[Movie Review] Gotta Catch Em All: Pokémon Detective Pikachu

"Here we go. I know you can't understand me; but put down the stapler, or 'I' will electrocute 'you'!"

© Warner Bros./Legendary/Pokemon Company/Toho Co./Nintendo; taken from imdb

We all love nostalgia to some degree. Especially at the moment movie studios are caching in on that again a lot. Detective Pikachu isn't different but I'm definitely not here to complain. I love me this kind of nostalgia a lot.

Detective Pikachu tells us a cute Pokemon story about Tim Goodman who partners up with a Pikachu only he can understand and who used to be his father's Pokemon partner in his job as a police detective as Tim's father disappeared after an accident.

This story was just such a throwback to my childhood in combination with modern possibilities. As a Millennial born in 1991, this whole movie was right up my alley and will be so for most of our generation. Detective Pikachu is also not just a story about and with Pokemon. It has a great father-son story at its heart, a great potential romance (and if they make another movie I really hope those two get to actually have that!), relatable characters, funny dialogue, and a great usage of Pokemon lore.

Detective Pikachu does rely on easy to do plotlines but if it ain't broke no need to fix it. It makes for a solid story which is then elevated a bit by the humor, the general dialogue and the action. Also those characters. They all work so well in this story and are funny!

And let's not forget the Pokemon. Aside from Pikachu we get to spend some time with an adorable Psyduck that also has a great role in the overall story. The writers of this movie really knew how to utilize Pokemon lore. This is also something we already see in the first ten minutes or so when Tim mentions that a Cubone wears the skull of a dead relative.

I can't say much without spoiling this movie but if you grew up with Pokemon you will enjoy this a lot. Not to mention that Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu is probably one of the funniest things I've seen in a while. Reynolds' humor tends to edge on not appropriate for a PG movie but it's done in a way that still works and is not too crude for a PG audience.

I love that the Pokemon aren't as hyperrealistic as they could have been. It really works for the movie and feels a bit like a modern interpretation of older movies in which live action and cartoon characters were on screen together.

Overall, this is a movie for my generation and those who later on learned to love Pokemon. Also, I feel like kids might check out the games and such after seeing this. There was a kid in the screening I went to that was really entertained by the whole movie. And I bet if I had watched it in a German dub there would have been a lot more kids who only now get to know about this long-running franchise. The one I went to had an audience mostly consisting of millennial and some older gen z nerds in a theater that specializes nowadays in showing movies in their original language. English for the most part.

I want to be the very best,
Like no one ever was.
To catch them is my real test,
To train them is my cause!

Rating: 4/5★
___
Disclaimer: All opinions are my own and I wasn't paid or asked to talk about this movie or anything related to it. Also, this movie isn't that long so the review ended up being rather short as well so I won't spoil anything. Quotes are from the movie and the original English anime opening.

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