SNAPSHOT
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.Pokemon Detective Pikachu is directed by American filmmaker Rob Letterman, director of Shark Tale, Monsters vs Aliens, Gulliver’s Travels, and Goosebumps previously. The screenplay is written by Nicole Perlman and Rob Letterman; based on “Pokémon” created by Satoshi Tajiri & Ken Sugimori & Junichi Masuda. (synopsis via First Showing)
One of the few things I don’t like about getting older is that not a lot surprises you anymore; that’s not some grumpy old man complaint so much as a reluctant statement of fact.
So, it’s always a huge pleasure when something about which you know little, and about which you had made some rather rushed judgements, comes out and totally any and all expectations.
Detective Pikachu falls into this camp, a film I had paid little attention to because (a) Pokémon, which debuted in 1995, was not a thing while I was growing up and (b) for all my love of animated films, this simply looked a little too juvenile for me.
And then … and then, I saw a trailer, and realised that not only was the writing and concept pretty clever but Ryan Reynolds, god bless his irreverent, witty, sassy cotton socks, was the voice of the titular protagonist and he was, c’mon don’t act surprised, very, very funny.
Colour me delighted, so delighted in fact, that when Detective Pikachu opens in Australia on 16 June (10 May in US and UK), I shall be front and centre, wisecracking my way to Reynolds-ian heaven.
- Here are the previous trailers …