Detective Pikachu Movie is a Hit

I was twelve years old when I first learned about Pokemon from a commercial.  It was for the Pocket Pikachu walk counter that was tied to the games for Nintendo Gameboy.  The aesthetic immediately drew me to it. Pikachu was adorable, and I was in love immediately. The art style also appealed to me because I was just starting to get into anime (Sailor Moon specifically), and I wanted in on this.

I was given an allowance of $10 every two weeks.  For a good, solid four to five months, I saved my allowance in order to purchase a Gameboy Color and Pokemon Yellow (because you got a Pikachu, and I already decided it was my favorite).  My parents had to end up helping me to pay for the game because I was a little short, but I went home with my long-awaited treasure.

Thus began a long love of this franchise. My boyfriend and I became friends because of Pokemon.  I’ve had a lot of fun and put a lot of time into these games and enjoyed the heck out of it. It allows me to connect with students in a lot of different ways.  

Basically, I love Pokemon.

When I first heard the announcement of a Detective Pikachu movie, I rolled my eyes.  My boyfriend and I joked about how bad and cringeworthy a live action Pokemon movie would be.  My goodness, had they not learned with how all video game movies are always bad? Then the first trailer came out, and hope began to form. Last night my hope was vindicated.

Detective Pikachu is a love letter to Pokemon fans.  The integration of Pokemon into the real world is fairly seamless. Every frame is full of detail and easter eggs to long-time fans.  Pokemon appear in the background in almost every shot, giving lots of little details to the world; every part of the world feels real and realized.  The scenes added to explain the basics of the Pokemon world for parents or newcomers to the series felt seamless and natural.

Justice Smith gives a great performance as Tim Goodman with a very believable and relatable arc of loss and growth.  Ryan Reynolds as the titular Detective Pikachu not only performs great comically but also does an amazing job with the more serious moments of the film. While most of the characters are fairly simple in their motivations and actions, they are all likable and fun to watch.

About the only real negative is some pacing issues and the villain motivation.  Unfortunately, I cannot say much without spoiling, but it did not detract too much from the mystery and whimsy of the film.  
If you are a fan of Pokemon, there is plenty for you to enjoy in Detective Pikachu, and I look forward to watching it multiple times to see all the little background details that were put into every shot.  If you are not a fan of Pokemon, Detective Pikachu gives you a fun world of cute creatures and low stakes.  In this age of series movies with high stakes and similar high stakes and bad things happening in the real world, this movie is a great distraction and fun time.

Rating: A