Welcome to the cKotch.Com blog. I’m Christopher Kotcher, and this is Stories on Screen. Time to cover the films and shows which inspire my writing.
Catching My Interest
I’m a Pokémon fan. Always have been, since day one.
The games are my bread and butter. Most of the anime series have been good or great. I’ve also got more than a few binders filled with Pokémon cards.
My love for this series has actually pushed my writing forward in many ways.
Series’ themes of friendship and companionship give good insight into writing character relationships. You see trainers and Pokémon work together. You see what they achieve together and how they support each other.
Inspiration for the various legendary Pokémon has increased my interest in many myths from around the world. I wouldn’t know half as much about Norse myths if it weren’t for the life-death-balance trio of Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde.
Today, I wish to discuss one of the series’ more recent productions, a grand story wrapped in a Pokémon casing. I speak of the series’ first live action movie, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu.
One year and three rewatches later, the flick refuses to leave my head. The film grabs me more every time I watch it. I want to share why. There may be a few things about the movie you haven’t heard yet.
Unafraid of the Series
Let’s start at the surface level.
Detective Pikachu loves its source material. This movie is perfectly willing to be a Pokémon movie. It doesn’t think its too good for the series.
You may ask, “Why would this be so special? Isn’t it obvious that a movie called Detective Pikachu is a Pokémon movie? I mean, that little yellow mouse is better known than Mickey.”
I would answer, “Many movies or series are based on cartoons or games seem embarrassed by their inspiration.”
For example, the Smurfs couldn’t be in a fantasy world for two movies. They had to be transported to New York City and get wrapped in needless human drama.
Detective Pikachu is a true live-action vision of the Pokémon world.
People and Pokémon have always been together. Neither has been transported into the other’s world.
Actual locations in the series are mentioned. The genetic experiment Mewtwo comes from the Kanto region. That’s where the games all started. You see posters for Sinnoh Championship XXIV. That’s the setting for the fourth generation of games.
Pokémon act like themselves. They’re not just caricatures with celebrity voices. Mr. Mime is a creepy silent clown thing that makes invisible walls. Charizard is a ferocious dragon speaking only in roars and growls.
Detective Pikachu wants to be the movie fans have always wanted. Everything the series has created and represented is found here.
Balancing the Fandom
That being said, Detective Pikachu knows it’s the first live action entry in a worldwide franchise with quite a range of fan experiences.
Some know Pikachu uses electricity to attack. Others know Pokémon evolve into stronger forms. A few know that Steel types lost resistance to Dark and Ghost attacks in Generation 6.
Detective Pikachu doesn’t pretend it can show every aspect of a fantasy world built across two decades. This film isn’t some whirlwind tour through a journey truly meant to cover 200 anime episodes or 50 gameplay hours.
Detective Pikachu focuses on a single story around a single city.
The film takes time to naturally establish Ryme City. You see Pokémon wandering all over the place. City founder Howard Clifford shares finer details with a tourism video.
The cast of Pokémon is similarly kept simple. Out of nearly 1000 creatures, only a handful are key players in the movie’s plot. Some also appear in background and on billboards.
Legendary Pokémon are limited too. Only the classic psychic monstrosity Mewtwo appears. You don’t have any weather-controlling giants or time-space guardians here.
(We can save those titanic powers for later films. I need this cinematic universe.)
Lesser filmmakers would’ve thrown over 100 creatures onscreen all at once. Nothing would’ve had the time to shine. No time could’ve gone into making the perfect real-life designs for every Pokémon.
Thankfully, we instead have a film where the Pokémon present have a real chance to develop character and fit into the world created.
A Tale of Father and Son
Now to dig a little deeper into the movie’s heart. Spoilers will lie ahead for this year-old movie.
Detective Pikachu is a classic story of father and son.
When I say classic, I mean mythic. I’m talking The Odyssey. I’m talking Star Wars. I’m talking Pinnochio.
Detective Pikachu is a story about saving your father from the underworld. The father loses himself trying to provide for the next generation. The son reaches out to save his father and find wisdom along the way.
The son is Tim Goodman. He’s a kid from Leaven Town who used to love Pokémon. Then his mother died when he was about to leave home to be a Pokémon trainer.
The father is Harry Goodman. He’s a Ryme City detective who moved for work but wants his son back in his life. Then he disappears during a conspiracy involving the manmade legendary Pokémon Mewtwo.
You see, Ryme City’s founder Howard Clifford wants to evolve humanity. In his age and ailments, he comes to believe humanity must evolve into something new.
