Find the most intelligent three-year-old you know. It doesnt have to be a genius-level prodigy, just the smartest toddler in the room. Now, explain quantum physics to him or her.
And then, when youre done with that, find an adult. Its a nebulous term, we agree. But aim for someone over the age of, say, 35. Probably college-educated. Possibly employed. This person doesnt need to know how to get a great mortgage refinancing rate, but for the sake of parameters, they should be able to tell you who Zora Neale Hurston and Jimmy Carter are. Now, explain the Pokmon phenomenon to them. Take your time.
So who had a better grasp on the respective concepts by the end of all of this? Unrelated: please congratulate the three-year-old on nailing the whole Schrdingers cat thing.
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There are certain aspects of Pokmon Detective Pikachu that dont require a crash course in pocket monsterdom, naturally. You dont need to know the difference between a squirtle and a sandslash to follow Tim Goodman (Justice Smith, the best thing about Netflixs The Get Down), the son of an ace cop whos tries to find his fathers killer. You dont have to know the lyrics to the Pokmon theme song (Its you and me/I know its my destiny!) to understand that Ryme City, the metropolis where these creatures live side by side with humans, is basically what youd get if modern-day Tokyo had a three-way with Toontown and Blade Runners future-shocked L.A. Or, for that matter, that the Murdoch-like tycoon (Bill Nighy) who built it and his son (Youre the Worsts Chris Geere) who runs its TV-news network both ooze corporate evil.
And you definitely dont need a Ph.D in proper Menga Gengar training techniques to get the near-universal appeal of Pikachu, that furry yellow Pokmon whos so preternaturally cute he can rot your teeth on sight, in a tiny little Sherlock Holmes hat and blessed with Ryan Reynolds sense of humor. Weve all seen Deadpool so we know the Canadians tall-snark-and-handsome game is tight; letting him do his wiseacre riffing thing in the form of an adorably mischievous, coffee-addicted lil guy feels so ideal for the vibe the seven credited writers (lets assume the actual number of scribes involved is at least twice that) are going for that you wonder which came first concept-wise making a live-action Pikachu movie or getting the star to voice him.
But its possible that someone totally unversed in the mythos surrounding the games, and manga, and movies, and trading cards, and whatever other form this pop-culture juggernaut has assumed since we started writing this sentence, might watch the first 10 to 15 minutes of this movie and have no fucking clue whats going on. And even after you get a brief disclaimer explaining the whole trainer/balls/battles fundamentals before settling into a familiarly hardboiled, straight-outta-Chandler plot Pikachu was the partner of Tims dad, they both suspect foul play but the Pokmon has lost his memory you find yourself wondering why you should feel invested in any of this if youre not already a Pokmaniac. Theres a saying that gets thrown around a lot these days, both defensively and derisively: strictly for the fans. Pokmon Detective Pikachu really is strictly for the fans, in the best and worst possible ways. If you live, eat, breathe and defecate this stuff, you may feel like seeing this world rendered in such photorealistic detail, and with such candy-colored hallucinogenic production design, is a dream come true. Everyone else is likely to feel like theyve been mildly dosed.
So maybe there should be two reviews, one for and by the die-hards and one penned for confused moviegoers who might only see a generic detective storyline and Reynolds-wrapping loosely holding together a piece of franchise brand-extension. Really, if that notion does not delineate where we find ourselves now in the Blockbuster Year of Our Lord 2019, we dont know what does. There are fans, and there is everyone else. We live in a landscape where every devotee demands his day and, if theres money to be had, he will get it. Folks are either part of the onslaught, ready to debate every creative choice and force filmmakers to change something they dont like and drag anyone who says anything less than unconditionally praiseworthy, or theyre left wondering what the appeal is. Pikachu Detective does not make it easy to get on board. Its not here to convert its here to preach to the already converted. You the viewer may choose this movie even if you arent a Pokscholar. That doesnt mean its willing to choose you.