My knowledge of Pokemon extends to beating them up in games of Super Smash Bros., but even I know that Detective Pikachu is pretty weird. Featuring Ryan Reynolds as the voice of the most popular Pokemon, who has now taken to sporting a deerstalker hat like Sherlock Holmes, the film is based on the Nintendo 3DS video game that has Pikachu helping a boy solve the mystery of his missing father.
While Pikachu may get all the title cred, the main human role is played by Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom‘s Justice Smith. There’s a veritable who’s who of Pokemon in this footage, including Mewtwo who looks to be a thorn in their side, that eager trainers can hunt for, and I’m surprised there isn’t some kind of tie-in with the Nintendo Switch or 3DS game systems. Don’t you want to see an entire crowd of folks watching the movie through their copies of Pokemon Go? Nah, me neither.
Here’s the synopsis: The story begins when ace private eye Harry Goodman goes mysteriously missing, prompting his 21-year-old son Tim to find out what happened. Aiding in the investigation is Harry’s former Pokémon partner, Detective Pikachu: a hilariously wise-cracking, adorable super-sleuth who is a puzzlement even to himself. Finding that they are uniquely equipped to communicate with one another, Tim and Pikachu join forces on a thrilling adventure to unravel the tangled mystery. Chasing clues together through the neon-lit streets of Ryme City—a sprawling, modern metropolis where humans and Pokémon live side by side in a hyper-realistic live-action world—they encounter a diverse cast of Pokémon characters and uncover a shocking plot that could destroy this peaceful co-existence and threaten the whole Pokémon universe.
I don’t know what the bigger draw is, Pokemon or Ryan Reynolds? In a hilarious video which you can also see below, Reynolds talked about the preparations he made to embody the character of Pikachu, saying “I lived it, I breathed it, I became the character.”
Get that man an Oscar!
Directed by Rob Letterman with Kathryn Newton, Ken Watanabe, and Karan Soni co-starring, Detective Pikachu opens May 10th.
