Detective Pikachu

I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid, I dreamed of seeing Pokemon running around in real life, and that is exactly what this movie delivers! This was such a great dose of nostalgia for those born in the 90’s and I’m certain a top hit for the kids today! Despite being a far cry from the rated R Deadpool, this family movie still resonates with Ryan Reynold’s sense of humor, which delivers clever dialogue throughout the film fit for both children and their parents. I’m sure Reynolds had his daughters in mind while playing the role of this iconic adorable electric figure! ♥ And yes, though technically Detective Pikachu is not an Anime in the traditional sense, it’s definitely based off one – I PROMISE I will get real Anime into this category soon! Also, there’s a special treat for those who make it to the end of this post! Now… *SPOILERS AHEAD!*

It’s clear in the writing of this film that significant research was implemented, since the movie is riddled with throwback references and jokes. The first being, of course, the appearance of Mewtwo trapped in a vessel within the confines of a laboratory and breaking free! Points to anyone who remembers this in “Pokemon: The First Movie” from twenty years ago. Anyway, this leads to Mewtwo chasing down a car that’s fleeing the laboratory. He issues a psychic blast that sends the car over a bridge, causing it to crash and explode in flames!

Next, we meet our main character – Tim Goodman. He’s running out in a field with his friend, only to get frustrated as he realizes that his friend is trying to lure him into catching a Pokemon partner of his own. Tim believes that he doesn’t need Pokemon, even though he used to love them when he was a child. What’s worse is that his friend picked out a Cubone for him, believing they’ll be the perfect match because they’re both lonely. (Side note – Cubone was my first Pokemon card EVER, which introduced me to the franchise when I was 8 years old! The little skull-faced baby will always have a special place in my heart.) Shortly after this disastrous escapade, Tim receives news that his father, Harry Goodman, has died in a car crash.

Tim travels to Ryme city, a place where humans and Pokemon live and work together. This city was established by Howard Clifford’s ideals and research, and his son Roger Clifford, who oversees his company’s efforts. Though normally this would be a unique and cheery place, Tim is only there to get his father’s affairs in order. When he meets with Mr. Yoshida, a colleague of his father, it becomes clear that Tim’s relationship with his deceased parent was unfortunately estranged. Despite Mr. Yoshida’s words of comfort, Tim dismisses him brusquely and takes the keys to his father’s apartment.

When arriving at the residence, Tim is met with a girl named Lucy and her Psyduck (strangely reminiscent of Misty.) She’s a go-getter who believes there’s more to Harry’s story than what’s being let on. Wanting to move up in the ranks of the news industry, she believes this could be her big break, and promptly drills Tim for information… only to find that Harry is dead. Tim proceeds alone into the apartment, and sees a note left from his father. Harry really loved his son, and invited Tim to come live with him when he was a child… though Tim never came.

When realizing the missing father presence (based on the note), one wonders if this was a reference to the lack of father figures in every Pokemon game.  However, there’s no active mother in the movie either – who is present in the Pokemon games.  Apparently Detective Pikachu was also a game, but from what I understand, it does not follow the same lore of this story.

During the apartment visit, Tim accidentally releases an airborne gas, which causes a group of nearby Aipom to go crazy.  My first thoughts were Team Rocket, especially since there was an “R” on the vial.

Tim joins up with a talking Pikachu, who no other person can understand except him. He discovers that this Pikachu used to be his father’s Pokemon partner, though he has amnesia and can’t remember the details of the accident.  Pikachu doesn’t believe that Harry is dead, and convinces Tim that his father may still be alive somewhere. 

Back at the news station, an argument ensues between Howard and Roger off-screen. A ditto helps push Howard away via wheelchair into the background.  When Lucy reports to Roger about her theories on Harry’s story, she is cruelly rejected for not having a reputable source, and humiliated for her fashion choices.  Tim approaches her, and they go to speak privately in her office.  Pikachu freaks out over the presence of Psyduck, who is notorious for having destructive migraines.  The girl knows where the “R” labelled gas was located – near the docks, where Harry had a secret informant.

Tim and Pikachu go to the docks, and on the way, Pikachu explains that people don’t need to talk to Pokemon for Pokemon to understand them. Pokemon can feel what people are saying.  That’s when they stumble into Mr. Mime, and realize this is Harry’s informant!  A hysterical scene follows where they interrogate Mr. Mime, and Tim beats the clown-like Pokemon at his own game. 

