234.
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
7.5/10
Now I'm not going to lie. When I found out a live-action Pokemon movie was going to be hitting the big screen, I couldn't help but bring out the childish side of myself. Watching the original animated series and animated film growing up, I always wondered what the pokemon would look like if they were real. The trailer answered that for me straight away and the answer was awesome. I was intrigued by where this story was going to go with a witty Pikachu, probably the most recognisable pokemon, voiced by Ryan Reynolds.
The storyline of a young lad, played by Justice Smith, named Tim Goodman who has grown up unliking pokemon, mainly as his dad had moved away to be a Detective with a pokemon sidekick and hadn't really cared about his own son, or so Tim thinks. When the news filters through that his dad has gone missing and is presumed dead, it's time for Tim to go to the city. We have already had a glimpse of what happened as a trapped Mewtwo escapes and shots at a car, causing it to explode off the side of a bridge. Tim just wants to get in clear the apartment and get out. It's amazing to see the ideas that the writers had regarding this city which lives side by side with pokemon. Each actually having their own jobs and co-existing in every way possible. One problem though is that Tim finds a random, dark vial in his dad's bin and upon opening it, it releases smoke, which travels outside and sends some pokemon crazy. What ensues is Tim's first encounter with Pikachu, a freak out about being able to understand each other and then a chase from the crazy pokemon.
The main part of the movie is to find out what happened to the dad after all. Who is really at fault? Could it be the son of the city's creator, who has always 'apparently' hated pokemon as his own father cared more about people living alongside the beasts than with his own family. With Tim turning into a detective himself, he pairs up with a local young reporter as they try to get to the bottom of what has happened. including the attack at the beginning. On the road, they do come under attack and we watch the relationship between Tim and Pikachu grow. This comes after Pikachu takes a hit and it isn't looking good, brought back to life with the unlikely help of Mewtwo, we realise that this created pokemon is actually not a bad one. The bad guy is still to be revealed. This comes in the shape of the guy we thought was the pokemon's savior. Bill Nighy plays Howard Clifford, the father of the lad that we though would maybe be the bad guy too but instead, this guy has a dark undertone. He has an illness that is taking him and he wants to use Mewtwo, transfer himself into his body and fuse all pokemon with their owners. He believes that this will help humans reach their next level of 'evolution'. We finally have a flashback to find out what happened with Tim's father Harry. Although he helped capture Mewtwo, Harry figured out what was really going on and helped him escape. Mewtwo never shot the car, instead, he was attacking the real pokemon who were after Harry. The fight ensues on the streets as everyone is transferred to their pokemon and Tim manages to take the headset off Howard and free Mewtwo to transform everyone back into their own bodies. By the end, Mewtwo raises his hand to thank Pikachu for everything and things start to come to life and even my hidden thoughts are alive. One major thing is that we never saw the dad Harry's face. Constantly hidden in each flashback, surely this means that it is going to be Ryan Reynolds, which is true. After the crash, Mewtwo popped Harry into Pikachu, without memories, in order to save the day at a later date.
The movie ends with Mewtwo reversing this, although I have no idea where the body of Ryan Reynolds was found in the end. The main characters go full circle as Tim finally wants to spend some time in the city with his father. As we see Tim sit there, Pikachu walks onto the screen and we once again hear Reynold's voice but this time, human legs walk onto the screen and we finally have Harry is human form. Pikachu is back to saying his own name. We see another relationship repair itself as now, father and son are once again a family.
With the nostalgia of the movie and how long I have been waiting for something like this to come about, it was always going to be good viewing for me. As the camera gave us a wide-angle to start, with Pidgeys flying in as if they were simply another bird in the world, it gave me a smile on the side of my mouth. This feeling carried on through the movie as time after time another character in pokemon form was thrust onto our screen and at no point did it feel as if it was simply for the sake of it. The storyline seemed to have a bit of everything. It had the seriousness and the strain of a family, it's loss and the coming together with forgiveness. The forgiveness had to be seen twice as Tim grew closer to Pikachu, without the realisation that it was his father. Reynolds was a great addition to the movie, simply down the quick-witted humour. Humour is a big thing for this movie and whether this came from Reynolds, the actions of the pokemon or a clever play on how the pokemon are themselves. Some humour could be missed by some of the audience though, which could be a bad point and unfortunately go over the heads but I'm glad that they didn't fall on my deaf ears. The casting was god damn decent too. We know what Reynolds brought but Justice Smith, who I have only caught in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, gave a decent account as a bumbling youngster, come serious and young detective. One bad thing is that surely you would know the voice of your father? I mean he may not have seen him in a little while but even to have a little memory of recognising the voice from a pivotal figure in his life. Nighy came back with another 'bad-guy' since I've seen him as Davy Jones and once again, gave a slimy account of himself and you could always feel something was up. The big reveal meant that the actions of the characters were a quick turn around and with the audience ages, it could have come to a bigger surprise for the younger viewers. I'm very interested to see where he head next in the universe. Although we didn't get to see any gym battles, famous names in the universe or Team Rocket, we could have them for the future. I'm not hearing whispers of anything but surely it's a moneymaker?