Howard sees the bonds between human and Pokémon. He wants to replace that bond with a whole new world order. He wants to use Mewtwo’s psychic powers to merge human minds with the bodies of Pokémon.
Detective Pikachu is Harry’s partner Pokémon. Miraculously, Tim can understand the little sleuth’s quips and clues. This strange bond leads the two to investigate Harry’s disappearance.
Much has been said about the pair’s comedy dynamics. Ryan Reynolds is brilliant as Detective Pikachu. He plays bad cop against Mr. Mime and chugs coffee during brainstorming sessions.
Still, the heart here deserves more recognition.
Detective Pikachu helps Tim rediscover his lost love for Pokémon. Rediscovering that love helps Tim connect to other people as well. Tim helps Detective Pikachu regain a sense of himself. He realizes he is Harry.
You see, Harry was the one who captured Mewtwo for Howard. One can guess the reasons for taking the job. Possibly, he was getting the money to get his son to Ryme City.
Harry realized he did wrong. So, he tried to free Mewtwo. Howard sent some Pokémon to crash Harry’s car in response. Mewtwo saw Harry’s injuries and merged him with his Pikachu to save his life.
With Tim’s presence, Mewtwo can split Harry from Pikachu and restore the detective’s body. Father and son can find a new life together in the city. Tim follows his father’s footsteps and become a detective. Harry’s Pikachu approves the idea.
Like I said, this story is downright mythic. As Luke turned Anakin from the dark side and Pinnochio freed Geppetto from the whale, Tim restores Harry Goodman.
Harry did wrong trying to do right by his son. He tried to fix these wrongs but needed his son and partner Pokémon to save him.
Without these relationships, Harry wouldn’t have survived his own mistakes. The father, and the generation he represents, would’ve been lost forever.
Twists and Foils
A few last points to go through.
Mythic structures support stories, but they aren’t meant to be the whole story. Twists and turns are needed here and there. Too many can break the structure, but a few here and there add impressive insights on eternal themes.
One twist comes from the film’s identity as a Pokémon movie. This would be Harry’s Pikachu, specifically its loyalty to its trainer.
Mewtwo ensured Pikachu understood the cost of holding Harry’s mind for him. The mouse would lose its memories, including control of its own powers.
Pikachu was loyal enough to sacrifice itself to hold onto Harry’s mind. Without that Pokémon’s loyalty, Harry wouldn’t have lasted long enough for his son to get to Ryme City.
The son is able to save his father because the father’s companion gave its whole being in service of the father. That little wrinkle to the story has much to say about loyalty. In a way, Harry’s bond with his Pikachu helps emphasize the good in him despite initially helping Howard capture Mewtwo.
Honestly, it’s the perfect twist for Pokémon to add to this classic story.
There’s another twist too. Detective Pikachu shows a failed father-son relationship. A father who fell into the underworld and tried to drag his son there to take his place.
Howard Clifford is a broken man. His belief in humanity’s weakness comes from a rare degenerative disease which has ravaged his body and left him in a wheelchair.
Howard’s son Roger took public ownership of the old man’s companies. Howard refuses to let his legacy pass to the next generation. If he can’t achieve his own goals, then he is a failure and his humanity is to blame.
Howard keeps control over secret projects. He refuses to let Roger have them. Howard even uses Roger as a scapegoat for all his evil deeds.
You see, Howard owns a shapeshifting Pokémon named Ditto. Howard has Ditto impersonate Roger and be the face for all secret projects and conspiracies.
Whereas Harry’s Pikachu willingly gave its body to save Harry’s mind, Howard forsakes his human body. He uses unethical technology to force his mind into Mewtwo’s body and steal its powers.
At the end of the movie, seeing his father’s defeat, Roger can blame only himself. He looks at his father and wonders what he could’ve done differently to save the man.
I find this twist important. In fact, I’d call it brilliant.
Roger and Howard are the perfect foils for Tim and Harry. The film presents both a saved father and a lost father. You see both an ideal and a warning.
Discussion Time!
Detective Pikachu gave me many things to say, and I’m sure there could be many more as time goes on. The filmmakers dreamed to create a great Pokémon story, and they succeeded.
Now let’s keep the conversation going in the comments section.
For those who have seen Detective Pikachu, did you see these themes in the flick, or do you think I’m just grasping at straws? Does this post help you see the movie in a new light?
Also, what movies have best adapted series you love? What did these films get right? What kind of stories do they tell on the screen?
Kotcher’s Call to Action
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