Detective Pikachu — news, coverage & facts — IJR

Plot

Tim Goodman gave up his dream of being a Pokémon Trainer following the death of his mother and his estrangement from his father Harry, a police detective who moved to Ryme City, where humans and Pokémon live together side by side, while participating in Pokémon battles, being a Trainer and having Poké Balls are illegal. Tim is informed by Harry's friend, Lieutenant Hideo Yoshida, that Harry died in a car accident. Tim travels to Ryme City and goes to Harry's apartment to sort things out, being surprised by Harry's Pokémon partner, a deerstalker-clad amnesiac Pikachu, whom only Tim can understand. Tim accidentally releases a purple gas known as "R" from a vial he finds in Harry's office; they are attacked by a group of Aipom who became aggressive under the gas' influence.

Pikachu believes that Harry survived the crash, as the police never found his body. They meet an informant of Harry's, a Mr. Mime, who directs them to an illegal underground Pokémon battle arena. The arena is raided by police and Tim and Pikachu are arrested. They are brought to Yoshida, who reveals footage of Harry's crash, explaining that Harry having survived would have been impossible.

Tim and Pikachu are contacted by Howard Clifford, the founder and former chairman of Clifford Industries and of Ryme City. He uses advanced holographic imagery to show them the crash; the hologram was recreated from police footage and allows them to see what police officers cannot or do not want them to see. The hologram reveals that Harry was abducted by a genetically engineered Pokémon called Mewtwo, who seemingly caused the crash and erased Pikachu's memory of the incident. Howard reveals that his son, the current chairman of Clifford Enterprises, Roger Clifford, is the mastermind of the R gas. Tim and Pikachu recruit junior reporter Lucy Stevens and her Psyduck, and travel to the abandoned genetics laboratory Harry was investigating. Through advanced holographic imagery, Tim and Pikachu discover that Mewtwo's DNA was used to create the R gas and Harry was tasked with capturing him. Roger releases power-enhanced Greninja that attack them. They manage to escape and survive a field of growth-enhanced Torterra, but Pikachu becomes severely injured. A Bulbasaur leads Tim and Pikachu to Mewtwo, who heals Pikachu. Mewtwo begins to reveal how Pikachu helped him escape from the lab, only to be abducted by Roger. Believing that he betrayed Harry, Pikachu leaves Tim.

Pikachu soon comes across the scene of the crash and finds a water shuriken. He deduces that the Greninja were sent to cause the crash and Mewtwo was trying to protect him and Harry from them. Remembering that Howard's hologram included the specific angle of the Greninja attack, which was a detail that police reports lacked, Pikachu realizes that Howard is the true mastermind behind the R gas. Back at Ryme City, Tim goes to Howard's office where Howard reveals his true nature. He uses a neural link headband to transfer his consciousness from his body into Mewtwo. He explains how Mewtwo can fuse humans with Pokémon when they are in a crazed state. He believes that merging humans and Pokémon is the key to future prosperity. He additionally reveals he arranged for Harry to be killed when he learned too much about his plot.

Howard unleashes the gas on the city from parade balloons and starts fusing humans with Pokémon, including Lucy and Yoshida. Pikachu arrives and fights Mewtwo, while Tim discovers that Roger, who appeared to be working in tandem with his father, is actually Howard's Pokémon partner, a Ditto; the real Roger was tied up and gagged because he additionally disapproved of his father's plot. Tim manages to defeat Howard by removing his headset, freeing Mewtwo, who separates the people from their Pokémon. As Howard is arrested, Roger vows to undo his father's misdeeds and tasks Lucy with spearheading the media coverage.

Mewtwo explains that Harry had tried to save him from Howard and helped him escape, but was attacked by the Greninja. He decided to heal Harry's wounded body, which was when Pikachu volunteered to have his consciousness fused with Harry's in order to continue their investigation. As a result, the experience erased both Harry's and Pikachu's memories. Mewtwo separates the two and Tim reunites with his father in his human body. Tim then decides to stay in Ryme City to become a detective and spend more time with Harry and Pikachu.

Cast

Ryan Reynolds as:

Detective Pikachu, a world-class detective and exceptionally intelligent talking Pikachu that only Tim can understand. Reynolds provided both the voice and motion capture for the character.

Ikue Ōtani provides Detective Pikachu's normal voice as heard by the citizens of Ryme City other than Tim. Ōtani reprises her role from the Pokémon anime and video games.

Harry Goodman, Tim's missing widowed father and a Ryme City police detective.

Justice Smith as Tim Goodman, a former aspiring Pokémon Trainer and insurance agent looking for his missing father. He is additionally Detective Pikachu's partner and the only person capable of hearing him speak.

Max Fincham additionally portrayed the character's younger self in a flashback.

Kathryn Newton as Lucy Stevens, a junior reporter who is accompanied by her Psyduck.

Suki Waterhouse as Ms. Norman, a female bodyguard for Howard Clifford who is actually his genetically modified Ditto.

Omar Chaparro as Sebastian, a Pokémon Trainer who runs a secret Ryme City Pokémon battle arena and is accompanied by his Charizard.

Chris Geere as Roger Clifford, Howard's son who is president of CMN and Clifford Industries.

Ken Watanabe as Lieutenant Hideo Yoshida, a veteran Ryme City police lieutenant and friend of Harry who is accompanied by his Snubbull. Watanabe additionally provided his own lines in the Japanese version.

Bill Nighy as Howard Clifford, Roger's disabled father and the visionary behind Ryme City and founder of Clifford Industries.

Rita Ora as Doctor Ann Laurent, a scientist for Clifford Enterprises experimenting on Mewtwo.

Karan Soni as Jack, Tim's friend who is a Pokémon Trainer and encourages him to catch a Cubone.

