Detective Pikachu Looks Good

I had a really solid Pokémon team back in the day. Mewtwo and Mew, obviously—those were the dream picks. Charizard because I raised it from the start. Articuno for the ice storms. Gyarados because there was still a Magikarp inside it somewhere, and that meant something to me. And Dragonite, because let’s be honest, in a real fight you can’t rely on an Eevee no matter how cute it is.

I loved the early days of Pokémon, so when I heard they were making a live-action Detective Pikachu movie with Ryan Reynolds voicing a crime-solving Pikachu, my reaction was just no. A 3D cartoon Pikachu in a world of normal people and Pokémon hybrids—why would I want that when I could just rewatch the original anime? Let Ash and Misty and Brock take care of me. The whole thing felt doomed before it even existed.

Then the trailer dropped and… okay, fine. It didn’t look bad. The world was interesting. Pikachu was likable. Justice Smith’s premise—hunting for his missing father—worked. It was based on that detective game. I figured it might be decent.

My one condition was always going to be that my favorite Pokémon had to show up. Otherwise what’s the point? Fortunately Mewtwo was already confirmed, so I was back in.