Not Sure About My Reaction to the Detective Pikachu Trailer

Is this the personification of Ruined Childhood?

Growing up, I liked Pokemon as much as the next person. I have this vivid memory of trading cards with cousins at my grandma’s house. I accidentally traded a holographic vaporeon for a lesser pocket monster and immediately regretted it. My older male cousin would not trade back, prompting me to cry until one of the adults made him give it back.

They all called me a crybaby and we never played cards together again.

But even today, I can go into one of my old grade school binders and flip through lamented plastic sleeves protecting treasures from the 90s. I don’t think they can say the same – so who’s laughing now?

On a serious note, today I discovered this film called Detective Pikachu. Premiering May 10^th, 2019 it marks the first ever live-action Pokémon movie. I logged onto twitter to talk about Marvel Comics Legend Stan Lee passing and came across the film and actor Ryan Reynolds trending. Deadpool was a smash success at the box office and I have nothing against the actor but in all honesty – I rolled my eyes when I saw his involvement.  Especially since I distinctly remember the yellow mouse being a girl, along with revelations concerning Blue from Blue’s Clues.

I likened the film to a Ted sort of deal – you all remember that raunchy teddy bear film, right? I then associated it with Family Guy; which I like, but I’ve had enough of that series over the years.

After seeing people compare jigglypuff to a washed up mobster moonlighting as a deranged lounge singer, I took myself over to YouTube and watched the trailer. As others had suggested, it would be wonderful if he were played by Danny DeVito.

And boy, did I have some feelings.

Charzard is terrifying. Charmander is still adorable.

Psyduck looks like the tormented soul I always knew he was and Mr. Mine really is just that creepy.

It gave me the same feelings of nostalgia growing up watching the Harry Potter movies after reading the books.

Only this world, everything is gritty and very much not the Solarpunk paradise the games seem to paint. Nothing is green, people aren’t walking around with flowers in their hair and goodwill in their hearts.

Ryme City looks like any major urban area with a seedy underbelly. What’s more – Pikachu is a damn detective! I know this theme has probably been explored in anime, manga, and Nintendo 3DS spin-off games but gosh it is so different seeing realistically rendered Pokémon in our world settings.

The trailer also makes subtle references to the universe, such as the Squirtle Squad being wanted criminals in the police station, or having cartoony depictions of Pokes as city parade floats. There is even one scene where the main character (didn’t catch if his name was Ash or not) is walking through a night market and the signs have the weird off-shoots of Japanese characters that were adapted into the American Gameboy versions to seem like some sort of made up language. Trainer Mistry even seems to show up later in the film!

It just feels real, and I am super excited for it all. I didn’t know I needed this in my life until now.

Have you watched the Detective Pikachu trailer yet? Can you believe The Pokemon Company and Nintendo signed onto something that seems geared towards millennial adults? What monster do you hope is in the film? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below, we’d love to hear from you! Also be sure to follow us for more impromptu (borderline fangirl) posts like this!

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