While you have every right to stay skeptical about Detective Pikachu (this is a video game movie, after all), it must be said that the film’s first trailer suggests that the franchise’s long-awaited jump to live-action cinema will prove to be a fair bit less awkward than many of us were anticipating, with the fluffy little investigator and his peers generally looking pretty well-rendered next to the human cast.
Is that a good enough reason to get excited about this upcoming Ryan Reynolds-led flick? Not necessarily, but it’s clear that this teaser is already winning over some naysayers. While there are certainly still Pokémon fans out there who aren’t on board with the project, the bulk of the online response to the trailer so far looks to be ranging from cautiously optimistic to “mega hyped.”
Feast your eyes below for a spectrum of opinions:
So… Detective Pikachu looks…good? https://t.co/I4sJuzjvT4 pic.twitter.com/tNk6I2ZCWD
— Da7e Gonzales (@Da7e) November 12, 2018
Say what you want about #DetectivePikachu, but the actual Pokémon look pretty awesome. pic.twitter.com/9wAztAClGS
— Lights, Camera, Barstool (@LightsCameraPod) November 12, 2018
I am stuck between "oh yes" and "oh no". https://t.co/paAc4WtxVh
— Rami Ismail / رامي (@tha_rami) November 12, 2018
i am so goddamn mad that in 6 months time i am going to walk into a theatre and say the phrase "one for detective pikachu please"
— demi adejuyigbe (@electrolemon) November 12, 2018
Oh so we can make a movie about Detective Pikachu, but nothing for Trauma Surgeon Psyduck.
— Mike Drucker (@MikeDrucker) November 12, 2018
“Sanford Meisner famously said ‘Acting is behaving truthfully under imaginary circumstances.’ By that definition, I cannot imagine a more truthful performance in the history of cinema, than your turn as Pikachu in DETECTIVE PIKACHU.” pic.twitter.com/dooSGvAJKQ
— Matt Singer (@mattsinger) November 12, 2018
Imagine the chaos if movie theaters had a rare Pokemon you could capture in Pokemon Go during showings of Detective Pikachu?
— ManaByte (@ManaByte) November 12, 2018
Everyone's reaction to the #DetectivePikachu trailer: pic.twitter.com/wLPaTNmAL1
— Fandom (@getFANDOM) November 12, 2018
I have been a strong supporter of Detective Pikachu since the first game in 2016 so I am mega hyped for this
— Joe Merrick (@JoeMerrick) November 12, 2018
Apparently im the only one who feels like the pikachu detective movie is all kinds of wrong ;-; I hate it
— 🎨 Art Community!🎨 (@ArtShareHub) November 12, 2018
Regardless of how you feel about seeing these pocket monsters in live-action form, you still have wonder how it took so long for studios to go through with such a feat, with the film’s release falling roughly two decades after the franchise’s peak years as a cultural phenomenon.
Perhaps the Detective Pikachu game itself was the inspiration that Warner Bros. needed, or maybe it was the success of Pokémon Go which served as a necessary reminder that these creatures now hold a cherished place in the hearts of multiple generations. Then again, maybe it’s more a matter of this property getting old enough to be nostalgic, which would explain why the trailer keeps its focus on Pokemon from the Red and Blue days.
But regardless of what the thinking was behind Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, it looks like a fair few filmgoers will be surprising themselves a little when they make the trip to see it in cinemas from May 10th, 2019.
