Detective Pikachu Looks... Good?

Detective Pikachu Looks… Good?

by: XandoCalrissian

Yesterday the world got it’s first look at the trailer for Pokémon Detective Pikachu, a new live-action film based on the world of Pokémon. This is only the second Hollywood film to be based on a Nintendo franchise after what happened 25 years ago when Super Mario Bros. attempted to jump to the big screen. There have been plenty of animated Pokémon movies, but this is the first live-action attempt. Let’s take a look at this trailer before we talk about it.

I have to admit, I’m actually looking forward to this movie! When I first heard it was going to be a thing, I wrote it off as something that would probably never see the light of day. I didn’t expect it to come to life and I certainly didn’t expect to enjoy this trailer as much as I did. The look of the Pokémon is a little off putting at first but when they’re viewed in context, they don’t look so weird (except for Mr. Mime, of course. But did you honestly expect him to not be the stuff of nightmares?).

The trailer focuses on Justice Smith’s character, Tim Goodman, who appears to be a washed up trainer that is being pushed into a life he’s not ready to accept. Then one night, a Pokémon wanders into his house and they’re both shocked to find out that they can understand one another. Hilarity and adventure ensues.

Pikachu is voiced by Ryan Reynolds in this movie, which is a peculiar choice. The sense of humor certainly fits what they were going for in the trailer, but I’m gonna have a real hard time disassociating Deadpool’s voice coming from a cute electric rat. Especially when I, like everyone else in the world, am used to Ikue Ōtani playing Pikachu for the last 20+ years. Reynold’s voice just seems a little too deep for Pikachu. To be honest though, I can’t think of anyone else who would be better, so I guess we’ll just roll with it.

Perhaps what I’m most excited about for this movie is that it doesn’t look like it’s going to be aimed directly at kids. It looks like Warner Bros. and Legendary fully realize that, while kids might be the target demographic, the hardcore Pokémon fans are much older. I love the small nods to classic iterations of Pokémon, such as Jigglypuff being pissed that her audience has fallen asleep to her song.

Pokémon Detective Pikachu doesn’t come out until next summer, so we’ll have to wait to see if the whole movie is as good as this trailer makes it out to be. It’s entirely possible the movie will be just as hokey as I was expecting when I first heard about it, but I will probably end up checking this one out in theaters instead of waiting for it to hit blu-ray/digital like I was planning on. Actually, I wasn’t even planning on that, but this trailer has definitely turned me around.

TL;DR

So what do you think? Will you be checking out Pokémon Detective Pikachu? What were your thoughts on the trailer? Let us know in the comments or join the discussion in the GameZilla Media Discord.