BABY!! That was pretty much what I got too!

I really really liked this movie. The central mystery of Harry Goodman’s death (or fake death) is genuinely engaging and interesting, and the Pokémon are wonderful. Namely, Pikachu himself, Psyduck, and Mewtwo are highlights. Ryan Reynolds is great as Pikachu, he’s really funny and sells the emotional scenes. His performance is helped by how appealing Pikachu looks too. That fluffy little rat is so cute and expressive, never looking like he doesn’t belong. That goes for all the Pokémon too. They all look so real without sacrificing their classic designs.

It made me kind of sad that we didn’t live in a Pokémon world.

Ryme City itself feels very real too. It feels so lived in and practical and yet still idyllic. God I wanna live in Ryme City. It’s so beautifully shot too, especially at night. There’s so many neon colors from signs outside, lending to some beautifully lit scenes. This movie has some of that good good bisexual lighting.

AND OH MY GOD MEWTWO!!! MEWTWO GUYS!!!!! MEWTWO’S IN THE MOVIE AND REALLY CENTRAL TO THE PLOT AND OH MY GOD HE’S SO GOOD AND I LOVE HIM!!!!!! MY SWEET BOY MY FAVORITE CHILD!!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah and uhh. The human characters are okay. Justice Smith’s performance as Tim Goodman….takes some getting used to. What he lacks in general acting skill he makes up for in his good chemistry with Ryan Reynolds/Pikachu. I did really enjoy Lucy though. She’s a news station intern who wants to solve the case of Harry Goodman and be an actual journalist. She’s really fun and bubbly, which adds a really nice dynamic between her and Tim. Also she has Psyduck who’s funny. There’s more characters in the movie but I really just have the blanket statement of “they’re fine.” The human characters work fine, but the stars of the movie really are the Pokémon.

Everyone involved in this movie clearly loves Pokémon to death, because everything dealing with them and their world is handled with such love and care that it made me giddy. The other people in the theater also felt giddy. They were all so excited everytime a Pokémon came on screen and oh man it was great. Some legend watched the movie in a full Pikachu onesie. We stan.

So overall, I really really liked this movie. It was a fun experience that made me feel like a kid again. If you’re a Pokémon fan, this is a must see.