Lady Umbreon
Well-Known Member
Yeah, Legendary had a screenwriter start working on a script before the movie came out.
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Detective Pikachu Movie Discussion Thread
- Thread starter AuraChannelerChris
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Lady Umbreon
Well-Known Member
Something has been bothering me about the movie. I figured out what it was last night:
Pikachu's ability to talk to other Pokemon wasn't used to solve the mystery. The game was built around it; in every case Tim & Pikachu use information from Pokemon to fill in gaps or expose lies in a human's testimony. But in the movie almost all information comes from humans. The only Pokemon who provide clues are Mr. Mime (who Pikachu can't translate) and Mewtwo (who doesn't need a translator). I wonder if the exposition could have been more interesting if more Pokemon were involved:
- The Ludicolo at the cafe recognizes Pikachu and mentions that he's acting differently and didn't used to like coffee.
- Pikachu discovers the connection between Harry and Howard Clifford either in the paperwork in Harry's office or from Pokemon at the news station recognizing him.
- Lt. Yoshida was tricked into believing Harry was dead or is being forced to mislead Tim. Pikachu talks to Snubbull and finds discrepancies in the story.
- Pikachu could've learned his role in Mewtwo's escape from Pokemon left at the lab.
Sceptrigon
Armored Legend
I just saw the movie today. In regards to my last post here, I didn’t catch anyone wearing any Pokémon apparel, but I saw kids holding Eevee, Pikachu, and Pichu plushes when walking out of the theater. That was cute.
About the movie, a few personal comments:
About the movie, a few personal comments:
When the earth was crumbling, I was kind of hoping it was being caused by a legendary Pokémon, as unlikely as it would have been. I’d really like to see scenes in future movies that show more of the power of the legendaries. Something at least comparable to the action in the recent Godzilla movies.
When the humans merged with their Pokemons’ bodies, it gave me Mystery Dungeon vibes. If other spin-offs are options for future movies, Mystery Dungeon could be a very interesting idea to use.
The end credits looked great in designing the human characters in the same style as the games. I imagined that the film could become made into a manga.
When the humans merged with their Pokemons’ bodies, it gave me Mystery Dungeon vibes. If other spin-offs are options for future movies, Mystery Dungeon could be a very interesting idea to use.
The end credits looked great in designing the human characters in the same style as the games. I imagined that the film could become made into a manga.
I was actually wondering during the movie if that was Cynthia. But it wouldn’t really make sense if she’s Lucy’s boss for reporting. It’s a really cool reference though, at least.
nel3
Crimson Dragon
its just a case of the white savior syndrome in the movies. take for example other films where white poeple come into a foreign country/planet and solve their problems. thats just annoying to me.
that thing aside, my attention was rather distracted by trying to find all the background pokemon, im pretty sure i saw a Gligar gliding in the sky in one of the scenes in the background.
Kutie Pie
"It is my destiny."
Personally, I associate it with snooty unlikable women. I also think back to the Cynthia doll from Rugrats, so I didn't think about Champion Cynthia.
You make good points, and that is a bit disappointing they didn't incorporate that into the movie, but eh. I think they were more-or-less wanting to drive the "Pokémon may not understand human language, but they can feel it in your jellies--dah I mean they're rather empathetic" narrative that, honestly, does fit the Pokémon world. To help back this up, only a few Pokémon are noted in the PokéDex to be intelligent enough to understand human language, such as Dragonite and Latios. So it does bring up a good question as to whether-or-not Pokémon can understand what you're saying.
But then you think back to your pets. There may be a language barrier between us and our pets, but you do learn or train yourself to get a good understanding of what your pet's feeling or what they want based on how they vocalize, and by body language. Likewise, the same goes for pets towards us. They can be trained to recognize the sound of your voice, and what the different influxes in your tone mean for certain things. They're also empathetic, it seems, which is why they make good emotional support when you need them, and they can recognize by smell when something's wrong with their human.
So Pokémon are the same way, and I think that's why even though it wasn't implemented into the mystery aspect, it still came through in the narrative. That's why the Bulbasaur scene is so poignant and not just because they're the most adorable little things ever, it's that it's remarkable that wild Bulbasaur came to the aid of a human despite that language barrier. It's also why the Cubone in the beginning was pissed at Tim not because it understood the words he was saying, but because it knew Tim was insulting it based on his approach and attitude. It's funny that he's running away screaming "IT DIDN'T CHOOSE ME" when it broke out and he almost got killed by a Bone Club, but it's a subtle foreshadowing to Pokémon behavior towards humans, specifically wild Pokémon.
But then you think back to your pets. There may be a language barrier between us and our pets, but you do learn or train yourself to get a good understanding of what your pet's feeling or what they want based on how they vocalize, and by body language. Likewise, the same goes for pets towards us. They can be trained to recognize the sound of your voice, and what the different influxes in your tone mean for certain things. They're also empathetic, it seems, which is why they make good emotional support when you need them, and they can recognize by smell when something's wrong with their human.
