So Deadpool and Tsunekazu Ishihara walk into a bar... Detective Pikachu review

If you don't know who Tsunekazu Ishihara is, that's your problem.

I went into this movie expecting a fun comedy that didn't take itself too seriously, and I got exactly what I came for.

Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (to use its full name, I keep forgetting when I look it up on IMDb and wondering why it doesn't come up when I type DET) is funny, creative and fairly original, because it takes lots of tropes and characters that already exist and puts them together in new scenarios.

WARNING: before you start reading this review, you should know that I am NOT a Pokémon expert, not even slightly. I watched some episodes of the cartoon, which I only just realized was in fact redubbed animé. Even that I only watched sometimes, because it was on CITV and I was more of a CBBC kid.

I never played the card game or the video games even though pretty much all my peers were in the late 90's, partly because the cards were banned at my school (and, to the best of my knowledge, still are).

So don't get mad if I get some of my facts wrong. Also, you may need some basic knowledge of how Pokémon work in order to fully understand the review.

WARNING: SPOILERS FROM HEREON IN. THEY START MINOR BUT EVENTUALLY REVEAL MAJOR PLOT POINTS.

We start our movie in a science lab, with a chamber containing MewTwo (I remember him from the cartoon! Wasn't he a bad guy?), who apparently is evolved from "The Ancient Mew" (are we going to learn more about The Ancient Mew? Is there only one? Is it dead? Is it enslaved? Is it some kind of psychic hivemind for the Pokémon? So many questions, none of which are ever answered)

So MewTwo, being extremely powerful, somehow manages to escape the small glass container it's (he's?) held in. Shocker.

So now, 30 seconds into the movie and 6 minutes into this review, we get the credits. Normally I wouldn't mention the opening credits, because it's just saying the people in the movie and some of the major crew.

In Detective Pikachu though, the credits are in some kind of bizarre pseudo-Japanese font. Still readable, but only just. Fortunately, we're now being introduced to something else from the Pokémon universe - the Pokéball. This is also where we meet our main protagonist Tim.

Tim's mate Jack (played by Karan Soni, who you might recognize as Dopinder the taxi driver from Deadpool) is trying to get Tim a Pokémon, which I assume is the equivalent of a normal movie friend trying to get the protagonist a new girl/boyfriend.

WARNING: AT THIS POINT DURING THE WRITING OF THE REVIEW I WATCHED GOTG VOL 2 (review soon), SO MY MEMORY OF THIS MOVIE MAY BECOME A BIT HAZY

Jack finds some wild Pokémon and apparently, the Pokémon has to choose the trainer as well as the other way round, which was news to me. So the Pokémon rejects Tim and doesn't get in the Pokéball, they fight and Tim swears off Pokémon forever. Again.

So then Tim gets home and he finally has phone signal, and he has a load of voicemails saying his dad Harry has been killed.

The rest of the movie is set in London. They call it Ryme city, but I know a Cheese Grater when I see one.

So apparently Bill Nighy has designed London Ryme City to be a place for humans and Pokémon to live side by side instead of having the Pokémon fight each other.

Tim goes to his dad's apartment, where he meets Lucy, a wannabe reporter who thinks that Harry's death is suspicious. She then disappears in a puff of smoke with her Pokémon Psyduck. 

When Tim gets into the apartment, he finds Pikachu, as per the trailer, and he also discovers a chemical called 'R' (very scientific) that makes Pokémon go wild if inhaled.

From here, I can remember most things, but not necessarily in the right order, so I'm just going to touch on some of the most memorable moments:

The Mr Mime interrogation scene: This was in the trailer, and involves the interrogation of a character who just happens to not be able to speak, The scene was almost removed for being too creepy, but I'm glad it wasn't, and it seems that a lot of fans agree with me, because it's a very funny and clever parody of the traditional film noir trope, even if it does get VERY dark at the end. I won't spoil how.

The 'living forest' scene: At one point, Lucy, Psyduck, Tim and Pikachu break into a lab and discover a group of Torterra (the plural of a Pokémon is the same as the singular) as part of an extreme growth experiment, and assume that it hasn't worked yet because they're only about a metre long.

Later, while investigating the rest of the lab, they set off an alarm and have to run away through a forest. suddenly, the ground starts to move, and the group gets separated several times, yet it's only once Pikachu sees an EYE that he figures, "Oh, THESE are the giant Torterra!"

Hey 'World Class Detective!' The rest of us figured that out ten minutes ago!

