Pokémon: Detective Pikachu is the best video game movie ever made

Pokémon: Detective Pikachu is exceptional entertainment and the first truly successful video game movie made yet.

Caution: There are spoilers for Pokémon: Detective Pikachu in this post.

Despite dozens of critical failures and diminishing box office returns, studios seem intent on making the video game movie work. With a brand as strong as Pokémon, it was only a matter of time before the adorable pocket monsters had their turn on the big screen.

The real question was: Are they going to be able to make it work? Rendering Pokémon into a live action environment was always going to be an enormous task, and to further complicate things, Legendary is adapting a little-known spin-off to the main series, centering on a snarky, crime-fighting iteration of the Pikachu we know and love.

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It was an odd choice. It was a risky choice. But as it turns out, it was the right choice. Not only is Pokemon: Detective Pikachu better than a movie with such a title has any right to be, it’s the best video game movie ever made.

Our story is set in Ryme City, a utopic society where Pokémon and humans live in harmony. There’s no training, there’s no battling. In Ryme City, Pokémon are instilled with the same rights as people.

Detective Pikachu isn’t explicitly concerned with the autonomy of Pokémon, it’s just sort of baked into the pie, and it’s definitely a troubling notion to consider. Are the Pokémon games we’ve been enjoying for the last two decades secretly celebrations of animal abuse? Best not to think about it.

The plot kicks in when our hero, Tim Goodman (Justice Smith), a failed Pokémon trainer currently working as an insurance appraiser gets the news that his father, a Ryme City detective, has been slain in the line of duty. We see through flashbacks and some clunky expositional dialogue scenes that Tim didn’t really have a relationship with his father, having opted to live with his grandma after his mother passed away.

Tim’s feelings of guilt surrounding his relationship with his dad drive most of the film’s drama. It isn’t poorly handled, but it isn’t particularly affecting either, barring maybe one or two scenes.

Arriving in Ryme City, Tim makes his way to his father’s apartment where he finds our titular Detective Pikachu. This particular little yellow cutey was his dad’s partner and companion, and for some reason, they are able to understand each other. Every other Pokémon is unable to say anything other than their name. This Pikachu, however, speaks perfect English in the voice of Ryan Reynolds.

Your mileage on Pikachu is going to vary based on how much you like Reynolds. Personally, I find the Deadpool films to be atrocious and am fairly apathetic toward Reynolds in general. This isn’t a bad performance, but it is a huge performance and it tends to dominate the movie at times, for better or worse.

Pikachu, who is suffering from amnesia, convinces Tim that his father’s death was actually a ruse; part of a conspiracy involving a mysterious chemical that drives Pokémon into violent fits of rage (think of the blue stuff from Zootopia). Reluctantly, Tim decides to go along with Pikachu on his search for answers, and the duo descends into the seedy underbelly of Pokémon society.

The plot is twisty, convoluted, and ultimately predictable. That isn’t a slight, it’s just best to know that this is a detective movie through and through. Think of a Raymond Chandler novel, complete with all the red herrings, smoky, back-lit alleys, and icy dames that such a story entails.

But to say this is just a detective movie would be inaccurate. That is the package in which the story is delivered, but it’s equal parts tech-noir, buddy comedy, and hero’s journey as well.

The strongest visual elements of Detective Pikachu come from the cyberpunk patina in which the film is working. Blade Runner, perhaps more than anything else, is the visual touchstone for Director Rob Letterman and DP John Mathieson. Detective Pikachu is filmed in beautiful 35-millimeter and Ryme City is eternally awash in shifting red and blue neon tints.

It’s an engrossing and unexpected approach to photographing the world of Pokémon. The cinematography may not be in line with what we think of as the aesthetics of Pokémon (bright, sunny, clean), but it is perfect for this movie.

Perhaps more important than the photography itself is the implementation of Pokémon into physical environments. When the first trailers came out, I was a little nervous; the Pokémon looked too real and animalistic for my taste. Charmander may be cute when he’s a cartoon, but when you actually consider what he might look and feel like in the real world, he starts to seem a little gross.

As it turns out, though, you can’t really judge a film by its trailer. There are certain missteps with a few Pokémon in particular (I’m looking at you Charizard), but for the most part, they totally work. At a certain point, you start to forget you’re looking at a film that is almost entirely animated.

Having so many principal characters that don’t actually exist can be a massive strain on the real-life actors. Acting against tennis balls and men in green suits has proved ruinous for more than a few performers. See the Star Wars prequels for the absolute worst case scenario.

For the most part, the actors handle it admirably. And no one more so than Justice Smith.

Smith broke onto the scene in last year’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, an awful movie in which he acquits himself admirably. Here, we see him live up to at least some of the potential he showed in that film. He is charismatic, charming, and, most importantly, has wonderful chemistry with Pikachu.

The entire film rides on the viewer believing the duo has a real, personal connection. And for me at least, it was super easy to buy in. Smith makes it look easy, but it’s an exceptionally difficult performance.

The rest of the cast, which includes Kathryn Newton, Bill Nighy, Ken Watanabe, and Chris Geere among others, are solid as well. I particularly enjoyed Watanabe, who plays a put-upon police lieutenant and Harry’s former boss.

Unfortunately, outside of the main pairing, the cast of characters consists mostly of plot functionaries and broad, crime-movie archetypes. The closest thing to a specific characterization is Newton’s Lucy Stevens, but even she is playing a stereotypical, plucky reporter type.

That’s to be expected, though. It isn’t an excuse, but this is sort of how blockbusters work; particularly within this genre. Stronger characters would have improved the movie, of course, but it isn’t an indictment that the story is being told in broad strokes either.

Ultimately, your enjoyment of this movie is going to come down to your connection with the Pokémon franchise. I knew within the first 30 seconds that the movie was going to be for me. The visceral thrill of seeing well-executed Pokémon on screen was just too much to resist.

If you have some antipathy toward Pokémon, or even if you just don’t really care about it, this movie may be a rough sit. I would like to believe the quality of the film is such that anyone could enjoy it, but I can’t say for sure.

If you ever played a Pokémon game, or watched the anime, or collected the cards, though, this is an absolutely necessary film to see. Preferably in theaters.

Whether or not the video game movie curse has been broken remains to be seen. But this is the first game adaptation that I thoroughly enjoyed, without caveats or reservations.

Is it high art? No. Is it exceptional entertainment? Absolutely.

Did you see Detective Pikachu? Let me know what you thought in the comments below!