Although Uwe Boll really did his best to ruin the image of video game movies forever with ‘Postal’, the Til Schweiger vehicle ‘Far Cry’ and of course ‘Alone In The Dark’: Slowly but surely the genre is losing its stigma. The two ‘Sonic The Hedgehog’ films were respectfully received by the film press, and the adventure film ‘Uncharted’ also did well in the FILMSTARTS review.
For the blue hedgehog and Tom Holland, who is looking for a treasure, Nintendo’s Pokémon race across the screen and do some basic work in visual culture: with 68 percent positive reviews ‘Detective Pikachu’ enjoys one of the better values in the gaming film adaptation segment – and is also one of the biggest film hits based on a video game, with a box office turnover of $433 million.
Anyone who has missed the film so far but wants to catch up or rewatch it now has the opportunity to do so: From now on there is “Detective Pikachu”, in the original version Ryan Reynolds the title role speaks, included in the Amazon Prime subscription.
“Detective Pikachu”: small template, big inspiration
The Pokémon franchise has generally met with stunning success, offering a reach comparable to that of the contents of a well-maintained Pokédex. In addition to the games from the main series, which revolve around capturing and training the animals of the same name, and the anime series and films based on them, there are puzzle games and fighting games in the ‘Tekken’ style.
However, the Nintendo 3DS adventure game ‘Detective Pikachu’, about a boy who solves a crime with a talking Pokémon, was relatively obscure (at least until its film adaptation was released in theaters).
The basic idea of the game remains in the film – with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom supporting actor Justice Smith in the human lead and Ryan Reynolds in the brutal, animal lead. Visually mixing director and screenwriter Rob Letterman (“Goose meat“) but there is another, film-historical inspiration.
The big city aesthetic, which serves as the main setting in ‘Detective Pikachu’, is reminiscent of ‘Blade Runner“leaned on, which combined science fiction elements and film noir elements in a groundbreaking way. ‘Freaky’ star Kathryn Newton takes on the role of a curious young reporter who has one foot in the young, vibrant Nintendo world and one foot in the film noir tradition of the femme fatale.
Letterman’s film world is (unsurprisingly) more colorful than that of ‘Blade Runner’, but this also benefits the visual integration of the numerous Pokémon. The execution of this is widely regarded as the film’s biggest highlight, while the script and human acting often divide opinion. So it is of course practical if a film like this is included in a fixed streaming rate: just see if you want to stick with it, it doesn’t cost much, just some time…
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Source : Film Starts
I am Dawid Malan, a news reporter for 24 Instant News. I specialize in celebrity and entertainment news, writing stories that capture the attention of readers from all walks of life. My work has been featured in some of the world’s leading publications and I am passionate about delivering quality content to my readers.
