Skip to main content

Pokémon’s Live-Action Evolution is Mostly Satisfying


I’m amazed it took this long to get a live-action Pokémon movie. The Japanese pocket monster franchise is one of the most popular intellectual properties worldwide having spawned numerous video games, card games, mangas, animes, and movies since its creation in 1995 by video game developer Satoshi Tajiri. And it’s still a phenomenon, so much so that Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, the Rob Letterman-directed adaptation of the 2016 game of the same name, feels no obligation to really explain what Pokémon are or the finer nuances of its world. It presumes it’s audience has had at least a little exposure to the franchise…and they’re probably right in doing so. Most of us at least have a passing knowledge of who Pikachu is.
But cultural osmosis aside, this was an unusual choice for a live-action debut. Rather than tell a safe but accessible story about a kid’s journey to be a Pokémon trainer, this film chooses a more specific story that just happens to be set in the Pokémon world and starring their most marketable character. Further it seemingly breaks the one rule of the universe by giving Pikachu a celebrity voice -the kind of decision that screams studio mandate. Detective Pikachu is an Americanized version of a Japanese property and it really looked like it in the worst way. Thus I was quite surprised to watch it and find it respected the material despite this, and was actually not a bad film overall.
A young insurance salesman and former aspiring Pokémon trainer Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) travels to the metropolis of Ryme City upon learning of the sudden death of his estranged father, a local P.I. While there, he meets his fathers’ Pokémon partner Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds) whom he can surprisingly understand. Insisting that his father isn’t dead, Pikachu leads Tim on an investigation into what really happened and if it’s at all connected to a string of secretive experiments conducted on some Pokémon.
This movie does the smart thing by keeping its focus clear, and not being hung up on periphery details about the heavy and complex Pokémon universe. Pokéballs for instance, make barely an appearance, evolution is an afterthought, and the setting of Ryme City, with its free and equal movement between humans and Pokémon, allows the movie to sidestep any domestic pet or awkward dogfighting parallels. Continuity with the larger universe isn’t a priority, but the film doesn’t dismiss connectivity -making at least one reference that implies it shares a world with the ongoing series. The distinction between types of Pokémon is irrelevant too, as is the notion of Pokémon masters. It’s just enough to engage new audiences without abandoning or condescending to the dedicated fans -essentially doing right with its’ world-building everything Crimes of Grindelwald did wrong.
And what a wonderful, bizarre world! Though not nearly as stylized as it could be, there’s a unique, almost cyberpunk aesthetic to Ryme City -with little shades of noir as befitting the mystery story. But it’s also vibrant and colourful and dynamic: a sugar-coated Ghost in the Shell. In fact it’s closest visual analogue may be Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy. The Pokémon give it this lively breath of fresh air, this alluring character; they occupy its’ every corner, serving perhaps as mere easter eggs for fans, but for everyone else, they’re a signature of a rich and vivacious environment.
Indeed the Pokémon themselves are one of the films’ greatest attributes. The visual effects artists did a superb job rendering so many of these strange creatures so well. They don’t resemble anything realistic, which is good (they should be a step removed from human beings like in any live-action/animation hybrid film), but they are all incredibly lively; and the roster of Pokémon that appear span all generations. Pikachu of course gets the most attention, and as such is the most vivid and detailed, but special praise should also be given to the designs of Charizard, Mewtwo, Psyduck, and even Bulbasaur, whose adorableness was somehow translated effectively to CGI.
By far Detective Pikachu’s biggest weakness though is its’ plot. It’s yet another buddy comedy mystery pairing a human with an “other” that’s trying to be the next Roger Rabbit. And while it doesn’t fail in that regard as much movies like Alien Nation, Theodore Rex, or last years’ dumpster fire The Happytown Murders, it’s still largely derivative and not very investing. The plot beats are pretty clear from early on, especially once it borrows one of Zootopia’s story elements, and while a couple moments and major set-pieces are executed creatively, the mystery in no way ever thrills you. Even a subversive technique in its last act isn’t a surprise given recent Hollywood trend, and in fact creates a notable inconsistency in a character ultimately existing just to be a red herring.
The characters are also mildly dissatisfying. Mind, I thought Justice Smith was much better than he was in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Kathryn Newton was pretty good as a news channel blogger with dreams of investigative journalism, and the films’ supporting cast consisted of Bill Nighy, Ken Watanabe, and Rita Ora of all people. No, mostly it was the writing that left something to be desired. Tim never truly escapes being essentially an audience avatar, and as such doesn’t quite come into his own as a protagonist despite a troubled backstory. Newton’s Lucy is also somewhat flat beyond the initial humour of her grandiose dedication in the first act. It’s Pikachu who largely carries the film, Reynolds’ performance actually working well against all odds and in spite of the occasional dumb one-liner.
 I’m of the first generation of Pokémon kids and even though I haven’t paid attention to the franchise in years, I won’t deny the charming nostalgia that came over me seeing some of my childhood favourites translated into spectacular CG animation up on the big screen. Detective Pikachu is not what I expected Pokémon’s inevitable entrance onto the blockbuster movie stage to be, but I am glad it is what it is. It’s story and set-up doesn’t alienate (possibly to a fault), yet still entertains, delights, and opens wide a world fresh with possibility -of course Warner Bros. and Toho want to make more movies. And if they’re going to happen I want to see what the next evolution is.

Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JordanBosch
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jordan_D_Bosch
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Disney's Mulan, Cultural Appropriation, and Exploitation

I’m late on this one I know. I wasn’t willing to spend thirty bucks back in September for a movie experience I knew was going to be far poorer than if I had paid half that at a theatre. So I waited for it to hit streaming for free to give it a shot. In the meantime I heard that it wasn’t very good, but I remained determined not to skip it entirely, partly out of sympathy for director Niki Caro and partly out of morbid curiosity. Disney’s live-action Mulan  I was actually mildly looking forward to early in the year in spite of my well-documented distaste for this series of creative dead zones by the most powerful media conglomerate on earth. Mulan  was never one of Disney’s classics, a movie extremely of its time in its “girl power” gender politics and with a decidedly American take on ancient Chinese mythology. It got by on a couple good songs and a strong lead, but it was a movie that could be improved upon, and this new version looked like it had the potential to do that, emphasizing
Post a Comment
Read more

The Hays Code was Bad, Sex in Movies is Good

Don't Look Now (1973) Will Hays, Who Knows About Sex In 1930, former Republican politician and chair of the Motion Picture Association of America Will Hayes introduced a series of self-censorship guidelines for the movie industry in response to a mixture of celebrity scandals and lobbying from the Catholic Church against various ‘immoralities’ creating a perception of Hollywood as corrupt and indecent. The Hays Code, or the Motion Picture Production Code, was formally adopted in 1930, though not stringently enforced until 1934 under the auspices of Joseph Breen. It laid out a careful list of what was and wasn’t acceptable for a film expecting major distribution. It stipulated rules against profanity, the depiction of miscegenation, and offensive portrayals of the clergy, but a lot of it was based around sexual content: “sexual perversion” of any kind was disallowed, as were any opaquely textual or visual allusions to reproduction, and right near the top “No licentious or suggestiv
Post a Comment
Read more

Pixar Sundays: The Incredibles (2004)

          Brad Bird was already a master by the time he came to Pixar. Not only did he hone his craft as an early director on The Simpsons , but he directed a little animated film for Warner Bros. in 1999, that though not a box office success was loved by critics and quickly grew a cult following. The Iron Giant is now among many people’s favourite animated movies. Likewise, Bird’s feature debut at Pixar, The Incredibles , his own variation of a superhero movie, is often considered one of the studio’s best. And for very good reason, as the most talented director at Pixar shows.            Superheroes were once the world’s greatest crime-fighting force until several lawsuits for collateral damage (and in the case of Mr. Incredible, a hilarious suicide prevention), outlawed their vigilantism. Fifteen years later Mr. Incredible, now living as Bob Parr, has a family with his wife Helen, the former Elastigirl. But Bob, in a combination of mid-life crisis and nostalgia for the old day
1 comment
Read more