Gonna agree with everyone here. The movie was really good, but maybe a tad too formulaic. This may also just be me over analyzing things, but I feel like some Pokemon were recycled a bit too much. There being so many Loudred but no Whismur or Exploud seemed a bit weird, for example, almost like they ran out of budget and/or time to model more Pokemon so they just copy/pasted a bunch of them. Really just a minor nitpick though. The movie is still well worth a watch.
I love how much Ditto and Squirtle there was, but this movie needed some Goomy.
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I really enjoyed it.
I mean sure it was formulaic in the detective mystery for kids aspec and yes Ryan Reynolds doing the Deadpool voice in a kids movie was a little tonally inconsistent. What I liked most about the movie was the way it looked, the way in which Ryme City is an almagamation of lots of different cities - definitely spotted the Gherkin and bits of London in there but I loved how amped up everything looked and yet the pokemon all fit seamlessly within it. It did the pokemon aesthetic wonderfully. It was funny to sit in an audience comprising of kids and the adults like me who had played some of the games. The kids would literally shout at the name of every pokemon, the adults would chuckle when they spotted something in a background.
Just one thing.
I think I prefer my MewTwo evil but seeing as I’m not as up to date on my pokelore - I guess things have changed somewhat.
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I need people to see this movie. I agree with so many people about the flaws of the movie. But just the little moments; the underground Pokémon fighting ring, the idea of Pokémon trainer as this peak athlete. The idea THAT SPIRIT IS ALL THAT MATTERS BETWEEN A TRAINER AND HIS POKÉMON.
I need this movie to do well because I want to see someone make this CG world into a boxing movie. I want my four rounds in the Pokémon league of two great actors working through their emotions and journeys with the glorious spectacle of CG Pokémon battles. I want this series to escape the flat emotion of 2D animation and become a passionate thing for a lot of people my age.
6 Likes
Maybe its because I got a Godzilla trailer before Detective Pikachu but I sort of saw Mewtwo as a product of humanity’s corrupting effect on its environment.
All I have to go on was that first Pokemon movie in which Mewtwo made all the pokemon fight their doppelgangers and he seemed kind of evil. I stopped playing after red and blue so things may have changed considering Mewtwo would be in other games.
Mewtwo was never evil. They were always a science experiment that just wanted to be left alone after escaping. The first anime movie might make things a bit more ambiguous, but that movie is also bad, stupid, and thankfully not canon to anything outside of the anime canon, which is also bad and stupid.
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Given the anime-ass magic that happens in Detective Pikachu’s climax, I kind of want the movie to be in a world where not only did Pokemon Red/Blue took place, but also Mewtwo Strikes Back? You’re right in that’s a bad movie, but it’s also my bad movie.
The story is probably trite if viewed under a critical lens, but I have a bit of a soft spot for Mewtwo’s origin story in the anime canon. There’s an audio drama/anime short that Japan got that (at least) the USA never got until way later (I recall seeing it on the Mewtwo Returns DVD ). The gist of the short is that Mewtwo was part of a cloning project to resurrect the head scientist’s late daughter, Amber (Jurassic Park was very big). A bulbasaur, squirtle, and charmander were also part of the cloning project. During the maturation phase, the consciousnesses of Ambertwo, Bulbasaurtwo, Squirtletwo, and Charmandertwo were linked with Mewtwo’s in happy dream space. Complications arose that resulted in the loss of all cloning subjects except for a young Mewtwo. To ensure the safety of the surviving subject and the cloning project, Mewtwo’s consciousness was suppressed and their memory erased.
“Only Mewtwo survives…”
Perhaps it’s selfish to want Pokemon to overtly indulge in its dark edges and body horror, but it would be so much fun for me as an older fan. Then again, I recall Pokemon X/Y dealing with the history of a (near?) genocidal war, so maybe I’m not giving credit to Pokemon where it’s due.
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That specific part of the anime Mewtwo backstory I actually like. I’d actually like if they adapted it to a Detective Pikachu-style movie. Just leave the whole thing with Ash out, please.
Agreed on Ash.
But perhaps he can be replaced by Red? Perhaps the red-eyed Red with all the cool fan art and boss music remixes 