Josette Simon as "Grams", Tim's grandmother who took care of him after the death of her daughter, Tim's mother.

Kadiff Kirwan as Ryme City's unnamed mayor.

Rina Hoshino and Kotaro Watanabe as Mewtwo (vocal performance/motion capture), a human-made Pokémon that is targeted by Howard Clifford for its abilities.

Rachael Lillis as Jigglypuff (via archival recordings).

Additionally, Diplo appears as the disk jockey who performs at Sebastian's Pokémon arena while serving as its master of ceremonies. Abbie Murphy appears as Cynthia McMaster. Simone Ashley and Edward Davis appear as a couple whom Tim attempts to convince he has a talking Pikachu to. Ryoma Takeuchi, who provides the Japanese dubbed voice of Tim, has a cameo as a Pokémon Trainer in a video Tim watches. In a deleted scene, Rob Delaney appears as a co-worker of Tim at the insurance company. Ralph Foody and Michael Guido respectively appear as Johnny and Snakes, characters from Home Alone's film within a film Angels with Filthy Souls, via archive footage from the former film.

Box office

Detective Pikachu grossed $144 million in the United States and Canada, and $289 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $433 million, against a production budget of $150 million.

In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside Tolkien, Poms and The Hustle, and was projected to gross $50–70 million from 4,202 theaters. The film made $20.7 million on its first day, including $5.7 million from Thursday night previews, both records for a film based on a video game. Detective Pikachu went on to debut to $54.4 million, finishing second at the weekend box office behind holdover Avengers: Endgame, though it did top the Friday box office on its opening day. At the time, it was the best-ever opening for a video game film, (the record was broken the following year by Sonic the Hedgehog with $58 million) and was also the sixth-highest total for a film that did not debut number one at the box office. In its second weekend, the film made $24.8 million, finishing third behind John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and Avengers: Endgame, and then made $13.3 million in its third weekend, finishing fourth.

In other territories, the film was projected to debut to $90–120 million from 62 countries, including $40–60 million in China. Prior to its worldwide release, the film grossed $21 million from openings and previews in several international markets, including Japan, through Thursday. The film had an international opening weekend debut of $103 million (and a five-day debut of $112.4 million), dethroning Avengers: Endgame at the top of the international box office. Detective Pikachu topped the international box office again in its second weekend. Despite breaking records, the film fell below expectations due to the high budget.

In Japan, the film opened at number three (behind Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire and Avengers: Endgame), grossing ¥948 million ($8.6 million) in its opening weekend, before topping the box office in its second weekend, with a cumulative ¥1,465,395,700 ($13,327,837). In China, Detective Pikachu had an opening day gross of $16.4 million, and topped the box office with a weekend debut of $40.8 million. It topped the Chinese box office again in its second week, with a cumulative $69.3 million. In the United Kingdom, it topped the box office with a £4.9 million ($6.6 million) debut. As of May 26, 2019, the film's largest international markets are China ($84.4 million), Japan ($21.2 million), the United Kingdom ($13.6 million), Mexico ($10.4 million), and Germany ($9.5 million).

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 68% based on 316 reviews and an average rating of 6/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Pokémon Detective Pikachu may not take its wonderfully bizarre premise as far as it could have, but this offbeat adaptation should catch most – if not all – of the franchise's fans." It was the first international theatrical live-action video game adaptation to maintain a "fresh" rating and it was the highest rated video game adaptation on the site, until it was surpassed by The Angry Birds Movie 2. On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 53 out of 100, based on reviews from 48 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, and general audiences polled by PostTrak gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

Scott Mendelson of Forbes called the film "the best video game movie ever" and wrote, "Detective Pikachu works because it's a good movie first and a promising franchise-starter or a brand cash-in second. It's a real film, rooted in character arcs and narrative twists with just enough raw emotion and personal stakes to make the significant special effects moments matter beyond spectacle." CNET's Sean Keane called it the best film ever based on a video game, saying it achieves the balance of appealing to existing fans as well as potential new audiences. Keane praised Reynolds performance and called the film "an entertaining romp with plenty of heart". Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent gave the film 3/5 stars, noting the film's similarities to Who Framed Roger Rabbit and that it did not attempt to familiarize viewers with the franchise, but stated that it "feels more intriguing than it does derivative, and it's a delight for fans to see how immersive this world actually feels." Simran Hans of The Observer gave the film 4/5 stars, writing: "What's clever is the way this live-action spinoff exploits nostalgia for the family-friendly blockbusters of the late 1980s and the 1990s... rather than the Japanese "Pocket Monsters" themselves."

Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Michael Rechtshaffen said, "Although the script ... tends to compartmentalize the comedy, action and emotional bits rather than organically blending them all together, Letterman's energetic direction manages to hold everything aloft." Alonso Duralde's mixed review for TheWrap describes the film as feeling "both ambitious and lazy, frenzied and sluggish". Peter Debruge of Variety was critical of the plot and the special effects: "Though consistent with the games ... the story of Detective Pikachu doesn't allow nearly enough Pokémon-related action, while the quality of the computer animation ... falls far short of the basic level of competency audiences have come to expect from effects movies." Debruge was also critical of the central pairing of Pikachu and Tim Goodman, saying the relationship lacks chemistry. Kate Erbland of Indiewire gave the film a mixed review, praising the "awe-inspiring" visuals but criticizing the messy plot, saying that "no amount of technical polish can detract from a thin narrative that confuses far more than it amuses", and complaining that many of the best jokes were in the trailer.

Detective Pikachu

Comments

Detective Pikachu

Trailer

Where to watch

Family guide

Cast & crew

Comments

Where does Detective Pikachu rank?