It's a delight for fans to see how immersive this world actually feels.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 10, 2020

I found this weirdly diverting... It's a counterintuitive fit for this character, and I kind of liked that about it.

| Sep 28, 2019

Pretty well-done, and when it got to the end, the bits that are meant to tug on your heart strings twitch the very top register...

| May 22, 2019

But when the earth begins to shake and villains finally show their true colors things get far less interesting.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 22, 2019

The human characters are flat and boring...but Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu saved the entire film, and there's a lot of him...about as good as a live-action Pokémon film could be.

| Original Score: B- | May 13, 2019

The central mystery of Detective Pikachu is lackluster-and sends a slightly problematic message about people with disabilities-but the production design is an impressive achievement.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 12, 2019

Reynolds is in his element when allowed to be goofy, and this stuff is nothing if not surreal, especially in the second act.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 12, 2019

What's clever is the way this live-action spinoff exploits nostalgia for the family-friendly blockbusters of the late 1980s and the 1990s (a broader entry point) rather than the Japanese "Pocket Monsters" themselves.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 12, 2019

For a while, the first live-action Pokemon movie's achievements are enough.

| Original Score: 1/5 | May 10, 2019

It's funny enough for parents to suck it up while children can giggle at the in-jokes and the silliness.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 10, 2019

Fortunately, the ever-likeable Reynolds is equal to the task, channelling the savvy exuberance (but not the rude bits) of his Deadpool persona.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 10, 2019

Smith interacts believably with the CGI characters and even manages a genuine character arc as we see him become less isolated and more vulnerable and authentic.

| Original Score: B- | May 9, 2019

That the movie can serve both its fandom and those of us left baffled on the outside is a remarkable feat.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 9, 2019

Detective Pikachu is unrelentingly weird.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 9, 2019

Oil and water. Toothpaste and orange juice. Good decisions and Florida. Some things just don't go together, and you can add Ryan Reynolds' voice and Pikachu to that list.

| Original Score: C | May 9, 2019

There's something admirable about a film that isn't afraid to have some fun with a property so established - and beloved - by its core audience.

| May 9, 2019

I don't know a dang thing about Pokémon, and I really had a great time with Detective Pikachu... I found plenty to enjoy here, and I was never once confounded by what was happening onscreen.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 9, 2019

Detective Pikachu isn't that bad, and the movie arrives helpfully armed with a couple decades worth of equity and goodwill; still, once you've gotten your fill of its wisecracking namesake, even grading on a curve, it isn't good.

| May 9, 2019

The film's plot is either too much or too little.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | May 9, 2019

Once you get past that initial disappointment, however, Detective Pikachu is pretty fun.

| May 9, 2019