Detective Pikachu (movie)

Detective Pikachu is a urban fantasy mystery film based on the video game of the same name. The movie was first aired in Japan on May 3 2019 before airing in most of the world including the United States on May 10. Unlike most other Pokémon movies, Detective Pikachu is actually a live action movie with CGI elements instead of being fully animated.

The movie is also the first Pokémon movie to be handeled by a non Japanese studio and made primarily for an english speaking audience instead of a Japanese speaking one. The movie became the best reviewed live-action film adaptation of a video game upon release and as such is considered one of the first genuinely good movies of its genre, which has an history of bad/mediocre adaptations. A sequel to the movie is currently in development.

Plot
In the Pokémon universe, Tim Goodman is a 21-year-old insurance salesman who has given up Pokémon training due to the death of his mother and the absence of his father, Harry. He travels to Ryme City, a metropolis where humans and Pokémon live together as equals, to collect Harry's assets following his apparent death in a car crash. In his father's apartment, he encounters a Pikachu that can speak but can only be understood by Tim. The pair then escape from an attack by a party of Aipom. Pikachu tells Tim that he is an amnesiac detective who used to work with Harry before his disappearance. They look for Lucy Stevens, a fluff columnist and aspiring reporter suspicious of Harry's death, who Tim had previously encountered. She leads Tim and Pikachu to Ryme Wharf and, after interrogating a Mr. Mime there, are directed to an illegal Pokemon fighting arena owned by Sebastian. Sebastian wants a rematch with Pikachu who defeated his Charizard in a fight in the past. Sebastian cheats and use R-Gas to boost his Charizard, which attacks Pikachu. Sebastian then mishandle the Gas and accidently unleash Charizard on the crowd. Sebastian then tell Tim that he got the gas from "the doctor".

After confronting police lieutenant Hideo Yoshida about Harry's apparent death and the possibility of his survival, Tim and Pikachu are brought before Ryme City's benefactor Howard Clifford by his bodyguard Ms. Norman, who reveals to Tim that Harry indeed survived his car crash, which was caused by an attack from a recently escaped Mewtwo, which took him away and left Pikachu with amnesia. Howard warns them of his son, Roger, who he claims is in de facto control of his company and the city. Tim and Pikachu recruit Lucy and her Psyduck on an expedition to the lab facility Harry was investigating, where they learn Sebastian's "doctor" was a researcher aided by Harry, who had been experimenting on Mewtwo, recaptured after escaping 20 years earlier. They are then attacked by a bunch of Greninja who are fended off by Psyduck. They then run into a field of colossal Torterra that gravely injure Pikachu. Tim manages to communicate with a Bulbasaur and takes Pikachu to a clearing in the forest where they are greeted by Mewtwo, who heals Pikachu and restores some of his memories, which show that he was the one who released Mewtwo from the lab. Mewtwo attempts to reveal its intent, but is captured by Roger. Thinking that he betrayed Harry to a vengeful Mewtwo, Pikachu leaves Tim while the others return to Ryme City to warn Howard. Pikachu comes across the area where Harry's car crash occurred, and finds evidence that the Greninja attacked Harry, not Mewtwo.

Tim reaches Howard, but learns too late that he intends to transfer his consciousnesses into Mewtwo and use his powers to fuse Pokémon with their owners, with the assistance of the R gas. He also learns that "Roger" and Ms. Norman are both actually been a same shape-shifting Ditto, with the real Roger having been tied up and hidden. As Howard in Mewtwo's body starts fusing humans with Pokémon, Pikachu arrives and finally summons his electricity powers to battle Mewtwo, fending off Mewtwo long enough for Tim to free Mewtwo from Howard's control. Mewtwo restores everyone to normal while Howard is arrested by the police, and it reveals that Mewtwo had kept Harry's body and that he had in fact fused Harry's consciousness with Pikachu's in order to heal him; despite the fact they fuse their consciousnesses, just like Pikachu's memory, the fusion even erased Harry's just like while being within Pikachu. After Mewtwo unfuses them with the assistance of Tim, a fully revived Harry offers Tim the chance to return home, but Tim decides to stay in order to learn how to become a detective and spend time with him and Pikachu.

Cast

 * Detective Pikachu - Ryan Reynolds/Ikue Otani
 * Harry Goodman - Ryan Reynolds
 * Tim Goodman - Justice Smith
 * Lucy Stevens - Kathryn Newton
 * Howard Clifford - Bill Nighy
 * Detective Hideo Yoshida - Ken Watanabe
 * Ms. Norman/Ditto - Suki Waterhouse
 * Roger Clifford - Chris Geere
 * Sebastian - Omar Chaparro
 * Dr. Ann Laurent - Rita Ora
 * Jack - Karan Soni
 * Grams - Josette Simon
 * Mayor of Ryme City - Kadiff Kirwan
 * Mewtwo - Rina Hoshino/Kotaro Watanabe
 * Jigglypuff - Rachael Lillis