Pokemon: Detective Pikachu

Keep in mind, I am not a Pokemon fan at all. The only reason I was interested in this movie is because it has Ryan Reynolds and the trailers looked funny. And that's pretty much what I got with this film: A fun Ryan Reynolds movie to laugh at for 2 hours. Even as a non-fan, I was able to follow the plot very well. The movie explains the various Pokemon, their powers, and what they evolve into, and that was very helpful, because otherwise I would have been lost during certain scenes and would not have enjoyed this movie as much. The movie reminded me of "Roger Rabbit" but set in a futuristic society. I laughed pretty hard at this film and had a fun time with it. This is the most I've laughed at a movie this year since "Shazam!" The action scenes were also very fun. I enjoyed seeing the Pokemon battles. I've complained in the past about Warner Bros. productions having bad CGI when it's in a live action movie, but for the most part the CGI was actually very good. You can see each individual fur on Pikachu (and his eyes are very well animated and so cute). You can see the scales on the dragon Pokemon, and the smooth skin of the turtle dinosaur Pokemon with a flower on its back. (Sorry. The only Pokemon name I know is Pikachu.) The only time the CGI didn't look quite right is when a shot lingered too long on a scene with Pokemon and humans, but when there were a lot of back and forth cuts, or when they were moving as opposed to sitting and talking, the CGI was flawless.  I called what the ending was going to be when the very first trailer came out, but there were still some twists and surprises. This is a fun film for all ages, Pokemon fans or not. It's just a fun comedy/mystery.

Grade: B      8/10       3.5/5 stars