Detective Pikachu Review: Your Heart Will Know Who You Are

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Detective Pikachu is a solid crime movie with a fun mystery.

What Happens in Detective Pikachu?

Tim Goodman is a young man who once wanted to be a Pokémon trainer but after the death of his mother and his dad moving away, he grew up to be an insurance adjuster with no interest in Pokémon. One day while hanging out with a friend, he receives a call saying that his father, who was a detective, died in a car crash.

Tim travels to Ryme City, a place where humans and Pokémon live in harmony, and where his dad worked. When Tim goes to his dad’s apartment to collect his things, he finds a Pikachu who was his dad’s Pokémon partner and Tim discovers that he can understand Pikachu. Pikachu has amnesia, so he can’t actually tell him what happened. The two begin to figure that if Pikachu survived, Tim’s dad might have as well so the two head out on an adventure to solve the mystery of what happened.

Who Are The Characters in Detective Pikachu?

Detective Pikachu has two main protagonists, Pikachu and Tim. 

Tim, played by Justice Smith, is a young man who had once dreamed of becoming a Pokemon trainer. A select life event derailed those plans, and he now lives with a disdain for Pokemon. He hasn’t seen or talked to his father in quite some time.

Detective Pikachu, played by Ryan Reynolds, is Tim’s father’s Pikachu. He is a resourceful Pokemon who has an uncanny ability to be understood by Tim, and he has absolutely no memory before the crash.

Detective Pikachu Review

Alrighty, if you don’t know already, I have a soft spot for Pokemon. Pokemon games, movies, anything really. This movie is no different. I thoroughly enjoyed it, mind you it is a little bit of a different approach. I did think the whole, non-animated people worked really well and the Pokemon looked really good.

Nostalgia works really well for getting people in the theatre, like we saw with The Super Mario movie, but once they are there the story has to be good.

Overall, the plot is pretty solid. I wouldn’t say it is the most unpredictable plot, but there are plenty of bright spots. Detective Pikachu moves along pretty quickly, after a slower start, as the details surrounding the mystery keep flowing in. This plot did do one thing I didn’t expect in the slightest, and it moves away from the battling to victory-approach.

Detective Pikachu follows a partner in crime type of style, where Pokemon battles see a lot less airtime and hold a lot less importance. I didn’t mind that, a couple more battles would have been appreciated, but I don’t think it would have fit with the plot and it would have felt too slow. It’s a nice touch to see Pokemon as characters in this, instead of a tool to help our protagonists.

The characters are awesome. The character arc for Tim is huge, and Detective Pikachu doesn’t do half bad either. The duo has a little bit of a buddy cop vibe, and the way their relationship develops helps a lot of different things. We see both characters develop in some unexpected ways due to each other and the things they go through, and it pushes the plot in a great direction.

Without some of the developed emotional connections between Tim and Pikachu, some of the later scenes would have fallen on their face. Instead, the writers pull off a great emotional ending, with a solid resolution. Leaves me hungry for a second movie, but I’m not so sure we are getting one.

Pokemon fans, go check this movie out. Non-Pokemon fans, go check this out. While this is technically a Pokemon movie, it holds a stronger plot and characters that don’t lean so heavily on Pokemon as we have seen in the past. This leaves the movie open to enjoyment by all, and it made for a great movie.