So Pokémon are the same way, and I think that's why even though it wasn't implemented into the mystery aspect, it still came through in the narrative. That's why the Bulbasaur scene is so poignant and not just because they're the most adorable little things ever, it's that it's remarkable that wild Bulbasaur came to the aid of a human despite that language barrier. It's also why the Cubone in the beginning was pissed at Tim not because it understood the words he was saying, but because it knew Tim was insulting it based on his approach and attitude. It's funny that he's running away screaming "IT DIDN'T CHOOSE ME" when it broke out and he almost got killed by a Bone Club, but it's a subtle foreshadowing to Pokémon behavior towards humans, specifically wild Pokémon.
Lady Umbreon
Well-Known Member
Bguy7
The Dragon Lord
Once again though, we don't have any clue if this is a "foreign country" to Clifford. The Pokémon world comprises of more than just its version of Japan. If anything, the world as presented seemed extremely western in design.
It may have not been directly stated, but them game made it pretty obvious at the end the truth behind Henry and Pikachu.
Kutie Pie
"It is my destiny."
It's always been treated as a bit of a big deal when you're afraid of or don't like Pokémon, but it's not unusual for someone to not have a Pokémon partner. So I'm thinking Ryme City residents probably don't take into account that not everyone has a Pokémon partner, but Tim was begrudgingly against it and that's why they zoned in on it.
It shouldn't be funny that they might've accidentally caused a Mr. Mime to get a heart attack, but that cutaway was just perfectly timed.
Apparently they really wanted more Pokémon in the movie, but limitations are probably the reason you see the same species over and over again. I'm honestly just proud of Legendary for managing to get in as many species as they could in this film; they apparently wanted a Steelix for instance, but it was cut. I'm guessing they didn't have the right time or material for it, maybe the making-of book will explain it further.
PCL is like under tight security and is a long drive away from Ryme City. Even then, Howard was in charge of what went on and everything's under his control. The police probably were aware of it, but were under orders to ignore it.
I imagine they're either heavily sedated, or the soil's just that rich.
I imagine they're either heavily sedated, or the soil's just that rich.
They disappear after that, so maybe the drugs they were under or whatnot wore off, or they're still out there. Who knows. But I think it was just sonic waves from the Confusion, which is some really powerful Confusion, by the way.
Good to know it creeped other people out lol, that was just unnerving.
But Mewtwo's always had teeth. It's just weird to see because when was the last time you saw feline teeth, honestly? Cats have weird teeth.
But Mewtwo's always had teeth. It's just weird to see because when was the last time you saw feline teeth, honestly? Cats have weird teeth.
Game!Tim was told by Mewtwo to figure it out for himself because Mewtwo's a grade-A dick. So it was heavily implied but not explicitly stated in the game. Hell, we don't even know how Mewtwo even did it in the game, so I was honestly surprised by the twist of Pikachu being the literal host body for Harry's own body. It's... pretty interesting that Mewtwo knows how to do that, not going to lie. You got something to hide there, buddy? How'd you know you could do that?
But game!Tim's totally super jelly he doesn't have Deadpool as his dad.
But game!Tim's totally super jelly he doesn't have Deadpool as his dad.
Shadao
Aim to be a Pokémon Master
I have to wonder about the Japanese version of Pokémon: Detective Pikachu.
They had Detective Pikachu singing the English Pokémon Theme Song, complete with "teach Pokémon to understand the power that inside" and "Pokémon, Gotta Catch 'Em All!" segments. We all know that Japan had a different theme song (Aim to be a Pokémon Master) and never really brought the English song back retranslated. So I ask: Did the Japanese dub sang the English Theme Song in Japanese or did they just replaced it with Detective Pikachu singing "Aim to be a Pokémon Master"?
Auraninja
Eh, ragazzo!
I liked the movie overall, and the visual design was outstanding.
A couple of differences between the game and the movie were:
I remember reading a snippet of a review that gave an average rating that this movie should win the visual effects category. I can agree with that.
Unless something even better comes this year.
A couple of differences between the game and the movie were:
The game had a few "whodunnit" subplots.
The main villain's position and motive were different.
R didn't allow you to transfer into a Pokemon.
Tim Goodman didn't find his dad in the games.
-Detective Pikachu being the dad was left ambiguous.
The lady working for the news had a different name (I believe.)
The main villain's position and motive were different.
R didn't allow you to transfer into a Pokemon.
Tim Goodman didn't find his dad in the games.
-Detective Pikachu being the dad was left ambiguous.
The lady working for the news had a different name (I believe.)
I remember reading a snippet of a review that gave an average rating that this movie should win the visual effects category. I can agree with that.
Unless something even better comes this year.
