[Detective Pikachu] Weaponized Nostalgia

Local H Jay

Hey so Ryan Reynolds, aka Deadpool, aka the Cantankerous Canadian is this guy:


Starring Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton and Bill Nighy(??), watch as your childhood is given nightmarish, fleshy existence and gigantic, dinner plate eyes. Also, the movie is good?

That's a twist, that's veryyy twisty

Local H Jay

Okay so world building stuff

They reference Mewtwo's past in a way that nods towards the events of Pokemon the movie. Idk if this means the show/games are canon to this world? It could be a read as a tie to the games too. There's a ton of direct references to the show, such as Jigglypuff's song, it's very peculiar and while I like the concept, now all I want is a movie about Red...

Madican

I don't want the movie to be good because then I'll have to actually go see it

Local H Jay

It was pretty good.

I'd say the weakest aspect is the bad guy, but otherwise the writing was pretty solid

Cristoval

This was a really good Pokemon anime that just happened to star real life Bill Nighy among others.

There's a lot of telling and not showing storywise, but from a world building perspective they do a pretty good job of throwing you into this place and assuming you know how to swim.

Capt Howdy

Does Sharpedo get a cameo?

CelestialBadger

Would this movie be fun for a 6-year-old who knows nothing about Pokémon?

Captain Inertia

So this is the setup to a PCU huh

King Riptor

CelestialBadger wrote: »

Would this movie be fun for a 6-year-old who knows nothing about Pokémon?

I think the more pressing issue is will your wallet survive their new interest in Pokemon?

Elvenshae

For people who have seen this one, I've got an almost-8-year-old who is into Pokemon and an almost-4-year-old who is also into Pokemon. Seriously, it's cute when they play it together.

I assume my oldest will be fine; is there anything in the movie that would give my youngest pause, given that he's seen Star Wars and liked it?

redx

So, I have a bunch of 30 something friends who mostly don't care about Pokemon, but love the absurd.

Would they enjoy this movie if only our DD was sober?

Local H Jay

This movie is like Diet Deadpool, couple riske jokes only adults would get

Pikachu says "come on over to my place. Oh, listen to me! I'm having someone over my apartment. I'm really not that type of Pokemon."

Couple spooky parts with Charizard and 'another' menacing Pokemon you can see in the trailers

cloudeagle

Ryan Reynolds continues to be the best.

“When they approached me to do it, I didn’t say ‘yes’ right away, even though I was really excited about the story. It really resonated with me,” he told us. “My first question was, ‘Who is supposed to play this?’ Is there someone I am taking a job from? Specifically, am I in territory where I shouldn’t be in? It turns out it all got the greenlight from everyone I trust and love and off we went. So yeah, there was some trepidation. It wasn’t like me wondering if I could pull this off. It wasn’t that. I felt pretty confident about my take on it.”

Inkstain82

I've got a son and two pokemon-crazed nephews going to see it tonight. Excited.

AlphaRomero

It was OK. Not as good as I had been led to believe, not super taxing on the mind and a weird blend of too adult for kids and yet sometimes a little bit too stupid for adults.

The kids described it as epic though so your mileage may vary.

RickRude

I'm a little too old to have enjoyed pokemon. Think I was in HS when it came out, or at least late junior high. I've never understood the pokemon craze and think the cartoon was stupid. Again, pokemon just missed me.

This movie looks awesome.

Mild Confusion

Y'know, what impressed me is that there's a lot from my childhood that I didn't think would still be hanging around, Pokemon is one of them that survived along Magic the Gathering, Final Fantasy, or whatever has laster that long and remained popular.

Yes, 80's and 90's nostalgia has been all the rage in Hollywood for the quick cash grab. The difference is that Pokemon hasn't really gone away and has been mainstream more or less the entire time. Pokemon has no gap in popularity like Transformers or Dragon Ball or Ninja Turtles between now and then. Pick a year and Pokemon is still popular. It's honestly impressive if you think about how long it's not only been a thing but a popular thing.

I think this thread has convinced me to watch it despite that I haven't given a fuck about Pokemon since 1998.

Local H Jay

All this movie does is make me want a gritty take on the events of Red/Blue

Then the sequel could be about Silver doing his thing and confronting Red from the first movie

WotanAnubis

Local H Jay wrote: »

All this movie does is make me want a gritty take on the events of Red/Blue

Then the sequel could be about Silver doing his thing and confronting Red from the first movie

I... don't? Or at least, I have no real interest in a Pokémon movie that's any grittier than the games are.

Although I wonder if any Pokémon movie would dare touch that side-plot of that one dude who sacrificed scores Pokémon just to restore one other Pokémon back to life. Or whatever nihilistic genocidal nonsense Team Galactic was on about.

Mx. Quill

Make a sequel about a rival Detective Raichu, but some theatres get an alternate Detective Alolan Raichu cut.

jothki

I'm curious how faithful the movie is to the game. From the trailers and the spoilers that I've read here it seems to share at least some of the same plot.

Syngyne

jothki wrote: »

I'm curious how faithful the movie is to the game. From the trailers and the spoilers that I've read here it seems to share at least some of the same plot.

