Detective Pikachu is quickly building up hype as its May 10th release gets ever closer. Once a bit of an eyebrow-raiser due to casting Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu and having a faintly surreal sounding plot, the film has tested so well that Legendary’s already developing spinoffs in this new cinematic universe. Hardcore fans have also been kept happy through a very smart marketing campaign that has gradually revealed the movie’s takes on their favorite Pokémon with fans of the TCG set to be offered limited edition cards if they see the film on opening weekend.
Now, we’ve got a new trailer that shows the producers auditioning Pokémon for the movie, and I have to say it’s kind of hilarious. You get to see Jigglypuff nervously singing a song, Venusaur lumbering around, Eevee acting far too cute for its own good and (my favorite) a clumsy Charizard knocking over a light as it turns around. But there’s a whole bunch of Pokémon in this trailer, with the apparent intent of showcasing the excellent job the studio has done in bringing them to life.
Also neat are a couple of new clips from the film. Perhaps best of all is a nervous Ryan Reynolds-voiced Pikachu confirming that a muzak version of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” is all that’s keeping Psyduck’s head from exploding and killing them all. But I have to say that seeing Pikachu ineffectually hurl a gasping Magikarp at a foe in glistening HD is a sight that brings tears to this old Red and Blue player’s eyes.
Detective Pikachu is all but certain to become the highest-grossing film adapted from a video game, so let’s hope that it can also finally be the movie that proves that video game adaptations don’t have to be terrible. Fingers, flippers, tentacles and electric fins crossed.
