Detective Pikachu reviews round-up: Ryan Reynolds praised for role in new Pokemon film
The Deadpool star is being applauded for his latest role
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Your support makes all the difference.The reviews for Detective Pikachu are in.
Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds has added the yellow Pokémon to his résumé for a new family film investigating the disappearance of a police detective. A wise-cracking Pikachu teams up with 21-year-old Tim Goodman (Justice Smith), the only person who can hear him.
A sequel is already in development – and it seems like it wouldn’t be entirely unwelcome: critics are by and large praising the film, with many applauding Reynolds for making something that may have sounded ridiculous written down work so well on screen.
You can find a round-up of reviews below.
if the results are not exactly groundbreaking, they’ve at least caught the attention of the wider world, mainly thanks to the inspired casting of Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu. Without Reynolds this would be pretty run-of-the-mill; with him, it’s a perfectly acceptable family movie. Given the history, that’s a giant leap for Pokémon-kind.
It’s preposterous, but he mixes just enough heart into a buckwild character performance that it’s never too over-the-top. His version of Pikachu is more than just a sidekick who follows Tim around. He’s the driving force behind the movie, but he doesn’t ever try to put on a ludicrously serious tone, even during the movie’s more combre moments – he understands that he’s playing a CGI yellow mouse capable of shooting electricity out of his rosy cheeks.
Neither Pikachu nor any of the other Pokémon look as though they belong in the live-action environments. Rather, they seem to have been superimposed – a miscalculation of several factors, from lighting inconsistencies to unconvincing CG textures to the lack of care put into their virtual performances.
There’s a lot of fun to have with Detective Pikachu if you’re in the right mindset. Ryan Reynolds brings charm, quick wit, and kinetic energy to the title character. The special effects teams, of which they are legion, maximised cuteness for Pikachu; he’s literally never not cute in any frame of this movie, and that will get some people through by itself.
Screen International – Tim Grierson
Much like its title character – an adorable little fuzzy yellow whatsit bearing the smart-aleck voice of Ryan Reynolds – Pokémon: Detective Pikachu is an odd creation powered by contradictory impulses. An aggressively cute family film that’s also a spectacle-driven sci-fi noir-mystery with hints of Blade Runner and the third act of every Marvel movie, this adaptation of the popular 2016 video game throws everything at the audience with such vehemence that the sum effect is overwhelming more than it is entertaining.
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