Haven’t played the game, but from what I read on wikipedia it does share some plot points, but it’s not a direct movie version of the game.

Quid

WHY ARE ALL THESE KIDS HERE

Cristoval

They wanna hear Pikachu say "fuck".

Zombie Gandhi

This was pretty good ya'll. I imagine this movie may kill in BluRay sales for parents buying for their kids, since it has adult appeal as well.

Cristoval

It's great that the movie, while kinda simple, still managed to have a more fully fleshed out story and world than any of the games. Like no one talks about being in insurance in any of the games unless the words "Pokemon" are in front of it and the entire business is run by a bunch of bookish, multi-armed monsters. Tim would be completely ostracized from society in the games for not giving 2-shits about the horrid creatures.

Quid

The movie was good most of the time but did occasionally stray in to bad straight to DVD territory.

I really just want a low stakes movie set in Ryme City. Like follow a delivery service pidgey or a beat cop and their growlithe.

redx

So, like, the people in the background? Were there more or less than, like, 15 models?

Scooter

I haven't seen it, and probably won't, but I was listening to Podquisition this morning and figured I'd pass along their 2 cents on it:

• It's good at covering up adult jokes with kid jokes so everyone has something to laugh at, while keeping the kids too distracted to ask about the adult stuff
• The plot is predictable after about half an hour in but the individual scenes are still good
• There's spots where the use of greenscreen becomes glaringly obvious
• Ryan Reynolds is great

Inkstain82

I liked it more than I thought I would, and I am not at all the target audience. It had some heart. The kids of course were mesmerized, one called or the greatest day of his life.

My main takeaway from the night is that whoever put Gangsta’s Paradise over the sonic trailer is either our society’s greatest monster or hero, I can’t decide which.

King Riptor

Inkstain82 wrote: »

I liked it more than I thought I would, and I am not at all the target audience. It had some heart. The kids of course were mesmerized, one called or the greatest day of his life.

My main takeaway from the night is that whoever put Gangsta’s Paradise over the sonic trailer is either our society’s greatest monster or hero, I can’t decide which.

Well given what the song is about its remarkably tone deaf and sorta racist so I vote monster

fightinfilipino

Captain Inertia wrote: »

So this is the setup to a PCU huh

if they establish a PCU before Nintendo develops a Pokemon MMO i swear to Arceus

Styrofoam Sammich

Its cute. A good kids' movie for a kids' franchise

RMS Oceanic

I had fun with it. Felt kinda rushed, tell-don't-show and simple at times, but then it's aimed at kids so that's fine. The 'mons looked great.

Kind of wished

Mewtwo's philosophy was fleshed out. "Humans are evil" are great for an interrupted conversation/misunderstanding moment, but "Humans are evil... but you've shown me not all are" felt like a forced way to phrase it. Especially when we don't actually see the act that shows this.

Pleased I confirmed Bill Nighy was the villain by calling Mewtwo an abomination because that felt off for such a pokephile.

Also there was a trailer for a Pokemon-Go style game set in Harry Potter and its pitch had me want to oppose everything they stood for.

King Riptor

RMS Oceanic wrote: »

I had fun with it. Felt kinda rushed, tell-don't-show and simple at times, but then it's aimed at kids so that's fine. The 'mons looked great.

Kind of wished

Mewtwo's philosophy was fleshed out. "Humans are evil" are great for an interrupted conversation/misunderstanding moment, but "Humans are evil... but you've shown me not all are" felt like a forced way to phrase it. Especially when we don't actually see the act that shows this.

Pleased I confirmed Bill Nighy was the villain by calling Mewtwo an abomination because that felt off for such a pokephile.

Also there was a trailer for a Pokemon-Go style game set in Harry Potter and its pitch had me want to oppose everything they stood for.

I think the idea is

The kid and Pikachu working together when there was really nothing to gain for either proved humans can be good

Also that Harry Potter game is exploitative trash. One of the timers is your character getting strangled

RMS Oceanic

King Riptor wrote: »

RMS Oceanic wrote: »

I had fun with it. Felt kinda rushed, tell-don't-show and simple at times, but then it's aimed at kids so that's fine. The 'mons looked great.

Kind of wished

Mewtwo's philosophy was fleshed out. "Humans are evil" are great for an interrupted conversation/misunderstanding moment, but "Humans are evil... but you've shown me not all are" felt like a forced way to phrase it. Especially when we don't actually see the act that shows this.

Pleased I confirmed Bill Nighy was the villain by calling Mewtwo an abomination because that felt off for such a pokephile.

Also there was a trailer for a Pokemon-Go style game set in Harry Potter and its pitch had me want to oppose everything they stood for.

I think the idea is

The kid and Pikachu working together when there was really nothing to gain for either proved humans can be good

Also that Harry Potter game is exploitative trash. One of the timers is your character getting strangled

Nah I think it was a different one. But that's another topic. In the movie,

Mewtwo says it before he puts Harry inside Pikachu, so it's whatever they said and did that swayed him apparently.

