SPOILERS DOWN THE PATH; THE DISCUSSION BELOW WILL NOT BE COMPREHENSIVE WITHOUT IT.
TREAD CAREFULLY. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.
Imagine living long enough to witness a proper Hollywood live action adaptation of Pokémon made to see the daylight? If this isn't a dream-come-true, what else is?!
Credits go to the creature designers for successfully and effectively adapting these Pocket Monsters onto the big screen. They all look like teddy bears came to life! Fluffy, squishy, furry; simply popping is what it is! If there's any accurate way of transfiguring these iconic characters from anime to live action, this would be the one and only it! The makers did manage to erect a believable world for Pokémon and humans to coexist, although dating back Pokémon to ancient times was laughable to say the least.
Of course, one walks into a movie with the title 'Pokémon' on it to see… Pokémon! And you do get loads of it! Ryan Reynolds-voiced Pikachu, Mr. Mime on interrogation, Blastoise versus Gengars, lonely and furious Cubone, roundhouse battle between Pikachu and Charizard, Magikarp turning into Gyarados to save (flood) the day, Pikachu massaging Psyduck's feet, Bulbasaurs to rescue, terraforming Torterras, Psyduck's headache repelling Greninjas on pursuit, advanced Ditto, rabid Aipom and the grandest of them all - manipulated Mewtwo were amazeballs! Wait till you see Pikachu going toe-to-toe with Mewtwo during the climax!
As far as the writing goes, it's absolutely basic. For a film with 'Detective' on its front page, you'd expect some mystery, crime-solving detecting work to ensue. Unfortunately, very little of those were exciting or intriguing as characters just walk into someone and they are informed of what they need to know in the form of long, elaborate expositions, over and over again. Recreation of police scene via realistic hologram was a good scene, however.
Infiltration into the secret Pokémon facility was too easy. Villain's plan was ridiculous with motivation that doesn't make sense at all. Pikachu's betrayal assumption was a good spin on the narrative whereas Ryan Reynolds himself appearing as Tim's dad can't be taken seriously! Although the reason behind starting this adventure of investigation was organic for both Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) and Pikachu, a lot of the events that transpired afterwards were forced, with examples being bumping into Mr. Mime, Pikachu asked to rematch Charizard and Tim meeting Lucy (Kathryn Newton). Protagonist Tim being sulky for most of the time even before the story began was plain tiresome and annoying to watch, albeit being able to empathize with him at a later part of the show.