REVIEW: “Detective Pikachu”

REVIEW: “Detective Pikachu”

May 10th, 2019

Martin Goodman

The Pokémon have been with us since 1996, long enough to have entertained a couple of generations of fans. The mythical beasties have a history in video games, anime, TV series, manga, and, importantly, feature films. None of them, however, have been quite like Detective Pikachu. The film is based on the Nintendo adventure game of the same name. If the game is anything like the movie, the rulebook must be at least 3,000 pages long. Directed by Rob Letterman (Shark Tale, Monsters Vs. Aliens, Goosebumps), the movie is a confounding effort by seven writers including Letterman. It would have been far better if one writer with a clear idea and coherent sense of story did the job.

To wit: Young Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) learns that his father Harry has been killed in a suspicious car crash. He sets out for Ryme City where humans and Pokémon co-exist. After conferring with Detective Yoshida (Ken Watanabe) he goes to his father’s apartment, apparently to settle his estate. He finds his father’s erstwhile Pokémon partner Pikachu, a victim of amnesia. They decide to join up and investigate the Harry’s true fate.

Got that? Good. Because after that, very little in the story makes sense or even holds together. The story has an uncomfortable resemblance to Who Framed Roger Rabbit but lacks the style and sense of noir possessed by that film. Both people and critters, especially in the dizzying final third of the film, do inexplicable things for inexplicable reasons and then reverse them for reasons tortuously presented in what is typically called a “plot”. There are so many twists and reversals by so many characters that the film ties itself in knots trying to justify them all.

Of course, this means unexplained plot holes, gaps in the story (in the service of pulling some surprise later on), and general confusion. At times, Pikachu’s amnesia is selective. At other times people show up where they could not be to do things that are a mystery to the audience until much later. Good guys (and beasties) are bad guys who later become good guys who explain that this is because of a twisted, secret plot that will — but why go on?

No kid who attends Detective Pikachu will be able to follow all the convolutions, and there is not enough meat for most adults, much less those who are not familiar with the Poké-verse and its innumerable inhabitants. Except for enthusiasts, there are more wasted in-jokes per foot of film than in any recent production. Worst of all, neither Tim, Lucy, nor Pikachu (who never once performs detective work) have a hand in the eradication of evil; it is conquered and things are set aright by a deus ex machina who has already switched sides three (or is it four?) times!

Justice Smith, late of Netflix’ The Get Down, deserves better roles. His portrayal of Tim Goodman is winning enough. This film isn’t about the human actors, anyway. Kathryn Newton, the breakout star of Gary Unmarried, is woefully miscast as hard-nosed-get-the-facts reporter Lucy Stevens. She is far too young and fresh-faced for the role, and her acting skills do not translate well to the part. Ken Watanabe hams it up as Detective Yoshida, but what else can you do playing opposite what looks to be a stuffed dog? Bill Nighy and Chris Geere do what they can in the role of father and son corporate bigwigs with nefarious, if contradictory plans. Maybe. Could be. Unless they aren’t. Don’t even ask to me to explain.

A few good things: Ryan Reynolds is brilliant as Pikachu, tossing off one-liners, asides, and bon mots as if improvising as he went along. His melancholy version of the Pokémon theme song is a high point. The SFX is better than this movie is. A team-up between Image Studios, Rodeo FX, Moving Picture Company, and Framestone produced some of the best effects since Avengers: Endgame. The Pokies are well-rendered and move convincingly, and faultlessly blend with human actors in Ryme City street scenes. Ryme City, of course, looks like the set of Blade Runner, but what futuristic city doesn’t since that film came out? At least it is done well. The SFX highlight is a massive perpendicular landslide caused by the bodies of three Pokémon enlarged to mountain-size behemoths.

There is the skeleton of an entertaining film lost in the labyrinthine excesses of Detective Pikachu, Instead, we get a cinematic mess that could have been better written, directed, and plotted out beforehand. There is a sequel in development, by the way. If it is anything like its predecessor, perhaps it should be called Pokemon Go Home.