VGFlicks: Pokémon Detective Pikachu (Part 2)

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4

The investigation is on

The joke in the French version: "Speak louder, there's
pillows in my ears!"

Having nowhere else to go, Tim Goodman and Pikachu spend the night at Harry’s apartment. Pikachu, being a detective, grills Tim about the child room filled with Pokémon memorabilia in the apartment, and Tim admits that he used to like Pokémon and wanted to be a Trainer, but that ended when his mom died and his dad moved to the city. The next day, Tim wakes up to a complete mess of papers scattered in the living room, left by an excitable mouse looking for clues.

"Don't touch my stuff! I'm about to solve the Pepe Silvia
mystery!"

With the added realism, Ditto looks even more like a
chewed bubblegum than it normally does.

The only thing he found was the vial of purple smoke, labeled R. Tim thinks Lucy, the girl he met the previous day and who seems to know more about the case, could help, so the two head to the CNM offices. They arrive on Roger Clifford and his father Howard shooting a promo for the upcoming Poké-parade. All smiles while the cameras roll, yet insulting each other (with Roger specifically calling out his father’s god complex) when they’re not filmed. Lucy tries to approach Roger Clifford about the story she’s found, but he turns her down brutally due to her lack of evidence and sources.

She's into him and he doesn't notice. Damn, it hurts.

When she meets Tim and Pikachu, she takes them to her office. The records room? The broom closet would have been less cramped. Turns out, Lucy found multiple vials of that stuff, whatever it is; and she knows Harry had an informant by the docks. She subtly offers to go investigate with him at night... but he’s a dummy and miserably fails to understand her hints. Man, that’s painful to watch.

Therefore, Tim and Pikachu go alone, though this does give them time to chat. This is when we learn that Pokémon don’t really understand human speech (normally), but they do understand emotions. That’s gonna come up, right? The earlier comment that Pikachu can speak to Pokémon could have been useful, but he never really uses that skill to further the investigation...

I love that the franchise has adopted this scene and gives
other Mr. Mime the "sit and drink" routine when idle. Try
it in Pokémon Legends: Arceus. It's hilarious.

Oh! Oh! Here comes the best scene in the film. They encounter the informant, who is a Mr. Mime. It recognizes Pikachu and tries to flee, but it's bound to its own silliness and its attempt fails. It gets grilled by our duo, good cop/bad cop-style, which fails because Mr. Mime is uncooperative and has its invisible walls to further mock them. Tim finally gets some answers by playing the Pokémon’s mime games, then pretending he’s dousing the clown in gasoline and threatening it with a match. Straight-up Looney Tunes stuff. Surprisingly, that works, and the Mister mimes what the duo wants to hear: The source of the purple smoke is at the Roundhouse. Then Tim drops the “match”. The sadist side of me wishes we’d seen the outcome of that.

If there are Looney Tunes-like cartoons in the Pokémon
universe, I bet Mr. Mime are a part of it. That was a
straight-up Looney Tunes routine. Honestly, I am glad the
studio fought to keep that scene in the film, it was worth it.

Mr. Mime are creepy by design, this one is extra creepy due to the added layer of realism. In all fairness, most Pokémon in the movie kind of have the same flaw: All of them had to be made more realistic for the sake of a live-action movie. That means visible fur (or hair), feathers, scales, skin, all to an extent beyond anything done by the franchise before. Most Pokémon fans from my generation likely googled “Realistic Pokémon” at least once and got supremely creeped out by what they found. Among the concept artists for the film, you can count RJ Palmer, whose DeviantArt gallery contains a collection of Pokémon reimagined as realistic creatures, and most are every bit as unsettling as you can imagine. However, The Pokémon Company international had one mandate: All Pokémon in the movie must still be cute.

She's never seen a Bruxish.

Lucy has also never seen a Gengar in their universe, it seems.