They follow the clues to an underground illegal fighting arena. An agent with pink hair texts that she’s found Tim and Pikachu to an unknown source, unbeknownst to them.  An angry contender confronts Tim about the damage Pikachu did last time to his Charizard in the ring.  The contender has the information they want, but refuses to give it unless he gets a rematch.  The contender gives his Charizard a full vial’s worth of the R-gas, and it dawns on Pikachu that he’s forgotten how to use his own powers!  In order to save Pikachu, Tim jumps in the ring to face the Charizard himself, which gives Pikachu the courage to fight (physically) as well.  The contender gets knocked into the fray, and all the R-gas vials in his coat sprays into the atmosphere – causing ALL the Pokemon to go crazy!  Amidst the chaos, Tim demands to get the information from the contender, and discovers that the next clue leads to a doctor.

They return to Mr. Yoshida, who shows them the film footage of the car crash where Harry died.  Tim sits outside with Pikachu, digesting the fact that his father is really dead, and lamenting that he never took his father’s invitation to live with him (after his mother died.)  Instead Tim chose to live with his grandmother. He didn’t believe his dad cared about him since he was gone all the time for his job.  After coming to Ryme city, he realized too little too late how much his father really cared, and he regrets that he never gave his father a chance.  Pikachu tells Tim that it wasn’t his fault, and reassures him that if his dad was present, he would hug him so tight. He would say he was sorry, and that he was so proud of his son.  Despite all this, Tim says that they still need to figure out what happened to Pikachu’s memories.

The agent in the pink hair arrives, and invites them to the Corporate HQ to meet with Howard Clifford. Howard muses over the concept of evolution, and becoming the best version of oneself.  Apparently, he hired Tim’s father for the case he died on – asking Harry to trace the R-gas to its source, which led straight to his own son, Roger Clifford.  While Howard researched the link between people and Pokemon, he neglected being a parent to his own son. This caused Roger to deeply resent Pokemon and the legacy that Howard stood for.  Ever since Howard’s illness confined him to the wheelchair, Roger has taken over more and more of the company, media, and press.  Howard has additional footage that proves Harry is alive. This also reveals that Mewtwo is related to Harry’s disappearance and Pikachu’s memory loss.  Before any more information can be uncovered, the car bursts into flame, which ends the footage. And so, they must find Mewtwo. 

Tim and Pikachu meet with Lucy, who found evidence of a Pokemon Research Facility that was shut down the same night Harry went missing.  However, the news never reported on it, which means that they were intentionally keeping it secret.  She also reveals the presence of a doctor who was a psychologist for Pokemon. This doctor lost her license due to experimentation with Pokemon in an attempt to control their minds.  They sneak into the abandoned lab.  Here, we see a positive development in Tim and Pikachu’s relationship, where he allows Pikachu to ride on his shoulder for the first time.  When seeing the Pokemon in captivity, they realize that the experiments are for the purpose of influencing Pokemon evolution.

While Tim and Pikachu discover the footage of Mewtwo’s escape, Roger Clifford releases the Greninja from a remote tablet (because he sees through video cameras that they’ve broken into his facility.)  Tim and Pikachu witness that Harry was originally sent to track down Mewtwo for the purpose of experimentation. This means that Mewtwo broke out and chased Harry down for revenge! 

When they return for Lucy and Psyduck, they are ambushed by the trio of Greninja.  Psyduck is freaking out as they are fleeing into the wilderness, which triggers an explosive headache that shakes the foundation of the region!  In doing so, they have awakened the ginormous Torterra!  The team must adjust to the shifting landscape, and as a result comes one of the greatest… inconsistencies… of the movie and Pokemon lore.

Pikachu gets hit by a rolling pebble.  A tiny pebble.  No doubt this would have hurt anyone, and maybe incapacitated an infant or an elderly adult who’s already on the brink of death.  But Pikachu???  This is just another day on the job, in pretty much every Pokemon TV episode ever!  Pikachu has been hit with Fire Blasts, Solar Beams, Hydro Pumps, Earthquakes, Psychic assaults, and everything else you can imagine!  At worst, any of these cataclysmic forces would have simply resulted in an unconscious state. But this movie presents Pikachu being hit with a pebble as if he was dealt a fatal wound beyond any hope of survival!  The only reason Pikachu doesn’t die is because Tim communicates this need to save his partner through feelings to a hoard of Bulbasaur. These grassy baby dinosaurs lead them directly to none other than… Mewtwo!  Against all expectations, Mewtwo heals Pikachu!

Mewtwo grants them a flashback vision which shows that Pikachu was integral to Mewtwo’s escape!  Before he can reveal any more information, Roger Clifford captures Mewtwo with enhanced technology, while Tim and Pikachu get away.  Pikachu is infuriated, believing that he betrayed Harry, and is afraid that he will betray Tim too.  When Tim holds on to Pikachu, begging him to stay, Pikachu accidently shocks Tim.  Devastated, Pikachu concludes that he only hurts the people who need him, which is why he needs to go. 

