Pokémon’s first live action film, “Detective Pikachu,” is in many eyes a success when it debuted May 10. The film takes place in Ryme City, a place where Pokemon and people live together rather than being caught and used in battles. It is very different from the usual Pokemon movies/games and it worked really well. It reminded me a lot of “Zootopia” having the Pokemon live and work as normal humans would, it was an interesting and fun twist. The film stars Ryan Reynolds, Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton, Bill Nighy and Chris Geere. Smith and Reynolds are a perfect pair, they are funny and entertaining. Reynolds brought the attitude and comedy from his “Deadpool” character and put it into a caffeine addicted electric mouse.

The plot was enjoyable, starting with the death of a top detective (Reynolds) and his son (Smith) coming to Ryme City to pack up his stuff. In his father’s apartment is where he meets his father’s Pokemon partner, Pikachu. They team up to try to solve the death of his father and that’s where they meet news reporter Lucy Stevens. It is a comedic and cute story all around, a touching story of father and son patching their past differences and coming together again.

There were a lot of good things in this film, the designs on the Pokemon were everything I would have expected. Being a long time fan it was really great to see these live action Pokemon look exactly as I would have imagined them. My favorite part of the movie was seeing one of my favorite Pokemon (charizard) go toe to toe with pikachu in a underground battles fight night. Charizard looked amazing; he had scales like a dragon and razor sharp teeth/claws. His flamethrower move was awesome. Some things that disappointed me were the lack of game knowledge shown in the film. In the games, some types will not be able to attack other types because they have a type resistance, yet in “Detective Pikachu” they had two occasions where Pokemon used moves that would usually have no effect but they did anyway. Another thing that bothered me was the lack of use with pikachu’s powers, he had amnesia throughout the film but once he remembered how to use his powers we still weren’t really shown his true potential.

Other than those few flaws I really enjoyed the film. I laughed a lot and just had a lot of fun. It brought back nostalgia from the days I would just play my Pokemon games all day without a care in the world. Reynolds played a great performance along with Smith and Newton, all around great film. I give “Detective Pikachu” a 8.5 out of 10.