The storyline of a young lad, played by Justice Smith, named Tim Goodman who has grown up unliking pokemon, mainly as his dad had moved away to be a Detective with a pokemon sidekick and hadn't really cared about his own son, or so Tim thinks. When the news filters through that his dad has gone missing and is presumed dead, it's time for Tim to go to the city. We have already had a glimpse of what happened as a trapped Mewtwo escapes and shots at a car, causing it to explode off the side of a bridge. Tim just wants to get in clear the apartment and get out. It's amazing to see the ideas that the writers had regarding this city which lives side by side with pokemon. Each actually having their own jobs and co-existing in every way possible. One problem though is that Tim finds a random, dark vial in his dad's bin and upon opening it, it releases smoke, which travels outside and sends some pokemon crazy. What ensues is Tim's first encounter with Pikachu, a freak out about being able to understand each other and then a chase from the crazy pokemon.
The main part of the movie is to find out what happened to the dad after all. Who is really at fault? Could it be the son of the city's creator, who has always 'apparently' hated pokemon as his own father cared more about people living alongside the beasts than with his own family. With Tim turning into a detective himself, he pairs up with a local young reporter as they try to get to the bottom of what has happened. including the attack at the beginning. On the road, they do come under attack and we watch the relationship between Tim and Pikachu grow. This comes after Pikachu takes a hit and it isn't looking good, brought back to life with the unlikely help of Mewtwo, we realise that this created pokemon is actually not a bad one. The bad guy is still to be revealed. This comes in the shape of the guy we thought was the pokemon's savior. Bill Nighy plays Howard Clifford, the father of the lad that we though would maybe be the bad guy too but instead, this guy has a dark undertone. He has an illness that is taking him and he wants to use Mewtwo, transfer himself into his body and fuse all pokemon with their owners. He believes that this will help humans reach their next level of 'evolution'. We finally have a flashback to find out what happened with Tim's father Harry. Although he helped capture Mewtwo, Harry figured out what was really going on and helped him escape. Mewtwo never shot the car, instead, he was attacking the real pokemon who were after Harry. The fight ensues on the streets as everyone is transferred to their pokemon and Tim manages to take the headset off Howard and free Mewtwo to transform everyone back into their own bodies. By the end, Mewtwo raises his hand to thank Pikachu for everything and things start to come to life and even my hidden thoughts are alive. One major thing is that we never saw the dad Harry's face. Constantly hidden in each flashback, surely this means that it is going to be Ryan Reynolds, which is true. After the crash, Mewtwo popped Harry into Pikachu, without memories, in order to save the day at a later date.
The movie ends with Mewtwo reversing this, although I have no idea where the body of Ryan Reynolds was found in the end. The main characters go full circle as Tim finally wants to spend some time in the city with his father. As we see Tim sit there, Pikachu walks onto the screen and we once again hear Reynold's voice but this time, human legs walk onto the screen and we finally have Harry is human form. Pikachu is back to saying his own name. We see another relationship repair itself as now, father and son are once again a family.
With the nostalgia of the movie and how long I have been waiting for something like this to come about, it was always going to be good viewing for me. As the camera gave us a wide-angle to start, with Pidgeys flying in as if they were simply another bird in the world, it gave me a smile on the side of my mouth. This feeling carried on through the movie as time after time another character in pokemon form was thrust onto our screen and at no point did it feel as if it was simply for the sake of it. The storyline seemed to have a bit of everything. It had the seriousness and the strain of a family, it's loss and the coming together with forgiveness. The forgiveness had to be seen twice as Tim grew closer to Pikachu, without the realisation that it was his father. Reynolds was a great addition to the movie, simply down the quick-witted humour. Humour is a big thing for this movie and whether this came from Reynolds, the actions of the pokemon or a clever play on how the pokemon are themselves. Some humour could be missed by some of the audience though, which could be a bad point and unfortunately go over the heads but I'm glad that they didn't fall on my deaf ears. The casting was god damn decent too. We know what Reynolds brought but Justice Smith, who I have only caught in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, gave a decent account as a bumbling youngster, come serious and young detective. One bad thing is that surely you would know the voice of your father? I mean he may not have seen him in a little while but even to have a little memory of recognising the voice from a pivotal figure in his life. Nighy came back with another 'bad-guy' since I've seen him as Davy Jones and once again, gave a slimy account of himself and you could always feel something was up. The big reveal meant that the actions of the characters were a quick turn around and with the audience ages, it could have come to a bigger surprise for the younger viewers. I'm very interested to see where he head next in the universe. Although we didn't get to see any gym battles, famous names in the universe or Team Rocket, we could have them for the future. I'm not hearing whispers of anything but surely it's a moneymaker?
No comments:
Post a Comment