Pikachu gets injured: not long after the giant Torterra scene, Pikachu gets injured (Drowned? Physical injury? Hard to tell, but not as hard as figuring out how Fantine died in Les Mis). Lucy wants to abandon him for dead (dark much?), but Tim says he needs to rescue him. 

Me: Can you give him CPR? Heimlich the water out of his lungs? Give him a plaster?

Tim: We need to get him to a Healer Pokémon. (I had no idea what these were, and tbh I'm not much more enlightened now, but apparently, you can take injured Pokémon to them and they will be healed)

So they follow a Bulbasaur and some flying mushrooms (Morelull, apparently - I swear they're just making them up now) and put Pikachu on some kind of treestump? Operating table? Sacrificial altar? Then they are joined by the Healer Pokémon - MewTwo (remember him? He's in this movie too!)

MewTwo is then captured by Bill Nighy's son (I've just given up remembering people's names at this point in the review - see below for the full list) and taken away in a van.

I wanna be the very best: The original Pokémon TV series theme song occurs several times in the movie, most notably once as an instrumental background for some TV cast by Bill Nighy (Howard Something? Something Howard?) and his son.
The other notable version is my personal favourite, when Pikachu SPOILER ALERT realises that he allowed MewTwo to escape, and decides he's too dangerous to stay with Tim any more, and he sadly wanders down the road, singing the theme song. According to a video I watched, this is supposedly a very sad scene, but at least in the cinema I was in, everyone found it hilarious and just laughed through the entire scene.
I do not feel guilty about this.

The underground Pokémon fight club (Part I): Of course, Bill Nighy outlawed Pokémon fighting, so this club is illegal. Tim and Pikachu go there because they need to get some information from Shirtless Trainer Guy, but Shirtless Trainer Guy won't give them the info they need unless Pikachu fights his Charizard. Pikachu agrees, and the battle starts, but not before Shirtless Trainer Guy gives Charizard some 'R'.
Tim advises Pikachu that Volt Tackle would be his best move, but Pikachu is too shy and can't pull it off, so tries to tire Charizard out by running around in circles. Eventually, Tim breaks into the battle arena to stop the fight, and Shirtless Trainer Guy stops him, bringing us to:

The underground Pokémon fight club (Part II): Pikachu finds a Magikarp. Magikarp are renowned as being the most useless Pokémon. They have 0 attacks and are literally a fish out of water. Their one advantage (and therefore Pikachu's plan) is that if they are suddenly exposed to water they turn into Gyarados, who is much bigger and scarier.
I can't remember what happens next, but they get the information they need and leave.

Jigglypuff's singing: I had forgotten this, but apparently, in the cartoon Jigglypuff would frequently sing, putting all those around her (Him? It?) to sleep. Detective Pikachu uses this, and in the background of a bar where Tim and Pikachu are talking, a Jigglypuff is singing karaoke, next to a sleeping person who it turns out is actually Phil Collins!

The Climax: The Breakdown SERIOUS SPOILER WARNING

The entire climax is set at a parade celebrating 10 years of London Ryme City, with large balloons of Pokémon.
The guy who we thought was the bad guy then realised was a good guy is actually the bad guy.
The guy who the bad good bad guy told us was a bad guy was actually a good (ish) guy.
The bad guy's assistant wasn't real, she was actually a Ditto in disguise, hence the sunglasses.
'R' enables the Pokémon to merge with humans.
The balloons at the parade were actually filled with 'R'.
If the gas is released slowly from the balloons, it's dangerous, but if they blow up it's fine for some reason.
MewTwo was actually good the whole time and Pikachu rescued him (It? Pronouns are hard)
WHERE WAS BONNIE TYLER?! I was promised Bonnie Tyler and she never arrived.
Lucy stole a reporter's badge and reported the dangers of 'R' to the citizens of London Ryme City.
Harry was inside Pikachu all along, and that's why Tim could understand him.

The full climax was VERY complicated, so here's a link to a more detailed breakdown.

Names I remembered

Psyduck

Pikachu

Mr. Mime

Bulbasaur

MewTwo
Charizard

Harry
Ditto
Magikarp

Names I had to look up

Lucy

Tim

Jack

Torterra

Morelull
Gyarados

Names I didn't bother to look up

Bill Nighy

Bill Nighy's son
Monkey Pokémon
Speaker Pokémon
Shirtless Trainer Guy

Later that evening I saw a wasp do a backflip.

Pokémon: Detective Pikachu was pulled from cinemas ridiculously early, but Ryan Reynolds uploaded the full movie to YouTube a week prior.