Is Pokémon: Detective Pikachu the very best video game movie, like no one ever was?
Well, the competition wasn’t exactly fierce. But, yes. Yes, it is. While I’m no longer the huge fan of Pokémon that I used to be, I had a good time watching this movie.
It’s interesting, based on the different reviews that I’ve read and watched, how many people don’t seem to realize that this “video game movie” is based on a specific video game in the Pokémon franchise: Detective Pikachu for the Nintendo 3DS. I played and reviewed the game in anticipation for the movie’s release and really enjoyed it. The film is a loose adaptation that follows the premise and some of the major story beats, but mostly does its own thing.
Tim Goodman, a young man who once dreamed of becoming a Pokémon trainer, travels to Ryme City after hearing that his father was killed in a car accident. When he gets to the apartment, he discovers his father’s partner: a talking Pikachu that nobody else can understand. Pikachu claims that Tim’s father, a renown detective, is still alive somewhere, and proposes that they team up to solve the mystery of what happened to him. After a few mishaps, Tim reluctantly agrees.
A lot of reviewers have praised the film for bringing the world of Pokémon to life, and I’m going to join the chorus. Wow. I’m also not alone in saying that I would have been satisfied with a film that showed long, extended shots of this world and absolutely nothing else.
Detective Pikachu takes the game’s concept of Pokémon as partners and combines it with the more familiar world of the main series and the anime. It’s established that kids like Tim do traditionally leave home and go on adventures to capture Pokémon. Tournaments exist. The Kanto region is mentioned. However, none of the usual rules exist in Ryme City, which is specifically designed to be a place where battles are banned. Pokémon and humans live side-by-side, as they do in the 3DS game. It’s a treat to see all of the different Pokémon fitting in this live-action world in ways that you might expect to see them if they existed.
There are fun shout-outs to different parts of the franchise. I know I missed a lot of them, having been out of the loop for so long, but there was still plenty for this Gen 1 fan to love.
Although this film did a wonderful job of realizing the world of Pokémon, it wasn’t perfect. It started out strong, but I had some issues with the pacing of certain scenes. Right as Tim meets Detective Pikachu for the first time, some Aipom attack the apartment and a chase ensues. Immediately following said chase, Tim goes back to questioning why he can understand Pikachu. And Pikachu, as voiced by Ryan Reynolds, makes nonstop quips throughout the scene. It all happens so fast that it’s hard to follow at times. It wasn’t until the underground battle with Charizard when I really started to become invested again.
Speaking of which, that live-action battle was thrilling. All of the action scenes were fun to watch and kept me interested in what was happening. And while many reviewers have stated that they found the story twists to be a bit too obvious, there were a few moments that caught me off guard.
And now I’m going to get a little controversial and admit that I didn’t find Ryan Reynolds to be as funny as I anticipated. I thought he fit the role of Detective Pikachu better than his video game counterpart (Kaiji Tang), and I definitely laughed during the movie- just not as hard as I thought I would. The character that got most of the best jokes was Psyduck.
But Reynolds did have some great chemistry with Justice Smith, who plays Tim Goodman. And just as I predicted, I liked Smith’s version of Tim much better than the protagonist of the 3DS game. He and Pikachu have some very heartwarming scenes together, as well as funny moments.
If you love everything about Pokémon, you should love this movie. If you hate everything about Pokémon, then this movie’s not really for you. Detective Pikachu embraces the source material instead of poking fun at it. It’s not a perfect film, but it is fun, and I hope there will be sequels. I’d rate it 7 out of 10 Pokéballs.
Zone, but you can still just go play with bots if you wish.
choose different characters to play, some of which are free, some of which you find parts to get, and others that you can buy. You go and do missions on different planets to get upgrades to your armor, pets, weapons, abilities, etc. In the past year they added a more open-world planet (possibly more than one) to go get items on as well instead of just the missions. I can say I didn’t play this much, but I did enjoy the few times that I did. You could say this game has a few pay-to-win advantages as you can buy upgrades and characters to play.
eapons, as well as learn more skills. You can customize your character a hell of a lot in this game, but it can be overwhelming for some as the gameplay can be difficult at times. A bonus to this customization is you can choose the same type of character as your friends and still have completely different spells and play styles. I hear this is much easier (and more fun) with your friends, but can definitely be played alone. I never made it very far in this game (it updates a lot and I have shitty internet), but I know a few people who really enjoy it. Also, it is never pay-to-win as you can’t purchase advantages with real money.
can choose from to play. You can be Zeus, or Loki, or even the Monkey King. There are multiple types of competition that you can play such as competitive mode and conquest. This is a hugely popular game that people like to brag about where they are on the leaderboard and I would say they have good reason as I found it a bit difficult. Also, no pay-to-win here that I know of, unless you consider being able to open up all Gods with the Ultimate God Pack an advantage.
play as. They advertise it as constantly being updated with new game modes, maps, equipment, and hats (which they say is most important! Lol). You can collect, craft, buy and trade hats and weapons in this game so that you can truly customize your character and therefore your gameplay. As that is about all you can buy.. this is not a pay-to-win game either!
the most comprehensive free-to-play, cross-platform, MMO military game for Windows, Linux, Mac, and PS4. It basically lets you have a full on war with all of the vehicles you would want. And who doesn’t love a game that is cross-platform?! I’ve never played it, but my significant other has and says that it is a great time if you like free military games. There is both PvE and PvP content so that everyone can enjoy it. And definitely not a pay-to-win game.
of their heroes are free and can fill multiple roles in the game allowing people to change things up in every battle. They want you to play how you want and find your favorite play style, but also be able to change it if the need arises. You can play co-op versus bots or you can go play PvP. I have never played this game, so I have no personal experience with it, but it is definitely not pay-to-win!
5 v 5 battles, but I’m not sure if that has changed at all. There are a lot of cool skins that you can get for the characters and the battles can sometimes be really intense. They have done a few updates since it came out and currently Future’s End is the game going on. They have a new champion, Atlas, and as the others are he is free. Anything that affects gameplay is unlocked just by playing, so this is not a pay-to-win game. Although you could call it a pay-to-look good game (lol).
into animes, novels, films, and games. This game is based upon trading cards for Yu-Gi-Oh! and is basically that, but online. It allows you to do duels, and PvP, as well as create your own deck with the cards you get in-game. They have voices from the anime in-game and great 3D animations. I have not personally played it, but it looks like fun if you are into trading cards. I am not sure if any of the in-app purchases make this pay-to-win.
branches as you choose. You can play PvP in this game – the fastest way to level up – or you can choose to level up by playing PvE. My significant other plays this game heavily and really enjoys it (if you want to try it, I can get you an invite link that will give you free stuff! Just send me a message on our Discord!).
