In November 1999, Nintendo brought the fever pitch of their flagship portable franchise to the multiplex with ”Pokemon: The First Movie”. The film was critically scrutinized for the most part but it swept at the box office ending with a $172.7 million dollar run. That films main showcase with the origin of the psychic pokemon Mewtwo. Which to be honest, this film borrows many of the canonical elements from the indigo leagues version of those events and has incorporated them into a neo-noir mystery with varied results. While that movie wasn’t the mega-hit quite on par with the success of their portable gaming counterparts, most fans felt had the hunch that this was a series that could be made into a really fascinating live-action adaptation. But as with most movies based on video games, sometimes the translation to the big screen can be a muddled mess. I’m here to say that this is mostly not the case with Detective Pikachu.

Detective Pikachu is a very kid friendly and easy to follow mystery that surrounds our main character Tim Goodman (Justice Smith), a mostly content insurance salesman who has put his dream of being a pokemon trainer on the backburner because of tragic circumstances. The start of the film sets up the major conceit that becomes the catalyst for the mystery at hand. These circumstances inevitably pull Tim into its intrigue because it involves the loss of his father. There is plenty of nods to other regions featured in the game titles as well as posters and advertisements in this neo-futuristic city littered with fan’s favorite pokemon all over. In fact, I think one of the most impressive aspects of the film was the film’s sets and cinematography. For a film based on cute and adorable creatures, it managed to elevate the more beautiful aspects and intricate city designs to higher levels. If there was a blade runner type world inhabited by pokemon, this is it. While finding closure in the loss of his father, Tim discovers Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds) on the case to discover the real events behind what happened to Tim’s father. Typical buddy cop troupes ensue. Funny interrogation moments, slapstick back and forth banter between partners, and the nagging sense that the two actually complement one another than either would admit. The humor lands and is endearing when it’s delivered so earnestly by Reynolds at the right times in the movie. It never felt like a phoned-in performance, like everything is said with the delivery sounding big and hitting hard with precise comedic timing.

The chemistry between the title character and Tim works most of the time and they bounce off each other with ease. With this being geared towards children, it has a tendency to make the central plot almost too convenient and an extremely minimal mystery at the center. The story certainly lacks any investigative purpose as you will almost certainly not be using the run time to ponder who or what is behind his father’s disappearance and the villain’s real motives borderline are non-sensical. Its third act essentially pulls out its biggest visual wonders of the film and pats itself on the back for being the kind of fan service to justify its lackluster ending. I enjoyed the journey through this world to see these things id only seen digitally before on a small screen come to life in a bustling beautiful world. The story might leave the kids talking about that leaving the theater, while the adults will just gush over how cool it was seeing a Flareon and a Snorlax exist in a real-world setting.

– Josh