...well, mission semi-accomplished, as your mileage might vary for several designs. There are species who look even cuter with the extra fluff, like Pikachu, of course, but also Pancham or Audino. However, some cartoony things don’t translate well to realistic...uh...ness. Aside from Mr. Mime, other Pokémon made extra creepy include Loudred and Gengar; those faces are gonna be in my nightmares. Others looked fine with less detail, not so much now; that goes for every species that lacks a nose. Jigglypuff, Snorlax, Aipom are big offenders. Machamp looks more plastic than an action figure. I already don’t like Lickitung, so the realistic one gets a big “Thanks, I hate it!” On the upside, Mewtwo is a semi-godly hairless sphynx cat, but it looks like it floated right out of Pokémon: The First Movie and onto the set of Detective Pikachu, so I can’t complain.

Roundhouse

Remember when I said Pokémon battles were illegal in Ryme City? Sure enough, if it’s illegal, then there’s a seedy place that does it away from the eyes of the law, and the Roundhouse is one such place. Pokémon Battles aren't the focus of the plot and we can tell; it almost feels more impressive to watch the few times one is happening.

Charizard does look very impressive with extra detail.
Scales, scales all over.

Tim and Pikachu arrive while a match is going on between a Blastoise and a Gengar. Missed opportunity to make it a Nidorino against a Gengar, to be honest. The Roundhouse’s owner, Sebastian (Omar Chaparro), a burly bearded shirtless dude in a furred coat, recognizes the Pikachu on Tim’s shoulder. Turns out, the last time this Pikachu (and his original owner) showed up there, the rodent scratched his coat and left a nasty scar on the face of his partner Pokémon, a Charizard. The guy demands a rematch, while Pikachu keeps snarking at both the guy and his fire-breathing dragon.

"They try to talk to me all the time but all they hear is Pika
Pika. They pat me or kiss me or stick a finger in me..."
Uh... Yuck?

Hey, look, Ryan Reynolds is an immensely funny guy, I’m never gonna take that away from him. And he’s got a huge talent for improvisational humor. It’s to the point where he contributed so much to his lines in the first two Deadpool movies that he got official co-writing credit on the second one. For Pokémon Detective Pikachu, apparently he just threw jokes in line with every possible content rating, then let whoever in charge of script pick the most appropriate ones. Some promotional stories imply that if there had been a desire to make it, an R-rated cut of this film could have been possible. Hey, you can take the man out of the Deadpool and into a Pikachu, but you can’t take the Deadpool out of the man. It’s like they handed the script to Wade Wilson rather than to Ryan Reynolds.

That’s not a dig at the actor, but improv-based scripting can be very hit-and-miss and few master it. As an example, I didn’t hate the 2016 Ghostbusters movie (though it’s super flawed), but it was easy to tell that loads of jokes in the film were ad-libbed and came out not as strong as scripted ones could have been. The only other actor I can think of who could come up with jokes on the fly for every age rating was Robin Williams. Mrs. Doubtfire is another example of a movie where the studio allegedly could have made a version for every American content age rating, from G to R, that’s how insanely talented the man was when it comes to humor.

"Maybe [a Poké-neurologist] can weigh in on the long-term
psychological effect of being strapped into a BABY SEAT...
Next to a bomb!" Scripted? Ad-libbed? One of the few
moments where I couldn't tell.

As for Reynolds’ career since the first Deadpool, it seems to be relying a lot on his similar innate ability for improvisational comedy. He can go all-out when wearing the red spandex of the Merc with a Mouth, but several of his other roles since have felt like the different degrees of 'Pool: Detective Pikachu of course, but his characters in Free Guy and Hobbs & Shaw are additional examples. It speaks volumes that fans got worried when it was reported that Reynolds wouldn’t be allowed to ad-lib on the set of Deadpool 3 (now known as Deadpool & Wolverine) due to his credit as writer and the then-ongoing Writers’ Strike. Improvisation can be a double-edged sword in other ways: When someone relies on it too much and feels the need, within a role, to comment on everything with a quip (like Pikachu frequently does here), or when similar jokes keep coming back across roles. This is starting to show for Reynolds. It’s not a huge issue, but after rewatching this movie several times to write this review, it frequently feels very noticeable when it’s a scripted moment, versus when it’s something he came up with.

