In the Flesh: Detective Pikachu

This is not a movie I expected to see, much less review, but when you've been with someone for almost seven years and they ask you to go see Detective Pikachu because the idea of Pokémon being real sustained them through their difficult childhood, you find it in your heart to do so. End result, I sat through a mostly endearing ugly-cute adventure starring awkward young insurance adjuster Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) and a Pikachu voiced by Ryan Reynolds. The unlikely duo must learn how to work together to solve the mystery of Tim's father's disappearance and of Pikachu's amnesia. Also Pikachu can talk and only Tim can understand him.

The story is standard stuff about being open to change and friendship, unremarkable but more or less heartfelt in a way I imagine will resonate with kids going through some kind of shakeup in their lives. It's broad without losing its direct appeal, though it misses its chance to tie its corporate villain's (Bill Nighy) dream of transferring human minds into Pokémon bodies en masse into its larger ideas of working together and embracing open-mindedness. Still, the point is the sight of the Pokémon themselves, which range from the disturbing to the adorable. Pikachu is instantly endearing with his chubby raccoon paws and round, rabbit-like face. Detective Yoshida's (Ken Watanabe) Snubbull looks like some kind of possessed hand puppet swollen to human size. It's all kind of delightfully hideous.

The comedy ranges from fart jokes and snarky quips to the protracted gag of Mr. Mime's game of quasi-real charades with the two protagonists. No one involved is particularly talented, and the camera and color work are close, jittery, and surprisingly washed out. You'd think a Pokémon movie would lean into the bright primary colors of the source material, but something is lost in the translation to live action. You can't help but wonder how the same project might have looked in traditional animation, but that's neither here nor there. The point of the film is the quasi-realistic Pokémon, and the joke/wonder of it is enough to sustain the unremarkable remainder.

In the end, Detective Pikachu is charming and breezy with the exception of its overblown finale. The joke of watching Pikachu assemble conspiracy diagrams and chug coffee doesn't get old as fast as you'd think, and if the plot's back half is a little under-chewed and nonsensical and the movie stumbles hard with its big reveal, it's still less congested and stuff-coming-at-you than many other marketing-driven studio confections. The only thing it really needed to do was be a good time for 6-13-year-olds, and it is that.