Romantic Undead

My family's take:

Took my 5 year old and my wife who knows nothing about Pokemon

Wife says: "Cute, good family movie, was not horrible! I laughed at a couple of spots! Would not have paid to see it at the theater had it not been for you guys, but totally would have rented it!"

Daughter (plays Pokemon Let's Go Pickachu, dressed as Pickachu for Halloween and for local Comic-con): Kinda got a bit bored during the talky parts, asked to go home just before climax, but then returned glued to her seat when action picked up again. Loved exclaiming the names of Pokemon she recognized when they appeared, much to my wife's consternation. Loved the free Pokemon cards we got with our tickets too!

Me: Definitely aimed at old-school Pokemon fans with kids. I'm squarely in the target audience for this movie. TONS of references to both the cartoon and the games, and that's not even including all the Pokemon cameos. Tons of re-watch value to pick up all the details and references in the background. I'll likely be picking this one up on Blu-Ray once it comes out. Story-wise, it's pretty by-the-numbers, but there are few small twists along the way that can still surprise and entertain. As a Pokemon fan, I felt the movie did a good job at respecting the source material canon, which I'll expand on in the Spoiler. Overall, a fun time for old Pokemon fans and kids alike, and even inoffensive to the non-initiated! 8/10

Now for the nitty gritty:

I like that the movie goes to pains to establish the rules of the movie. Ryme city is established as a unique experiment in the Pokemon world, distinct from what old-school fans would know. The fact that Ryme city exists as a city where humans and Pokemon co-exists is explained as being an experiment, different than the rest of the world, which I appreciated. We even get a brief exploration of the world outside of Ryme with main character Tim's introduction early in the movie, which includes the movie's only appearance of a Pokeball.

I also appreciated the movie explaining that MewTwo was not created in Ryme city (which would violate game/show canon) but rather re-captured after it escaped from Kanto. Nice touch.

Also, while the true villain's identity can be easily guessed early on, the little twist that MewTwo is not actually a bad guy was also a nice little subversion which I appreciated. I also appreciated the short explanation regarding the bad guy's Ditto, that recognizes that Dittoes can't usually copy humans, but this particular Ditto was explained as being another result of genetic experimentation, which sufficed for me as a handwave.

The little twist at the end regarding Pickachu's true nature was predictable, but a nice touch nonetheless, with Ryan's actual appearance at the end being a sweet touch.

Now, the villain's ultimate plot was EXTREMELY vague and silly, and no attempt whatsoever is made to explain how MewTwo suddenly developed the power to implant humans (body and soul, apparently) into Pokemon; however, I did notice that, when that happens, the movie uses the same sound a Pokeball makes when it sucks in a Pokemon, hinting that the same kind of magic technology that allows a 500 pound Snorlax to fit a baseball-sized device may be in use here, so that much, I felt, was a neat little subtle touch that caught my attention.

Finally, I also appreciated that, while yes, the movie leans more towards "tell, don't show" than I would like, there is sufficient world-building here to allow for further development in future movies, without the movie beating us over the head with obvious sequel hooks, so I don't feel like my intelligence is being insulted. This is very much a self-contained story that stands on its own, with a satisfying conclusion. Good on them for not making the same insulting mistake the Super Mario Bros and Mortal Kombat movies did in their endings.

Finally, the end-credit sequence where they show a Pokemon anime-style version of each of the featured characters tickled my nostalgia bone and slightly annoyed my wife by causing me to insist that I stay till the end of that sequence before we left :surprised:

discrider

RMS Oceanic wrote: »

I had fun with it. Felt kinda rushed, tell-don't-show and simple at times, but then it's aimed at kids so that's fine. The 'mons looked great.

Kind of wished

Mewtwo's philosophy was fleshed out. "Humans are evil" are great for an interrupted conversation/misunderstanding moment, but "Humans are evil... but you've shown me not all are" felt like a forced way to phrase it. Especially when we don't actually see the act that shows this.

Pleased I confirmed Bill Nighy was the villain by calling Mewtwo an abomination because that felt off for such a pokephile.

Also there was a trailer for a Pokemon-Go style game set in Harry Potter and its pitch had me want to oppose everything they stood for.

the first Pokemon movie had Mewtwo kill Ash Ketchum and then he got brought back to life because Pikachu was sad.
That was what caused Mewtwo to re-evaluate the 'all humans are evil' thought the first time.
But can't really blame him for thinking that when he was created to be the most powerful Pokemon and then was Giovanni's, Team Rocket's, the Pokemon mafia's leader's ace-in-the-hole for a while.

Captain Inertia

fightinfilipino wrote: »

Captain Inertia wrote: »

So this is the setup to a PCU huh

if they establish a PCU before Nintendo develops a Pokemon MMO i swear to Arceus

There has never been a game franchise more suited to being an MMO than Pokémon

Diplominator

They could have called the train's exposition dump "A Brief History of Ryme," and they did not, and that's on them.

They have to live with that.

Jam Warrior

Well, I was going to call that the weirdest idea I’ve seen translated to film, but then it opened with the trailer for a live action Dora the Explorer movie in which teen Dora had a machete.