People call "The Great Gatsby" The Great American Novel. Well, people should call "Detective Pikachu" The Great Third Millenium Movie, because this is THE movie about what it means to be human in the modern age, and our stuggle to be the truest form of ourselves we can be in a society that demands more and more obedience and conformity to the people above us and beside us.
This is one of the best movies ever made, and I'm not just saying that. If you had an hour and a half left to live, and you haven't seen this movie, then you better hurry up, because time is ticking. I'm not the hugest fan of pokemon, but this movie is legitimately entertaining. I remember watching this the first time on a plane and thinking, "What the heck? Why is this good?" You would think it'ld be just some soulless cash grab, but it's a gritty tale that says something deep about LIFE.
It takes place the hi-tech low-life city of Ryme, where humans and pokemon are supposed to get along. There has been some drug called R that's been making it's way around the criminal underworld of illegal pokemon fights (pokemon battles are illegal). If ingested by pokemon, they lose control of themselves and attack and even kill humans, thretening to destoy the foundations on which Ryme was started. A man called Tim is called to Ryme when he hears that his father has died in a car crash under suspicious circumstances. Tim, now estranged from his father, doesn't look too deep into the details until a pikachu, Detective Pikachu, hints that he might know what really happened. Tim, Detective Pikachu, and up-and-coming journalist Lucy explore Ryme for clues while the movie highlights the corruption and flaws of the Media, Big Pharma, Big Tech, and their roles in manipulating and being manipulated by the government, while also making light of the decadence of our so called "advanced" societies, how vunerable we all are by our reliance on societies structures, and our obsession with more and more longevity while we also destroy our physical health with stimulants and junk food along with our mental health with the stressful jobs we take on to sustain these evermore piling on sicknesses.
It is a family movie though, so there are plenty of funny jokes throughout, but it tackles many serious topics with the required reverence while also making them accessible to children in a way they could relate. It has the actor Ryan Renolds, but he manages to not drag the whole movie down with his "wacky" quips. That's actually my only critisism of the movie, that Ryan Renolds is in it. The character he plays has enough depth to mask the fact that Ryan Renolds plays him. It's also a sad but heartwarming tale about a man trying to learn more about his father now that he has lost him.
There are people who have decided that Detective Pikachu must be bad before they have even watched it. I don't blame them. I was one of those people, but if you close your mind to the idea that Detective Pikachu could actually be good, then you will see the whole movie and blink. You will miss out on the deep messeges hidden just behind the facade of a 90 minute advertisement for plushies and video games.
P.S. I'm not saying that someone should go back in time and assassinate Ryan Renolds before he ever becomes an actor, but I'm also not not saying that someone should go back in time and assassinate Ryan Renolds.