I'm not the biggest Pokémon fan you'll ever meet. I grew up with the anime, but it was never my favourite show. I never played any of the games until Gen 5 was already out, and I stopped playing the card game when the store I played at closed down. That being said, I still love Pokémon, it still makes me nostalgic when I hear the opening theme to the first season, even if some of the later theme songs suck (Diamond and Pearl is up there, but there is another one I really loathed), and I can still kill it at the original Pokérap. So, I was pretty hyped for Detective Pikachu, a live action Pokémon movie that's a comedic mystery and isn't rated G? Sign me up, and how was it?
I hate to say it, but I think this is one of the most disappointing movies I've ever seen in theatres. I was in the theatre with many other people who enjoyed it quite a lot, but at the end of the movie I just felt that, it was okay.
I think where the movie falls the most is the humour. I didn't find a lot of this funny, I laughed a couple times, but the humour in this movie just didn't do it for me. Everyone else I was in the theatre with laughed at everything, but even when everyone was laughing all I could think was, "I don't find this funny". It's a real shame, I felt like this movie should have been funnier, but maybe the mystery plot would outshine it and... kind of.
The movie does have an interesting mystery to it, but the twists of the movie are kind of underwhelming. The movie throws you a red herring, a couple actually, and it is kind of cheap. A red herring is a distraction, and most people can see through them, though I'll admit, this one had me second guessing. Really though, the mystery aspect was fine, I kind of have to have some give and take with this movie here, especially since this is a kids movie.
That does lead to the action scenes as well and, they were fine. I'm speaking of someone who hasn't been spoiled by the modern sci-fi action movies of today. Hell, my favourite action movie is Tombstone, a 90s western, barring that, Fight Club. It's safe to say I don't really have high expectations for action scenes in non-action movies. I never really felt the tension, the lead character hangs of the edge of a building and I'm thinking, didn't he jump off the back of a landmass sized Torterra? Pikachu gets knocked down and tossed around like a ragdoll and I'm thinking, "Does this city have a Pokécenter?" The action scenes never impressed me too much, but they weren't bad.
But this movie really shines with it's special effects. Every Pokémon looks like it belongs here. Yeah, some do look like obvious CG, but the effects on Pikachu and Psyduck were really good, and I swear to Arceus, I want to snuggle those Bulbasaur. Mr. Mime did look a little uncanny, but as a whole, the effects were really good, making this world look more real and believable. I think effects wise, this movie is great.
As a whole though, I don't want to say it was bad. I was entertained for a good part of it. I just felt like this movie could have been more entertaining, that it could have been more funny or more mysterious, I don't really think it's one of those movies I can strongly recommend. I think it's a fine movie, but could have been better.
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