Detective Pikachu is cute, but not enough to be the very best

Detective Pikachu is built to drive kids wild and sell toys, and while it has some charming moments, the story is too generic to be memorable.

The late ’90s and early ’00s were a fascinating time, dominated by cute animated critters called Pokémon. They were the Beanie Babies of their time, with kids frantically collecting anything with their favorite Pokémon character slapped on it. And no character was more popular than the pint-sized, electronically charged Pikachu.

Pikachu has always been a major player in the Pokémon animated features that came out before, but it took until this year for him to become the star of his own movie. Pokémon: Detective Pikachu is a love letter to the character, as well as a shameless marketing tool to get kids to buy him in abundance.

Living in a world where Pokémon and humans are in partnership with each other, Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) prefers to be a loner. When his dad is killed in a mysterious accident Tim must team up with his father’s Pokémon partner, a Pikachu in a deerstalker hat (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) to solve the crime.

Just a glimpse at the little red-cheeked Pikachu dressed up like a mini Sherlock Holmes elicits an “aw” from the audience, and that’s what the majority of the movie is based off of. The audience meets Justice Smith as your average insurance adjuster who, according to his friends, hasn’t found the right Pokémon yet (these lines are said with total seriousness and don’t at all imply that Pokémon are marrying humans… technically). He’s nice, but there’s nothing particularly interesting about him. Once he meets the Pokémon scrounging through his deceased dad’s office, the little yellow ball of electricity makes his human counterpart compelling.

The CGI here is nothing short of astounding, with all the Pokémon feeling like literal inhabitants of the fictional Rime City. When Tim holds Pikachu, there’s weight and presence, not a kid holding a ball on a stick. The screen is filled with a Who’s Who of Pokémon characters that, like toons in Roger Rabbit, are never focused on so much as create a populace. Detective Pikachu is at its best when it’s giving these random characters a chance to shine, like when Tim interrogates a Mr. Mime to hilarious effect or showing a crooning Jigglypuff. It goes to showcasing the world of Rime City, though these beats never coalesce into a story that’s equally compelling.

The need to satisfy a generation of fans, past and present, leaves Detective Pikachu in the precarious position of trying to please all comers. Ryan Reynolds’ cynical vocal portrayal coupled with moments of darkness and grungy bars implies a movie aimed at kids, but with humor adults will also get. These moments happen, but are often undercut or overpowered by moments aimed squarely at children. So Katherine Newton’s tough-talking reporter Lucy ends up being little more than the girl in favor of moments where Pikachu is given something cute to do. Moments of epic Pokémon battles are often ignored in favor of story beats involving mad moguls and corporate politics that go over children’s heads. There’s just an overabundance of tone but no clear indication of what audience they’re aiming at.

The final act of the movie tries to neatly wrap things up but just ends up being a convoluted mess – though what do you expect from one of the writers of Kong: Skull Island? The final coda is nothing short of bonkers that lead to more laughs than genuine heart, which is probably what the feature was aiming for.

If anything the goal is to sell toys, lots of toys.  With a story that’s more Lego Batman than Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Detective Pikachu will entertain children and be seen as toothless fun for adults. Don’t expect to go home without buying a toy for your kids, but it’s doubtful you’ll remember the movie beyond that.