Tim, Lucy, and Psyduck return to the city for the Pokemon Parade.  Tim tells her to break the news to the public, and he will inform Howard of their findings.  All the Pokemon floats are being filled with air in the streets.  When Lucy tries to tell a major news lady the information that they discovered, the news lady dismisses Lucy, passing off her coat and telling Lucy to fetch a coffee order.  Lucy keeps the coat, and masquerades as the news reporter instead. 

Pikachu walks alone on a road, and discovers Greninja stars near the car crash site.  Pikachu realizes that Mewtwo was trying to protect him and Harry, not attack them!  This means Howard would have seen this in the footage and intentionally chosen to hide the truth from them!  Tim is in trouble!

When Tim reaches Howard to warn him of Mewtwo’s capture, he finds Howard with a strange device on his head.  Mewtwo is brought in with the same device around his head and screams at Tim to run!  Howard activates the device and slumps in the wheelchair, possessing Mewtwo’s body for himself!  Howard (in Mewtwo’s body) reveals that Harry had started asking too many questions, and so he had no choice but to try and kill him!  He further embellishes that he didn’t just do this for his own illness, but for all people to evolve to the best versions of themselves!  Mewtwo is a man-made Pokemon (from the DNA of Mew) who has the ability to transfer human souls into the bodies of Pokemon, so long as the Pokemon are in a crazed mental state. (While Mewtwo never had this ability in previous lore, it’s entirely possible that during the experimentation process in this movie, the doctors and scientists may have given him that power.) This is why Howard had the R-gas developed…  Tim realizes that the R-gas has been infused into the giant floats of the parade, right before Mewtwo knocks him out!

Mewtwo unleashes the R-gas, and uses his power to transfer people into the bodies of their pokemon!  Lucy issues a warning to everyone on the public news, but is transferred into Psyduck’s body.  When Pikachu arrives, Lucy finds him and tells him that Howard is possessing Mewtwo.  Pikachu goes on the offensive, gathering static electricity from the giant balloons still intact, and on the wings of Pidgeot to face off against Mewtwo’s might!  When Tim wakes up, he sees Pikachu battling outside the skyscraper window, and hears thumping in a nearby closet.  When opening the closet, Roger falls out gagged and bound.  Roger tries to warn him, and when Tim turns, he’s faced with… a second Roger?  But it turns into the pink-haired agent… and then it’s Ditto!

While fighting with Ditto, Tim is sent sprawling out a broken window, hanging by one hand.  Mewtwo taunts Pikachu, saying that Harry and Tim are done for!  Pikachu uses Bolt Tackle to square off against Mewtwo, giving the real Roger time to save Tim. Mewtwo snatches Pikachu, dangling him in the air, and snarls that “Pikachu can never beat Mewtwo in battle!”  But Pikachu was only trying to distract Mewtwo… Tim pulls the psychic control device off Howard’s human form, giving the real Mewtwo control of his own body again! 

Mewtwo immediately goes through the city, restoring people and Pokemon back to their original state.  Roger congratulates Lucy for knowing about this story well before anyone else did, and gives her a highlighted spot on the evening news. His only condition is that she announces that he will do everything he can to right the wrongs of this company, starting with the Pokemon who were experimented on.

Mewtwo returns and says there is one more thing which must be made right – the matter of Pikachu’s memories.  Mewtwo reveals to Tim that his father has been with him all along. He finishes the flashback of the accident, showing where Pikachu chose to save Harry by temporarily allowing his soul to inhabit Pikachu’s body.  Mewtwo then releases Harry from Pikachu’s body, and so father and son are reunited!

When Tim is about to return home, he changes his mind and asks his dad if he can stay with him for a while longer.  Harry agrees with a warm and happy heart, of course with Pikachu tagging along.  When Harry asks Tim what he’s interested in doing for a career path, Tim says he’ll give detective work a try… just like his father.

And there you have it! A tale of bonding between father and son – maybe it’s just my imagination, but it’s not too often that I see those anymore. It’s quite refreshing to say the least! The movie is now available for purchase on DVD and Blu-Ray! I strongly recommend renting it from Redbox if you haven’t seen it already. As for that “treat” I mentioned, one of my video game friends creates these hand-made dolls, which are also available for purchase! Check out the links below to see more of her work, including the Instagram at the very bottom. ♥ Furthermore, I would LOVE to hear your guys’ thoughts on Detective Pikachu in the comments section below!

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Available for purchase: Mew and Chicorita!

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