Climate change has nothing to do with what looks more like
some sort of earthquake and... y'know what, forget it.

“They seem to be attracted to your increasing nudeness!” That sounds like a joke straight out of a Deadpool movie with the curse words filed off. “I don’t wear underwear. I’m not modest.” No you aren’t, Detective. When it comes to nature, you sound more the sassy type. No wonder you like coffee so much. “All I hear is consonants and all I see are nipples.” Thanks, now I can’t unsee them. "At this point, how can you not believe in climate change?" ...That one doesn't even make sense in-context!

Rodent VS Dragon

After the previous battle ends, Pikachu finds himself forced into a rematch against Sebastian’s Charizard. This is the best scene in the film, I swear. While the small mouse detective stretches to get ready for battle, Sebastian pulls out a vial of R for his lizard to inhale, making the Pokémon rabid. Pikachu is terrified, but has to fight. He tries Thunderbolt, but when he tries to call forth his electricity... nothing happens. He forgot how to use his moves. And the more he tries, the more he looks like he’s trying to poop. Low-hanging fruit, but whatever.

No time to dwell on the embarrassment, there's
a genuine danger here!

Complete pandemonium in 3... 2...

This fight scene is amazing, Charizard legitimately looks like a monster (the purple eyes don’t help), and there’s a real tension as our smaller protagonist gets flung left and right. Worried, Tim disregards safety and breaks into the arena to fight the lizard/dragon and distract him. To come to his partner’s aid, Sebastian also enters the arena, only to get smacked by his own ‘Mon and fall to the hard floor. The vials of R? They were made of glass, and several shatter from under his coat, spilling smoke in the place and making ALL the Pokémon around go completely nuts. Forget the danger of these angry creatures all around them; the dude had no shirt on, I’d wager he’s got more than a few open wounds from all the glass shards.

Thankfully, Reynolds didn't go for a brown pants joke
this time. Even the 'zard is terrified.

Chaos ensues, with rabid Pokémon attacking the audience. In the scuffle, Tim manages to make Sebastian speak and admit that the source of the R is “the doctor”. Super-basic nickname, that helps a lot, thanks. After most people and Pokémon had run off, Pikachu tries to get rid of the threatening Charizard by throwing a Magikarp at it. I’d mock that attempt, but while Charizard regains its spirits, the fish evolves and becomes a Gyarados exactly as big and terrifying as they’re supposed to be. The water dragon’ Surf attack gets everyone thrown out into the street... where the RCPD shows up to arrest whoever’s still at the Roundhouse. Including Tim and Pikachu. Whoops.

This gets them a trip to the RCPD and a stern talk from Lt. Yoshida. Tim explains that he was following the clues of his dad’s last investigation to solve it and find Harry. After all, if Pikachu is here, what says that Harry isn’t also alive? Yoshida shows a security camera video of the accident. The Lieutenant believes that nobody could have survived that. Although, considering the stuff Tim survives in this adventure, I'd assume insane pain tolerance runs in the family. Yoshida insists that Harry is dead, and Tim should give up.

First time Tim has any real heart-to-heart with someone
about his situation. Hey, it took a while, but he has a lot to
work through.

Leaving the police department, Tim and Pikachu have a talk. It’s only now that Tim realizes that his dad did care. Harry threw himself into his work out of grief, but when he did finally try to reconnect with his son, he got turned away.  Well, if there’s one mystery no longer worth solving, there’s another one that remains – and understanding that he’s been a jerk to Pikachu the whole time, Tim agrees to keep investigating why the little guy has lost his memories.

