21-year old insurance guy Tim Goodman returned to Ryme City (a city where humans lived in harmony with their Pokemon pets) when he receiving news of his father Harry's car accident. There he meets his father's pet Pikachu, whose speech he could unexpectedly comprehend (even if others simply hear him say "pika pika"). Together with junior reporter Lucy Stevens and her Psyduck, they set out to investigate Harry's disappearance, and the dangerous case he was working on.
I only know Pokemon on a casual basis, not a huge fan. Of course, I knew Pikachu, along with the rest of the world. But I was also familiar with a few other Pokemon like Charmander, Snorlax, Jigglypuff and Psyduck, although I needed help with the name recall. My son, on the other hand, was gleefully naming each and every Pokemon that appeared onscreen, like Cubone, Bulbasaur, Mr. Mime, Snubbull, Lickitung, Tortera, Squirtle, among many others. This film is definitely more fun if you are familiar with Pokemon and their lore.
The best part of this film is the amazingly adorable way they CG-animated the 3D Pikachu. Knowing him only as a 2D cartoon character, I did not expect him to be furry and fuzzy which further added to his cuteness. He was cute happy, he was cute sad -- so good. In addition, Ryan Reynolds' voice fit the character so well, giving him a winning and delightful personality. He can even sing the Pokemon theme song -- so endearing! All through the film, I'm sure everyone in the audience would like to bring a little Pikachu home with them.
The acting of the human cast, like Justice Smith (as Tim) and Kathryn Newton (as Lucy), was serviceable, taking a backseat to the Pokemon characters. Even the senior actors in the cast, like Ken Watanabe (as Detective Yoshida), Bill Nighy (as Ryme City creator Howard Goodman) and Chris Geere (as Howard's son Roger), portrayed their roles in a campy manner, maybe to appeal to the younger target audience.
There were some cartoonish violence in some scenes, like the Pokemon battle arena scenes pitting a vicious Charizard against our Pikachu and those climactic outdoor fight-action sequences involving a very powerful Mewtwo, which earned this live-action Pokemon movie a PG rating. Overall, this Rob Letterman film was quite a fun and entertaining video game-based movie to watch even for those with limited Pokemon knowledge. 6/10 (but an 8.5/10 for my Pokemon fanboy son).
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