Recently, I went to watch Detective Pikachu and here is what I thought about it. Contains spoilers for Detective Pikachu (2019)

I am no big Pokémon fan but I do have some fond memories with it. Like their encyclopedia and the craze of Pokemon GO, I even had fun with their online trading card game.

So when Detective Pikachu starts out with Pidgeotto flying with Bouffalant running through the fields, the nostalgia instantly hit me. And I didn’t even play the Pokémon games, I just remember watching all those “Pokémon GO in real life” on YouTube and this just reminds me of it. This is exactly like those videos but it has a bigger budget and it’s the “real deal”

I just like how this movie isn’t based on what most people remember Pokémon stories to be, Ash or Red training to be a Pokémon Master but it’s based off a game that not alot know about. Maybe they just wanted a brutally honest and funny Pikachu and now I can’t look at Pikachus without hearing Ryan Reynold’s voice.

Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu is just perfect, I know they wanted to cast Danny Devito but I think Ryan Reynolds was a better choice. Ryan Reynolds can just deliver that almost adult Pikachu. He just sounds more experience than Tim Goodman, which makes human and Pokémon seem equal and maybe that’s why they call each other partner.

When I first saw Pikachu, I was hoping to see his moves immediately but what I got was a Pikachu walking with two legs who doesn’t know a thing about being a Pokemon and it makes sense when the ending is revealed.

The scene with the underground Pokemon fight was really entertaining to me, because you would really want to know how a Pokémon battle would play out without getting anyone injured. And I also wanted to see a genuine Pokémon fight. Pikachu trying to execute a “Thunderbolt” was hilarious and awkward with the added Pikachu’s expressions

The underground fight scene also help in putting to perspective how big Grasps actually is and to think that he evolved from a Magikarp, he is massive.

The world building in this game is fascinating, it is based off a video game so they already have some inspiration to start off with but they also added in some new buildings to fit the modern context of the world today. This movie made use of Pokémons rather than just being a tool for battle, there is Machamp directing traffic and Squirtles helping firemen.

The colour palette in this movie is also very neon and vibrant, Pokémons are made of bright colour so they can easily spotted and identified even from afar. The Pokémon were also transitioned really well to the big screen, thankfully they didn’t majorly change any character design and still is able to make it look lifelike

The chemistry between Tim and Detective Pikachu just felt very real and the small conversation they have with each other just massively improve this movie. It is always nice to see two characters that develop over time and they soon get use to each others mannerism and this movie really felt like Detective Pikachu and Tim Goodman actually spent days together in the movie. For some reasons, this two unlikely pair work very well together.

The love interest in this movie felt very unnecessary to me. Like in a movie like this, I didn’t think there was a need for a love interest. There was also not alot of build up to it, there isn’t much reason for Tim to like Lucy, the unpaid intern. But it does add Psyduck which helped a lot during the movie. In the end, I think adding a love interest wasn’t necessary but it didn’t cause that much damage to the main story since Lucy can also get access to information which helped the team. Just that there isn’t much build up.

Now Mewtwo just really confused me. I mean this is suppose to be one of the most powerful Pokémon but a few drones managed to electrocute and hold him down? Doesn’t he have god-like powers since it took him so quick to reverse the effects of the ending? But regardless, I was delighted to see him since the first trailer didn’t hint much on him appearing.

The ending of this movie just felt very out of place. Howard Clifford had no reason to turn all the humans to Pokémons. We know he loves experimenting the DNA of Pokémon but what benefit does it give him to turn humans to Pokémons. I mean if you have Mewtwo in your control shouldn’t you already start taking over the world? The plot twist with the switch of antagonist actually caught off guard, I guess this just prove you can’t really trust anyone. The villain’s plot just felt like the Lizard in The Amazing Spiderman to me where he wanted to turn the whole city to lizards.

Seeing Pikachu using all his moves was a satisfying end, everyone just wants to see him do some actual Pokémon fight and it actually happened. The ending act as a chase sequence which looks very weird when there is a Pikachu riding a Pidgeotto but still the ending fight was one of the best moments for me in the whole film.

Again, I never really played the Pokémon games but nostalgia still managed to hit me in some weird ways. With good story and in a world everyone one is familiar with, combined with decent CGI. This might be the best video game movie, until maybe the Sonic movie comes out.

I really enjoyed this film and is kind of disappointed in myself for not watching it in cinemas. Maybe I will for the sequel where we see Ryan Reynolds stuck in Magikarp.

Ratings: 9/10