Ryan Reynolds brings pluck to tepid ‘Detective Pikachu’
Pikachu is like the supreme A-lister of this creature crowd, and he’s an adorable hoot.
Your feelings about “Pokemon: Detective Pikachu” probably hinge on whether you can tell a Squirtle from a Bulbasaur. No? Then you might not care one Jigglypuff.
Director Rob Letterman’s familyfriendly action comedy dives deep into the wildly popular video-game franchise to craft a team-up mystery amid a landscape full of wild, vibrant creatures who coexist with workaday folks, so much so one might even call it “Who Ripped Off Roger Rabbit?” “Detective Pikachu” (★★☆☆; rated PG; in theaters nationwide Friday) has ambition and style in spades – and thankfully, a plenty sassy Ryan Reynolds in the form of a little yellow rabbit-y dude – even if the quasi-noir private-eye tale is rather uninspired on the whole.
Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) is a former Pokemon trainer – in short, someone who captures a lovable monster to engage in battles against other Pokemon – who now works in the exciting world of insurance. After receiving the news that his estranged cop father Harry has died, Tim travels to Ryme City, an Asian-influenced, “Blade Runner”-lite metropolis built by billionaire Howard Clifford (Bill Nighy) as a bustling town where humans and Pokemon-kind live in peace.
As Tim goes to get his dad’s affairs in order, he finds Harry’s Pokemon partner Pikachu (voiced and performed via facial capture by Reynolds) and learns not only can he understand the java-addicted furry guy in a deerstalker cap, but Harry might not be as deceased as previously thought. Pikachu is nursing a nasty bit of amnesia himself, and the odd couple hits the streets and finds an ally in go-getting reporter Lucy Stevens (Kathryn Newton) to solve the case, which also involves the mysterious escape of a genetically engineered Pokemon called Mewtwo.
“Detective Pikachu” nicely blends live-action elements with the computer-generated Pokemon. There’s seamless interaction between Tim and Pikachu, and there’s a fun symbiosis created between other humans and their oddball Pokemon partners, like Lucy and her very weird Psyduck or Detective Yoshida (Ken Watanabe) and his canine Snubbull. The story, however, is pretty convoluted and predictable – albeit with one nice twist at the end – missing the chance to be a really fun adventure with an unlikely gumshoe.
Plus, “Detective Pikachu” doesn’t really bother to explain how a human connects with a Pokemon or dig into where they came from: For those who care about such things, there’s enough backstory to whet the appetite but also drive one frustratingly batty. These colorful and bizarre beasts – Pokemon is short for “Pocket Monsters,” by the way – are a joy to see just kind of hanging out and bopping around, and since there are hundreds of species, it’s nigh impossible to catch them all.
Pikachu is like the supreme A-lister of this creature crowd and he’s an adorable hoot. The movie sings when Pikachu is running afoul of an irked Charizard, interacting with the unnerved Tim – he’s almost a Pokestraight man at times – or playing the world’s cutest sleuth. Reynolds’ voice has a natural snarkiness that electrifies Pikachu’s personality, though there’s also a heartwarming timbre that’ll make you love him more, if that’s possible.
While the pint-size Sherlock gives “Detective Pikachu” heart and soul, the rest of the film lacks its title character’s verve.