Detective Pikachu (film)

Pokémon Detective Pikachu is a 2019 fantasy comedy film and the first live-action film based on the Pokémon franchise. It is loosely based on the 2016 video game Detective Pikachu. Directed by Rob Letterman, who co-wrote it with Dan Hernandez, Benji Samit, and Derek Connolly, the film stars Ryan Reynolds as the voice and motion capture of Pikachu, with Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton, Suki Waterhouse, Omar Chaparro, Chris Geere, Ken Watanabe and Bill Nighy in live-action roles. The plot follows Detective Pikachu and his partner Tim Goodman as they attempt to solve the mysterious disappearance of Tim's father, Harry. Filming took place from January to May 2018 in Colorado, England, and Scotland.

Detective Pikachu was released in Japan on May 3, 2019, and in the United States on May 10, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $433 million against a $150 million budget, becoming the second-highest grossing video game film adaptation at the time.

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, and participating in Pokémon battles, being a Trainer, and having Poké Balls is illegal. Tim is informed by Harry's friend, Lieutenant Hideo Yoshida, that Harry was killed in a car accident. Tim travels to Ryme City and goes to Harry's apartment to sort things out, being surprised by Harry's police 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 rabid 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 the creator 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. Thinking that he betrayed Harry, Pikachu leaves Tim.

While sadly singing the Pokémon Theme, he comes across the scene of the crash and finds a water shuriken. He deduces that the Greninjas were sent to cause the crash and Mewtwo was trying to protect him and Harry from them. Remembering what Howard said about advanced holographic imagery, he 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 also 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 genetically-modified Ditto; the real Roger was tied up and gagged because Roger also disapproved of his father’s plot. Tim manages to defeat Howard by removing the headset on his head, 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 performed 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 also Detective Pikachu's partner and the only person capable of hearing him speak.
  • Max Fincham as the young Tim.
• Kathryn Newton as Lucy Stevens, a junior reporter who is accompanied by a Psyduck.
• Suki Waterhouse as Ms. Norman alias Howard Clifford's Ditto, Howard's genetically modified Ditto who poses as a female bodyguard for him while hiding its unchanged eyes with sunglasses.
• Omar Chaparro as Sebastian, a Pokémon Trainer who runs a secret Ryme City Pokémon battle arena and is accompanied by a 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 a Snubbull. Watanabe also voiced his own lines in the Japanese version.
• Bill Nighy as Howard Clifford, Roger's father and the disabled 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 the mayor of Ryme City.
• 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 DJ who performs at Sebastian's Pokémon arena. Abbie Murphy appears as Cynthia McMaster. 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 the Home Alone film within a film Angels with Filthy Souls, via archive footage from the former film.

Production

Development

Following a bidding war in April 2016 which resulted in Legendary Entertainment's acquisition of the film rights to Pokémon in, a live-action adaptation of Detective Pikachu was announced in July that same year, as a collaboration between Legendary and the Pokémon Company. The Pokémon Company and Rob Letterman wanted to adapt Detective Pikachu because of their interest in making a film that focused on another character besides Ash Ketchum, the protagonist of the Pokémon animated TV series. On the premise, Letterman stated, "The Pokémon Company, they've already made many, many movies of Ash, and they came to Legendary with this idea of using a new character. So when I came onboard, I was pitched this character of Detective Pikachu, and I fell in love with the story behind it." The idea of talking Pokémon originated from an early concept for the 1990s TV series, but was scrapped when the original game developer, Game Freak, was unsatisfied with the concept. The idea was revived for the 2016 Detective Pikachu spin-off game. Letterman said that they "spent a year designing all the characters ahead of shooting so that we could get it all right".