Detective Pikachu the Film deserves its own thread (out May 10)

We're not missing much anyway, pre-release screenings said it had an unlikeable main character and an overly pessimistic tone.

(Matthew if you ever read this it's a joke and we love you.)

(A joke.)

(Like those ones in the film.)

I'm not joking. He's dead to me. I'm glad The Rotating Platform ended.

I saw the movie yesterday! I liked it!

The film was definitely flagging at the beginning, but once the ol' Detective himself pops up, the film really shines. Ryan Reynolds really did a great job with this. I mean, I expected as much, but I've seen family films before where the big names utterly phone it in, which wasn't the case at all here. I loved seeing a living Pokémon world on the big screen. Some of the 'Mon designs translated to a realistic style better than others, but it was still a blast seeing Pokémon presented in the way that it was.

Spoilery points:

I think the "oh my god I'm seeing the pokemon world brought to life!" factor was enough to carry me through the slow opening, but if that ever wears off I can see it being a little dull between cubone and pikachu. That also includes lucy's fucking diabolical introduction screen. Was she auditioning for CBeebies in that bit?

Aha, yeah, I'd forgotten about that! She really was dreadful in that scene - that must have been early on in the writing and shooting process as they seemed to have a much better handle on her character as the film progressed.

I saw this today and thought it was really bloody good.

Drunkalilly wrote:

I think the "oh my god I'm seeing the pokemon world brought to life!" factor was enough to carry me through the slow opening, but if that ever wears off I can see it being a little dull between cubone and pikachu. That also includes lucy's fucking diabolical introduction screen. Was she auditioning for CBeebies in that bit?

I think trying to spot things in the background is going to take up the entirety of my second viewing at least

They showed trailers for the upcoming CGI Lion King movie while before Detective Pikachu where I was and I couldn't help but think how much better the Pokémon looked.

From a pure "realism" standpoint, I'm sure the Lion King is "better," but because they have these near photo-realistic big cats. Thing is, those cats give me the uncanny valley willies because they're doing human speak out of cat snouts. There wasn't a single pokémon that made me think, no that's a bit off.

Even the talking pokémon had such expressive eyes and movements that I wasn't ever really staring at their gobs. Really excellent stuff for them to have worked the CGI magic so well with pokémon, made me feel like a kid again, eyes popping at every little detail.

Drunkalilly wrote:

masofdas wrote:

JayMoyles wrote:

Yeah, I'll be avoiding any more trailers or content for the film until release after the most recent trailer. It was beginning to verge into "here's the whole plot" territory as many film trailers annoyingly tend to do in this day and age.

Don't watch the Dark Phoenix trailer

. . .  or X-Men 3.

Hey Colossus have you seen Rogue?

The only one that looked a bit shonky to me was Charizard, but I've felt that way since the trailers. Every other 'Mon worked absolutely fine for my tastes.

Shen described the Charizard design as trying too hard to look real. It had all kinds of textures and lumps and dirtiness but it kind of overdid it

That's a good way to describe it, actually. The other 'Mon felt like they still retained some of that gamey, fantasy quality.

I thought it was fine at the time but looking at stills I can see what you're saying. It almost looks like a rock type because of how many crevices it has!

I'd be interested to see what a different trainer's Charizard would look like though. In my head, the movie one

Spoiler:

Yeah, it didn't bother me either but Shen is a 3D artist by trade, so this kind of stuff bugs her.

I reckon you're right about the design matching the trainer as well.

UPDATE: I got around to seeing this in Japanese, making that three times in the theatre. I reckon this is the last week its running- they're down to one showing a day, at 9:40 am, with only the Japanese dub available.

Not being able to understand the dialogue very well, I was even more distracted by the background cameos and stuff this time around. I'd never even spotted that Octillery working a wok before! Or that there are folks in Victini costumes at the parade.

The Japanese voice actor for Pikachu does the comically deep voice from the game - I haven't checked if its the same actor or not- and it's kind of fun in a very different way to Reynolds.

I actually felt a bit sad and emotional yesterday when I realised that if they don't make any sequels or anything, that was my last time seeing live action Pokemon on a big screen. I'm so glad this film exists!

Reynolds brought so much of his persona to the role, I can't imagine it being the same dubbed

Not so much a question about the Japanese dub but for when you've watched the English language version subtitled in theatres over in Japan - how have people reacted to the humour and Ryan Reynolds being... well, Ryan Reynolds but as Pikachu? I felt a huge part of the film's humour and appeal as OR mentioned was that it was Ryan Reynolds being a big goofball as Pikachu, but I wonder how that came across to a Japanese audience.

There were definitely some chuckles. That said, Japanese cinema audiences are very quiet as a rule.

I think I'm going to have to get this on DVD/Blu-Ray. We've always wanted to watch it: just other things kept getting in the way! (Other things like sitting at home with dessert wine in front of the telly.)

Wow, I'm surprised and a little sad about that. There are no showings you can get to? Like I said, it'd be a real shame if this is the only chance we all get.

It looks like it might be on for a little longer, so I'll see if we can go on one of the next two weekends. If not I will just watch it on Blu-Ray though. I'm watching it somehow!