“POKEMON DETECTIVE PIKACHU” — 3 stars — Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton, Bill Nighy, Ken Watanabe, voice of Ryan Reynolds; PG (action/peril, some rude and suggestive humor, and thematic elements); in general release; running time: 104 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Rob Letterman’s “Pokemon Detective Pikachu” managed to hit just the right balance between fan service and general audience appeal. It’s no box-office threat to “Avengers: Endgame,” but it’s a fun enough alternative that the kids, and even the grown-ups, should enjoy.
Based on the popular game and set in a kind of alternate world where humans co-exist with an assortment of campy, cartoon-like animals, “Detective Pikachu” is a whodunit story about a young man in search of his missing father.
Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) is an insurance appraiser in his early 20’s who has sacrificed his childhood ambitions for adult security. As a boy, he aspired to train Pokemon, a highly animated race of multicolored, super-powered characters. But after the death of his mother and alienation from his father, Tim has settled into a more routine career path.
When his detective father is mysteriously killed, Tim travels to Ryme City to settle his affairs. Built by a visionary tycoon named Howard Clifford (Bill Nighy), Ryme City is the center of the human-Pokemon universe, designed to bring both races into peaceful harmony. In Ryme City, humans and Pokemon — who cannot understand each other’s languages — pair up in a kind of symbiotic arrangement.
Ryme City is far from utopia, however, and Tim’s own resentment only grows after visiting with his dad’s old boss Yoshida (Ken Watanabe). Later, while looking through some of his dad’s things, he’s exposed to a mysterious purple gas called “The R,” attacked by a rabid pack of Pokemon and finally stumbles onto his dad’s old partner, a fuzzy yellow creature called a Pikachu (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) who wears a deerstalker and claims to have the power to deliver electric shocks. He also claims that Tim’s father is still alive.
Strangely, Tim can understand Detective Pikachu, and vice-versa. Using their unique bond, the pair set out to discover what happened to Tim’s father, and with the help of an aspiring reporter named Lucy (Kathryn Newton), they uncover a diabolical plot involving the purple gas and an all-powerful Pokemon named Mewtwo (Kotaro Watanabe).
For a movie inspired by such a goofy pop culture phenomenon, “Detective Pikachu” feels energetic but remarkably restrained, and Letterman’s team has done a nice job of creating a world that blends the familiar with the CGI-fantastic. There’s clearly a lot going on here that’s intended to reward longtime fans, but if you’re coming at the film from more of an outside perspective, “Detective Pikachu” provides just enough context to get your feet on the ground.
Part of the film’s appeal is rooted in the familiar sounds of Reynolds’s voice, and the actor performs Detective Pikachu with a family-friendly level of his popular snark and wit. We’re a long way from “Deadpool” territory here.
Overall, thanks to some fun effects and a story that does the job without breaking any new ground, “Pokémon Detective Pikachu” probably won’t be anyone’s favorite movie of 2019, but it's much more entertaining than comparable family fare, like the recent “Ugly Dolls” movie, and is a fun PG-option for fans and non-fans alike.
Rating explained: “Pokemon: Detective Pikachu” is rated PG for some action violence and mild crude humor.