Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019)

User Review

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  d_riptide

  5 / 10

  How much enjoyment you garner out of “Pokémon: Detective Pikachu”, I believe, depends more than whether or not you’re a fan of the show, the games or the source material for that matter. It generally feels as if the director behind this movie Rob Letterman had a brief understanding behind Pokémon and what they mean to people but didn’t know how to fully execute a truly whimsical sense of nostalgia or excitement. Keep in mind, I still had some fun with this movie. The comedy garners mild chuckles or hard laughs depending on who’s watching, acting is fairly enjoyable, the mystery within itself was very interesting to watch unfold, the aesthetics regarding the environment and city are a real piece of beauty, circulating a grounded attempt at world-building as one of if not the best parts of the movie and Ryan Reynolds delivers a very strong portrayal as Pikachu and somehow makes the role his own, also bringing out a very dramatic performance from co-star Justice Smith.
  
  
  The rest of what this movie offers comes close but ultimately isn’t enough to break the dreaded curse of video game films however. The Pokémon garner more emotion out of me than the actual humans did with a few exceptions, there’s a surprising lack of depth and charisma to a lot of these scenes, the antagonist is lackluster, the plot is completely linear and at the center of it all, it doesn’t feel as charismatic or exciting because the premise doesn’t fully take advantage of itself. It holds back more than it wants us to pour ourselves into the world we’ve grown to love and cherish since our childhood.
  
  
  Yes, you can debate whether or not Pokémon was really about telling stories or obsessing with catching and collecting and all that but don’t you just hate it when they don’t take risks with projects like this?

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