Coastal View News
I play “Pokémon Go” with my six- and three-year-old sons.
Yeah that’s right. We play it. Laugh it up. We like it. It’s fun. I’d never
played or watched anything Pokémon related before that, so I never developed
any particularly deep love for the franchise. Still, when I recently took my
six-year-old son to see “Pokémon Detective Pikachu”, we were undeniably excited
to see live-action renditions of Charizard, Gyrados, Snorlax, Mew …
… and Cubone, Slakoth, Psyduck, and, of course, Pikachu. Sure
enough, there they were. So many of them! Seriously, it was like taking a tram
ride through the zoo—“Ooh, look, there’s a Charmander! And Aipom! And, wow,
cool, there’s Mr. Mime!”
Aside from all the sightseeing so clearly aimed at the Pokémon
faithful, this installment in the Pokémon franchise follows, not the beloved
Ash, but Tim Goodman (Justice Smith)—a 21-year-old insurance salesman … who
looks and acts and surely must be closer
to 15 years old. Goodman has been summoned to Ryme City after the apparent
death of his estranged father, who was a detective.
When he arrives in Ryme City—which is distinctive
because humans and Pokémon live side-by-side as equals—and after he does the whole “whoa, look at
all the Pokémon” thing for a while (which, again, makes no sense as anything
other than Pokémon-nerd eye candy, since Goodman has surely seen these Pokémon
before), Goodman visits the police station (his dad’s workplace) and his dad’s
apartment to collect his belongings.
But
when he gets to his dad’s apartment, Goodman realizes something isn't right.
Not only are there suspicious materials lying around, but a suspiciously aloof
Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds) in a Sherlock Holmes hat shows up as well. Then Aipoms,
who are high on some kind of Hulk-ifying anger juice, start going after them.
After
they escape, Goodman learns that this Pikachu was once his dad's partner.
Except the Pikachu doesn't really remember much because he has amnesia. With
the help of Lucy Stevens (Kathryn Newton)—a tabloid writer who aspires to be a
more serious journalist—they get on the case.
It
turns out that Goodman's dad may not be dead after all. And there may have been
some funny business involved—something having to do with a Mew. And the
seemingly-benevolent financier of Ryme City (Bill Nighy) might have had
something to do with it.
Plus,
look at all the Pokémon!
As
I said, my son and I came to see this movie in part to see some Pokémon. We got
our fill of that (thus, my son was pleased). But we also went to, well, see a
movie. And that part of the excursion was less satisfying.
For
“Pokémon Detective Pikachu” isn’t a very good movie. It is corny, hackneyed,
melodramatic and/or sentimental at the wrong moments, predictable, and just so
clearly taking advantage of the fact that millions of people are in love with Pokémon
and so will ravenously consume anything the franchise dishes up.
Indeed, part of the
problem with the movie is that so much time—and so much of the gravitational
pull on the plot—centers on our seeing Pokémon, identifying Pokémon, watching Pokémon
do cute and funny things, and so on. This rarefies and cheapens any genuine
plot the movie may purport to offer.
"Pokémon Detective Pikachu" is supposed to be
some sort of detective mystery, I guess. But it doesn't feel like it. Sure,
Goodman, Pikachu, and Lucy Stevens do scamper around chasing leads. But it's
all too easy to just not really care about these uninspired (and predictable,
and uncompelling) plot machinations. I, at least, didn't care. I doubt my
son did either.
On
the other hand, we saw a lot of Pokémon. So my six-year-old was happy.
