Pokemon: Detective Pikachu (2019)

I'm a 90's kid, of course I grew up with Pokemon. I watched the anime, I played the videos games (both portable and console), I saw the movies, I collected the cards. Pokemon, the phenomenon, was essentially a virus. Now, it's a source of great nostalgia for so many millennials. Pokemon Detective Pikachu was made for us. Quintessential fan service. But expect nothing more than that.

This is a brain-numbing experience. There is no real story or anything that makes any sense in this movie. If you've never seen or heard of Pokemon before, you will be hopelessly lost here. That's a flaw, for certain. But make no mistake, if you came for Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu, you will love it. He's electric.. mind the pun. It's Deapool, without the curse words. I never thought I wanted to see a wise-cracking Pikachu, but i'm pleased that I did. Many other Pokemon (Pokemen?) appear in the background and foregrounds of the film, yet I could't help but notice so many that were left out and too many that kept repeating. That's kind of lazy. We aren't working with 150 of them anymore either. But you will be delighted to see them walking around and co-existing with real people, in what seemed like a unique cross between Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Men in Black.

Detective Pikachu is dumb fun. Period. All it should have ever been.