Pokémon Detective Pikachu is the first live-action Pokémon adventure, that I am sure will delight the millions of gamers and anime fans that have grown up with the characters, despite its mediocre story and rather flat human characters, who you don’t really get behind or feel great sympathy for.
Visually the film is stunning, which is what you get with a $150 million budget, some strong talent in front of the camera and an impressive line-up of Oscar and BAFTA nominated production crew behind it.
The film is directed by Rob Letterman, of Monsters Vs. Aliens and Goosebumps fame, and stars Deadpool’s Ryan Reynolds as the voice and facial motion capture of Detective Pikachu.
The film also stars Justice Smith, who we recently saw in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, who plays Tim, the estranged 21-year old son of Ryme City cop Howard Goodman, who finds himself on a quest to look for his missing father and reluctantly becomes Pokémon partner to Pikachu.
Lady Bird’s Kathryn Newton plays Lucy, a wannabe TV news reporter who‘s desperately seeking her first big story, and who’s accompanied by Psyduck. Bill Nighy plays Howard Clifford, the disabled genius entrepreneur behind Clifford Enterprises, which has Ryme City in its pocket.
And Ken Watanabe, who received an Oscar nomination for his performance in The Last Samurai, appears as Detective Yoshida, a veteran Ryme City police officer, who has Snubbull as his Pokémon partner.