First Glance at “Pokemon: Detective Pikachu”

So recently, the Americans and Japanese have paired up to create what may possibly be a very interesting and exciting movie. Legendary Pictures, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, and Toho have all paired up to create a Pokémon movie. If you haven’t already realized: no, it is not another cheesy, hour-long animation where Ash Ketchum and Pikachu save the world for some reason. Instead, it looks as if Legendary, Universal, Warner Bros. and Toho hope to gift us an interesting movie with complex CGI animation, stunning visuals, and a star acting team. Speaking of CGI animation, it is true that some Pokémon dive straight into uncanny valley(look at Psyduck and Mr. Mime in the trailer), but it is definitely an improvement from the repetitive 2D Flash animation the show has been stuck with. Ultimately, this is a very joyous moment for me, and a multitude of reasons are involved. Primarily, I finally get to relive my childhood again, as Pokémon HeartGold and Pokémon Black were the only two games I played growing up, as well as some Pokémon Go in my early teenage years. Even though I only played those two games, Pokémon was my obsession. I was fascinated by the fantasy world where you could train your own monster, give it a name, and challenge it against any other opponent(if you wished to). You could even defeat all of the boss battles and be crowned as the fabled “Pokémon Champion.” So obviously, a movie based around the universe would spark my interest once again. However, in order for the movie to be successful in any way, we have to at least fix problems the other movies addressed and understand what problems the current movie could entail.

First, the movie has to be believable, not cheesy. This trend has proved to be evident through past movies and throughout the franchise as a whole, as some games and movies proved themselves to either be nonsensical or boring. Sure, it’s fine for the kids, but some older fans(the ones who snuck Gameboys into school in the 90s) will get bored with it. Obviously, this movie is a great start for the franchise to once again reset itself onto the train tracks. The trailer itself gives me a feeling that there is a huge area for plot development, as well as some suspenseful and comedic bits here and there.

Second, the movie cannot appeal solely to kids and include adults; in other words, do the same thing Disney does in almost every movie they release. Appealing to a larger audience is a huge risk to take, but it is a game-changer if done right. Ultimately, it can increase box office revenue for the publishers, bring a good reputation for the movie and the company, and please the audience. Let’s take Zootopia for example. Zootopia, on the outside, looks like your standard Disney film with adorable, anthropomorphic animal characters(that the kids will absolutely adore) that go and save the world! However, the film goes much deeper than imaginable. Although the plot is relatively simple, the film manages to successfully tie ideas and thoughts that are tough for the average person to grasp at first glance, like depression, racism, and even stereotyping. All in all, if Pokémon: Detective Pikachu manages to succeed at a similar goal, this could greatly boost the franchise.

So overall, the movie looks promising, the trailer looks fantastic, and my inner childhood finally came back. I guess those are good things, right? I guess only time will tell. My fingers are crossed that this meets or exceeds expectations.