For someone who looks like a bad guy, this woman
sure likes pink a lot.

Back there, gold-plated statues of Dialga and Arceus.
Says everything you need to know.

That’s when a car pulls up. A woman comes out. Blonde hair with a pink streak, and matching pink gloves. Big-ass sunglasses at night. Without a word, she invites them into the car and drives them to Clifford Industries, where they meet with Howard Clifford, who casually evolves an Eevee into a Flareon while musing about Pokémon’s ability to evolve into better versions of themselves. Dude surrounds himself with statues of Dialga, Palkia and Arceus; maybe Roger wasn’t entirely wrong about his dad having a god complex.

Howard says that he’s the one who hired Harry and his Pikachu to investigate the source of the R. He believes it’s being produced by people working for his son, who owns CNM and has a lot of power in the city. Right, never trust a billionaire. I guess now is a good time to mention that while Howard Clifford is a character created for the film, Roger is a major character of the original Detective Pikachu game. Howard was likely created to present a father-son relationship foil to Harry and Tim's own.

These holograms are great! Clifford would make a killing
adapting them for, like, card games and stuff.

When Tim says that Harry is dead, Howard disagrees and shows a holographic projection of the car crash, revealing a wounded but alive Harry crawling out of the wreckage with his Pikachu. However, a menacing figure appears above them; Mewtwo. It saps Pikachu’s memories, then takes Harry’s entire body into its being. Howard gives Tim a new task: If he finds Mewtwo, he’ll find his father.

The hunt is on.

To Part 3!

VGFlicks: Pokémon Detective Pikachu (Part 1)

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4

If I had a nickel for every Pokémon movie I’ve watched recently whose plot is kickstarted by the disappearance/presumed death of a dad... well, I’d have two nickels, but for the Pokémon franchise, it’s not so weird that it happened twice. The franchise has a weird history with fathers. Ash’s dad was mentioned but never seen – not even at the very end, when his 10 years old son became a Pokémon Master after 25 years of hard work. And Red’s dad? There are some theories, but not much else. I can't go through all of them, and there'd probably be a full analysis to be done on the topic, from Norman to Mohn passing by Ghetsis...

What I do know, is that today's film would fit right in within that essay.

Most of these look pretty good! But some just look bizarre
with the extra detail. Snorlax, in particular. The lack of
nose does it no favors.

The Pokémon Company has been toying with the idea of a live-action Pokémon movie for a long time. Before the actor’s untimely passing in 2014, there were even rumors and hopes of getting Robin Williams to star in such a film as Professor Oak, nothing less. The Pokémon franchise already had a massive presence in the worlds of gaming and anime. However, the last Pokémon movie to see a worldwide release in theaters was Pokémon 3, all the way back in 2001; the next two films only saw limited releases. But even then, going from anime to live-action is playing in an entirely different medium. And there was already a long history of live-action adaptations of games and anime failing to capture the spirit of what they adapt. I’ve heard anime fans speak of a certain live-action Dragon Ball movie with the same level of bile I spew when I talk about that dreadful 1993 Mario movie.

Ohmygawd they're so precious. (Screenshots
taken from the "Casting Detective Pikachu"
trailer.)

Therefore, expectations were VERY high when Pokémon Detective Pikachu, a live-action film, was announced. There was an interest in not screwing things up for the franchise’s grand return to the silver screens. Pokémon is already a highly marketable franchise, but extra steps were taken to ease the franchise’s transition to a wider audience; for one, focusing on Pikachu, the mascot. Next, a story that doesn’t focus as much on battles, since the franchise still sparks controversy every now and then from people who don’t understand that trainer battles are more like a regulated sport and Pokémon never stay hurt too long.