Bguy7
The Dragon Lord
Yeah, that whole "Mewtwo has the power to transfer human souls into Pokémon, but only if they're enraged"-thing was very strange. Yes, it shouldn't be to much of a surprise coming off of the game, since we already know Mewtwo did it to Harry and Pikachu, but I was just kind of willing to ignore that. Apply it on a large scale, and it just feels odd. I suppose I should applaud the writers for finding a way to tie together Detective Pikachu's origin story with R and make grand spectacle out of it, but it just felt odd.
On that topic, how did people feel about the climax?
To continue my above thought, I found it a little strange than an otherwise grounded movie (in Pokémon terms) that was based off of a grounded game would suddenly have this over-the-top anime-like climax. It was enjoyable, but also weird. Clifford putting himself into Mewtwo was pretty awesome, though. Ditto was fun as well.
Shadow_Flare
Member
How are the box office numbers doing so far? Last I checked, it doesn't seem to look so good which worries me.
Monster Guy
Fairy type Trainer
I loved it personally. I wish we could have seen more people merged with their Pokemon. All we got was the police officer merged with his Snubbull, and Lucy merged with Psyduck. I doubt the movie would have time for it.
Sceptrigon
Armored Legend
Yeah I figure that’s more likely what they intended her to be. Other than being blonde, there didn’t seem to be any indication of her being the champion that we know of. Thinking about it now, I would have really liked to see Garchomp live-action style.
BCVM22
Well-Known Member
I’m not sure what you saw that worried you, but the film made back its production budget in the first weekend, which is good. Even with what is likely to be a huge drop off for subsequent weekends, the film will likely break even, which means it won’t lose money, which is the minimum rung on the ladder of success.
However! On the topic of whether the box office numbers should “worry you” (they shouldn’t):
Doppelgänger
Superancient Member
Pokemon is the biggest brand in history. People shouldn't have to lower the bar when it comes to framing how successful it is - "best outing by a video game franchise" isn't that impressive when it only slightly edged out that dumb Tomb Raider movie from 20 years ago.
Consider that Disney took a bankrupt comics company's geeky IP, used its second tier assets (because the good ones had already been licensed away) and built out the most successful movie franchise ever. Pokemania's prior success showed that "Japanese" and "anime" and "video game" were not barriers to making a culture-defining blockbuster. Heck, GO was a worldwide phenomenon in its own right, and was the biggest app in history when it launched. The lesson from GO was that Nintendo/Game Freak holds back their own IP. In the capable hands of a company that knows what it's doing like Niantic/Google, Pokemon absolutely has the potential to rip Disney a new one.
Warner's star has fallen a bit since GOT 7, having been bought up by AT&T, but it's still flush with talent. It should have lofty expectations and then surpass them. That Detective Pikachu hasn't given the marketing thrown at it is cause for an inquiry as to "what went wrong".
I never believed it would surpass Endgame in gross recipts, but it should have beaten out Endgame in its third week. It's only downhill from here since the next round of obnoxious Disney movies are coming. The word-of-mouth isn't strong enough for Detective Pikachu to buck normal declines in the coming weeks.
Consider that Disney took a bankrupt comics company's geeky IP, used its second tier assets (because the good ones had already been licensed away) and built out the most successful movie franchise ever. Pokemania's prior success showed that "Japanese" and "anime" and "video game" were not barriers to making a culture-defining blockbuster. Heck, GO was a worldwide phenomenon in its own right, and was the biggest app in history when it launched. The lesson from GO was that Nintendo/Game Freak holds back their own IP. In the capable hands of a company that knows what it's doing like Niantic/Google, Pokemon absolutely has the potential to rip Disney a new one.
Warner's star has fallen a bit since GOT 7, having been bought up by AT&T, but it's still flush with talent. It should have lofty expectations and then surpass them. That Detective Pikachu hasn't given the marketing thrown at it is cause for an inquiry as to "what went wrong".
I never believed it would surpass Endgame in gross recipts, but it should have beaten out Endgame in its third week. It's only downhill from here since the next round of obnoxious Disney movies are coming. The word-of-mouth isn't strong enough for Detective Pikachu to buck normal declines in the coming weeks.
Auraninja
Eh, ragazzo!
A bit late for me to comment off this, but first of all, the game itself had people of different backgrounds in the game. Most of the characters looked Caucasian to me, but that may be the art style.
Second of all, I don't know too much of Justice Smith's background off-hand*, but its implied that he's half-black in the movie.
Edit*: Looked on Wikipedia, Justice Smith is also half black in real life.
His deceased mother looks black in the portrait and his dad turns out to be Ryan Reynolds.
And while white washing can be annoying, I don't think this movie is particularly guilty of it.
Tim is white in the game, so this movie "black washed" him.
Bguy7
The Dragon Lord
I just remembered that there was that mysterious image of Pichu that was used as the preview image of for one of the trailers, even though Pichu never appeared in the trailer. Unless I completely missed it, I don't recall seeing a Pichu anywhere in the movie. Did I miss it? Or is there some sort of bizarre story behind this image of Pichu?
shoz999
Back when Tigers used to smoke.
That's a fan-made image of what a live-action Pichu could look like.
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