Who Framed Detective Pikachu?
What a world. American cinema seems to be trying just about everything these days. Never did I ever think that Hollywood would attempt a live-action Pokemon movie. Thanks to computer animation, there are no limits to the imagination in the silver screen. Geek culture has also risen in ascendance, with obsessions that were once obscure and derided now made hip and bankable. The very existence of Detective Pikachu reveals just how far these trends have come.
Detective Pikachu is also a testament to the endurance of the Pokemon brand. This is partially due to Pokemon’s three-pronged marketing strategy of integration into anime, trading cards, and video games. While the anime and the trading cards have ebbed and flowed in popularity, the games have consistently brought quality to the Pokemon name. Each entry is a variation on the winning formula from Red and Blue, open exploration, catching wild Pokemon, and turn-based battles. Every new game adds more Pokemon, different regions, and new features to keep things from growing stale. This format lends itself very well to nostalgia, as each generation has their own first game, and each individual experience so reliant on personal choices that the memories are all unique. Pokemon Go only furthered the mania, forever changing the way children play outside.
Even though Pokemon is originally from Japan, it has integrated itself so completely into the American subconscious, that it has virtually become a part of our national pop culture. Pikachu is probably more familiar to American children than Mickey Mouse, Snoopy, Bugs Bunny, or Popeye. Pokemon games have become as much a part of growing up in America as Marvel comics, Disney movies, or Dr. Seuss books. Video games are the primary form of entertainment for young people today. It only makes sense that Hollywood would try its hand at adapting this material, but that track record has been poor to say the least.
Most video game movies fail because the key to a successful video game is the gameplay. That personal interaction is lost on film, and as a result, there’s always an energy lacking from these adaptations. The events in these games are also so fantastical, that Hollywood finds a need to tone it down. Super Mario Bros, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li are so divorced from the enthusiasm of their source material that the final products are dour and bland. Mortal Kombat had enough 90’s camp to make for an entertaining martial arts flick, but lacked the over-the-top bloodshed that made the game notorious. Games have had slightly more success as anime, with Persona 4: The Animation, Castlevania, and of course, Pokemon. Obviously, Pokemon isn’t of the same storytelling quality as the others, but it still does a decent job of conveying what made the games appealing.
Of course, the anime resulted in many Pokemon movies. The first three were widely released theatrically in the United States. The later ones were either sent directly to video or had a limited theatrical release. The films are serviceable as Pokemon stories, but are limited by the focus on Ash Ketchum, who is little more than a stand-in for the series’ youngest fans. Of course, Ash will always be needed, but why must all of the Pokemon movies and shows center around him? The world of Pokemon is so wide that countless stand-alone stories could be told. This is part of why I found Detective Pikachu so refreshing. It didn’t just recycle what we’ve already seen before.
Detective Pikachu is as close as we’ll get to a remake of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? A neo-noir film where humans interact with cartoon creatures, and Justice Smith has to team up with an electric mouse to solve a mystery. Ryan Reynolds steals the show as the fast-talking, coffee-addicted Detective Pikachu. It’s funny to see how quickly fans warmed to the idea of non-psychic Pokemon talking. Lest we forget, people howled in the theaters when Pikachu had one line of dialogue in Pokemon: I Choose You. Of course, Psyduck, Snubull, and Mr. Mime also have moments to shine. As with Roger Rabbit, part of the fun is pointing out all of the cameos onscreen.
As opposed to some other live-action adaptations of geek nostalgia, Detective Pikachu embraces and celebrates its fantastical elements. Consider the recent Power Rangers film, which had great characters, but went for a gritty and alien look for the costumes and Zords. The final result is visually ugly, which goes against the toy element that once made Power Rangers so successful. Seeing the Pokemon rendered as real animals can be a little jarring at first, but they soon come to grow on you. After all, they still have their colors and characteristics; faithful representations of the original designs. Detective Pikachu also remembers that it’s a kids’ product, so unlike Michael Bay’s Transformers series, it doesn’t throw in excessive violence or sex. There’s something charming in that.
One of the best things about Detective Pikachu is that it includes the theme songs from both the anime and the games. Hollywood produced six Transformers films, and not a single one of them had the theme song. The fact that Detective Pikachu did shows that they cared about the material. We’ve gone past the point of know-nothing producers making these movies. The fans are making the movies now, and what enjoyable movies they are. I only hope that Detective Pikachu not only kicks off the start of more diverse Pokemon films, but of more video game films done by gamers.
Originally published at http://sansuthecat.blogspot.com.
