Like many fans, I had really not been sure what to expect with Ryan Reynolds doing the voice of the titular character in ‘Detective Pikachu’ (I was still holding out hope for Danny DeVito), but I have to admit, the latest trailer released by Warner Bros for the first live-action ‘Pokemon’ film actually went a long way toward making me excited for the film.
It has become more and more and clear that they have decided to just let Ryan Reynolds do his thing, resulting in dialogue that sounds very natural, plenty of lines that sound ad-libbed (included an amazing reference to ‘Green Lantern‘ in the trailer when the caffeine addicted Pikachu orders a coffee “blackest night”) and a movie that looks like it is going to be a lot of fun.
The new trailer reveals a little bit more of the plot, as it shows that Pikachu’s adventure begins as he finds himself without memories in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but an address to his old partner Harry’s place, where he finds Harry’s son Tim (Justice Smith), and the events of the story are set in motion. We get shots of Pikachu in action as he brings down a lightning bolt, as he heads into an arena against a Charizard and finds himself unable to perform because apparently, according to him, “I can’t do it when people are watching,” and lots of shots of various Pokemon who will appear in the film (including the menacing and mysterious Mewtwo, who is briefly seen at the end of the trailer) working both alongside and against our heroes.
Will the film be a definite hit? Way too early to tell, and there is a rule of thumb about great trailers often-times being made to hide the fact that a movie is somewhat lacking (the thought being the studio worked extra hard to make the movie look good to get people into the theater), and this trailer was pretty amazing. However, with Ryan Reynolds on a hot streak right now, plus Nintendo not wanting to make another movie after the ‘Mario Bros’ disaster in the 90s until they were sure they had something relatively solid, there is a good chance this actually is a winner.
Feel free to share your thoughts on ‘Detective Pikachu’ and whether you will be seeing it when it hits theaters on May 10th in the comments below!
