Review: Pokémon Detective Pikachu

* Stirring and twisty *

Detective Pikachu is directed by Rob Letterman, who also directed Goosebumps. I really admired this adaptation of a child’s horror book to a Hollywood movie and wanted to see what he could do for the Pokémon lovers out there. He delivered.

• This movie has enough enjoyment for movie enthusiasts who don’t know anything about Pokémon and Pokémon fans.

For the movie enthusiasts, Ryan Reynolds voicing Pikachu was a movie-saving choice because he is hilarious. He injects comedy into an otherwise dull film and he makes it work.

• The Pokémon are much better characters than the actors in this film.

Except Tim Goodman ( Justice Smith ), there was no characterization of any other human and whenever on screen I saw *humans* interacting with each other, I just wanted Pikachu or any other Pokémon to cut the conversation and move the story forward as there was only tons of exposition and no character development. Having said that, the interplay between Tim and Pikachu is fun and stirring which holds up the script. There were lots of Pokémon references in the film. As there were so many, it took me a while to catch on the references and in that process, I missed some. This implies that the makers put in their heart and soul to make this film an entertaining affair and not make Pokémon a source of income for Hollywood and they succeeded to an extent.

• The VFX team deserves praise as all the Pokémon felt real especially Pikachu.

Ryan Reynolds did an amazing job in voicing Pikachu and I can’t think of any other actor who can voice this legendary cute character. The background score was based on the original Pokémon theme and it fit in well. The editing was decent and movie was overall technically, well crafted.

• There is a very big twist which caught me by surprise. From a storytelling perspective, the twist was handled well I bet you won’t see it coming.

————–RATING—————-

1) Performance: Average

2) Treatment: Excellent

3) Story: Good

4) Recommendation: Watch it just for Pikachu. You won’t be disappointed.