Pokémon Detective Pikachu, directed by Rob Letterman, was released in Japan on May 3rd, 2019 and everywhere else a week later. A video game also called Detective Pikachu came out in March 2018 for the Nintendo 3DS. That one is an action/adventure game focusing on a narrative. Since the game and film’s releases were only 13 months apart, both were in production at the same time for a while, so the game definitely inspired part of the film. Since the game takes about 10 to 12 hours to finish, the movie cuts the story down to the most important plot elements, while adding stuff of its own. Let's jump in!

As per usual: Spoiler alert. I’ll be covering the whole story.

VGFlicks: Pokémon 3: Spell of the Unown (Part 3)

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Finishing this today.

Against Entei

Ash’s Charizard is ready to battle Entei, though when they headbutt each other, the pseudo-dragon is knocked back, hitting Ash, and almost sending his own trainer to fall to his doom again. Good thing he’s saved by Misty, Pikachu, Brock and Team Rocket, in their only true plot-relevant moment in the whole darn film.

This gang is like family! Yes, even Team Rocket. They're like
 the cousins nobody likes, who are only nice when the topic
of inheritance comes up. Also, lookit Pikachu, being all
"I'm helping!" as he tugs on Ash's leg.

Static screenshots just don't convey well the epicness of
some moments in this specific battle.

Ash again tries to tell Molly to drop the illusion, telling her that his friends and his Pokémon are like a family, and that she could have real Pokémon out there. But she’s still in denial, claiming her dream Pokémon from earlier were just as real. With that, the fight is on, with Entei defending its own belief of being Molly’s father. Charizard and Entei take the fight into the skies above the crystallized mansion, trading blows and fire breaths. The big fire cat has the field advantage, because Molly still clings on to the belief that it’s her papa, and therefore her Unown-powered wishes keep summoning crystal spikes for the illusory beast to land safely on... while also popping into Charizard’s path to hurt him. Ash is riding on his dragon’s back the whole time, so he’s risking death too. It’s one of the coolest battles in the whole franchise. You can tell that the stakes are high, and the deck is heavily stacked against our protagonists.

"Papa"'s about this close to going too far.

At the end of this brawl, a defeated Charizard lands on the floor by the group with a similarly weakened Ash, and Entei lands with its paw on the dragon’s neck, ready to deliver a killing blow. That’s what it took for Molly to realize that all this had gone too far, and she commands Entei to stop what it is doing. Seeing her in tears is enough to make the legendary beast let go. Brock and Misty encourage Molly on her skills and about how a good trainer knows when to stop; everyone offers kind words. When Delia extends a hand, the little girl takes it, and begs for things to be real again.

VGFlicks: Pokémon 3: Spell of the Unown (Part 2)

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Holy Hell there's so many. *readies Pokéballs*

Continuing from Part 1...

Hale Mansion Down

Team Rocket, as much as I like them and think they're
hilarious, are like a franchise tumor: Even when there's no
reason for them to be in the plot, they have to be jammed
in anyway, because they're always around.

Ash, Pikachu, Misty and Brock make their way towards the crystallized Hale Mansion. Far above them, Team Rocket observes, and instantly assumes that if the twerps are heading towards that dangerous-looking place, then there’s riches and rare Pokémon to be found. Well, they’re not entirely wrong. Still,  damn if the movie’s not grasping at straws to include them. They’re barely here, have one plot-relevant scene, and just spend the rest of their time snarking at the situation or at each other, borderline MST3K’ing the movie they star in. They come close, but their banter is interrupted by Entei appearing at the top of a tower and blowing up their hot air balloon, sending it crashing down. Thankfully, Team Rocket is as durable as roaches, so they’re unscathed; just trapped within the place. They're comic relief, which is fine since the film is otherwise light on comedy. Shout-out to what James says when they find the floating Unown: “I haven’t seen this many strange letters since the last time I placed a personal ad!”

"Ash, get down from there this second!
....Wait, where am I?"

