Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019) on Netflix
PG20191h 44mActionAdventureComedy
Tim Goodman's father Harry, a detective in Ryme City, is reported dead in a car crash. At Harry's apartment Tim meets Harry's amnesiac Pikachu partner, whom only he can understand.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb6.5/10199,797 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes68%
Trailer
Plot summary
Tim Goodman earns a living as an insurance adjuster, having abandoned his ambition of becoming a Pokémon Trainer, after his mother's death and his separation from his father Harry, a police detective. Harry works in Ryme City, a metropolis where people and Pokémon share everyday life and where battling is forbidden. Lieutenant Yoshida tells Tim that a car crash took Harry's life, so Tim travels to the city to sort out his father's affairs. In Harry's apartment he encounters Harry's partner, an amnesiac Pikachu in a deerstalker hat whose words only Tim can comprehend; everyone else hears nothing but Pika-Pika. A vial of purple gas named R escapes into the air, and a group of Aipom turns savage under its influence. Pikachu insists Harry may still be alive, because the police found no body.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Ryan Reynolds was cast as Detective Pikachu in December 2017, providing the voice and motion capture; Danny DeVito, Dwayne Johnson, Mark Wahlberg and Hugh Jackman were among the actors considered for the part.
- Kathryn Newton won the part of junior reporter Lucy Stevens after reading and testing opposite Justice Smith, beating out Natalia Dyer, Haley Lu Richardson and Katherine Langford.
- Much of Pikachu's on-set interaction was puppetry by Mikey Brett, with Cornelius Geaney Jr. feeding vocals through in-ear devices so Justice Smith and the puppeteer could hear dialogue without microphones picking it up.
- Audio for the fight between Detective Pikachu and Charizard was recorded at the real 2018 Pokémon World Championships.
- Detective Pikachu's $54.4 million domestic debut was the best-ever opening for a video game film at the time, a record Sonic the Hedgehog broke the following year with $58 million.
- Detective Pikachu was the first Pokémon film released in the United States to receive a PG rating from the MPAA rather than a G rating.
- Cinematographer John Mathieson shot Detective Pikachu on traditional film rather than digital, as he had on his other films, unlike most contemporary movies.
