You’ve heard the buzz, Pokemon Detective Pikachu is a really good movie. But you wonder if you can trust those reviews, what if they were all written by Gameboy toting twelve-year olds? It’s better than you think it’s going to be. The storyline is strong, the effects are amazing (the film is shot in 35mm and the CGI added in and somehow it all looks real) but it’s the clever writing that brought it home for me.
To whomever complained on Fresh Tomatoes about Ryan Reynolds, stay in your lane. Detective Pikachu has so many snarky one liners I actually started writing them down.
“I think they’re attracted to your increasing nakedness.”
On his coffee addiction (also-he has a coffee addiction) “These are life choices, I can stop whenever I want.”
“My problem is that I push people away and then hate them for leaving.”
And this one for all the millennials out there from cub reporter and love interest Lucy Stevens. “I may be an unpaid intern, but I know when I smell a good story.”
Like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the writers of Detective Pikachu have managed to delight longtime Pokemon fans and newbies alike. Kid who grew up trading cards and staging battles will love it and understand it on a deeper level (did I just say that?).When JJ was little, he desperately wanted a Squirtle stuffed toy. The only one we could find was on eBay and shipped from China. We waited weeks for its arrival, the delight in the box literally covered in Chinese postage marks was equal to the thrill of having his own Squirtle. You guessed it, we still have it. Of course this movie is designed to drive product sales, and I’m here for it. They actually hit many movies, Alien, when a creepy Pokemon has our hero trapped and the only clue is a single drop of slime from the ceiling. Mission Impossible, stuck hanging on to a skyscraper anyone? Poke-battles are illegal in this movie, but of course there’s a scene right out of Fight Club.
And lastly, a plug for my boys’ school Orange County School of the Arts. The human lead, Justice Smith, is an OCSA alum. He plays Tim Harrison, a guy with daddy issues. Seriously, they hit EVERY trope for dudes in this movie. I went to see the movie for the boys, because some of my favorite memories from their childhoods involve Pokemon. The summer that JJ got tricked by some goon kid at summer camp into trading all of his cards away, endless hours driving them slowly to random destinations so they could hit a Pokemon Go gym, and of course Squirtle. Detective Pikachu serves up the right amount of nostalgia with an enjoyable plot and just enough weird film noir-ness to make it worth seeing.
This post is not sponsored, I was not offered free tickets. In fact the boys wanted to go to the fancy theater with reclining seats that will bring sushi and wine to you. So it cost me like $100, and it was totally worth it.