Away from the mansion, the news crew is still reporting on the crystals, with Molly watching them on the computer, Delia and Entei by her side. Molly is made aware of Ash’s team trying to break into the mansion, seeing the trainers use their Pokémon to climb up a waterfall. Noctowl is seen taking Bulbasaur and Chikorita up, and then the two grass-types use Vine Whip to let their trainer climb up. The whole thing is caught on camera, even the moment where Ash nearly falls. Doesn’t seem like much, but it was enough to snap Delia out of hypnosis just so she could scream at her son. ...Hey, I can think of worse ways to get someone out of a trance. At least, Delia is clever enough to keep up the act around Molly, knowing that something’s not right. Molly, though, is overjoyed at seeing a trainer and his Pokémon.

Once the whole team has reached the top, they get called by Professor Oak from the PokéGear given to them by Lisa. Oak is mad that Ash took such a huge risk. Then again, it’s not exactly the first time this kid gets into adventures way beyond what a child should deal with; the climate catastrophe in “The Power of One” wasn't that long ago! At least, this call allows Oak to explain about the threat at hand: The Unown can read the minds of other beings, including humans’, and have the ability in large numbers to reshape reality and create dream worlds. The exact reason why they decided to become Molly Hale’s personal genie is unknown (...heh), or debatable, but it's crystal clear that what’s happening is the result of the little girl’s wishes.

VGFlicks: Pokémon 3: Spell of the Unown (Part 1)

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Starting the new year (and the reviews proper) with a Pokémon double feature! I’m not reviewing any Pokémon games this year, but I was dead-set on finally covering these movies, so I figured, screw it, I’mma do it anyway.

A collection of the most nostalgia-inducing
Pokémon movies.

What can I say of the Pokémon movies that hasn’t been said, really? (...No, wait! Don’t go away! Come back!) Several of us older Pokémon fans have grown up with them. Today’s movie came out in theaters in North America on April 6th, 2001. I was 8. As I mentioned before, I grew up with the first four animated films – I recall films from the Hoenn era airing on cartoon channels here, but my memories of those is spotty at best, so I’ll stick to the ones I know.

As I discussed in my reviews of the previous Pokémon movies, I love a theory that posits that the first three movies each deconstruct an aspect of the franchise. The first deconstructs these creatures as fighters, with its depictions of Pokémon used for wanton crimes, destruction, and in fights to the death. The second deconstructs them as collectibles, with one particularly terrible person’s quest to “catch them all” endangering the whole damn world. Today’s movie is “Pokémon 3: The Movie”, also known as “Spell of the Unown”, also known as “Pocket Monsters the Movie: Lord of the UNKNOWN Tower ENTEI”, and it was written by Takeshi Shudō and Hideki Sonoda. According to the theory, this movie deconstructs Pokémon as companions.

How about we see whether it’s accurate?

A void

Oh Arceus, this movie's gonna kick me right in the feels,
isn't it.

The movie wows from its very first seconds as we pan up from a field of sunflowers, onto a pretty view of a mansion. Pokémon researcher Spencer Hale (voiced by none other than Dan Green – I’ll try avoid the easy Yu-Gi-Oh jokes...) is spending time with his young daughter Molly (voiced by Amy Birnbaum), telling her about legendary Pokémon using a picture book. They flip to a page showing a group of Unown and Molly notes that this is the one her daddy is looking for. The next page shows Entei, and after Molly compares the two, Spencer plays along and pretends to be the legendary feline. They play for a bit, but they're interrupted by a video mail from Spencer’s assistant Schuyler. Since a new hidden chamber with clues about the Unown has been found, he must go and check it out.

Spencer puts his daughter to bed, asks her to keep him in her dreams, and leaves for work. Next we see him and Schuyler in a tomb, studying the engravings on the wall. The professor finds a tile on the floor showing an Unown and, picking it up, the- Aaagh! What the Heck! The Unown just appeared next to him! And it looks... otherworldly.

These things are an entire dimension above everything else.