Who’s that Pokémon?
With the release of “Pokémon: Detective Pikachu,” we got to get our first look into the live-action world of Pokémon, for better or worse.
Some of the mons looked absolutely incredible, while some simply should have stayed in their animated forms. As far as video game movies go, it could have been a LOT worse.
We won’t be getting into spoilers, but this list might dissuade you from seeing the film. The movie itself is not bad at all. The characters are fun and funny, and when it looks good, it looks great. The issue that Detective Pikachu uncovered is that not everyone is cut out for live-action.
Top 5 best and worst looking Pokémon in “Pokémon: Detective Pikachu”
5. Best: Mewtwo half the time
In several scenes of the movie, Mewtwo looks phenomenal. Whether he is shooting psychic blasts at enemies or floating at lightspeed through the sky, he looks awesome.
Mewtwo was a clone of Mew created in a lab, and the movie does a great job of making him come off as an unnatural being that started off in a test tube.
5. Worst: Mewtwo…. the other half of the time
For every epic scene with Mewtwo, there’s one that will just make you feel uncomfortable. When the light hits him the wrong way, he almost looks like a frail, naked old man.
Mewtwo is a psychic being that communicates through telepathy. In the movie, he does just that. However, in a very strange choice from the creators, Mewtwo TALKS in one scene in the movie. It’s so hard to watch, and it will make you cover your eyes in fear.
4. Best: Lickitung
When you think about what Pokémon you would want if they were real, Lickitung probably isn’t at the top of your list. Along with having absolutely awful stats in the game, it is a fat, awkward tub of pink goo that licks and eats everything in sight.
Despite all of that, the movie makes Lickitung absolutely hilarious. It looks just as awkward as it should, and proceeds to lick first and ask questions later. Seriously, Lickitung might just be the worst seatmate for a train ride.
4. Worst: Aipom
In some scenes, Aipom looks pretty good. It’s a happy looking monkey, swinging around the city by his tail. However, when it snaps, Aipom looks like a demon from Hell.
This could’ve been a pretty simple fix: don’t give Aipom freaky looking detailed eyes. If you leave those on the cutting room floor, then we won’t get nightmares.
3. Best: Ditto
Without giving away too much, at a certain point in the film, this becomes Ditto‘s movie.
Ditto is a Pokémon that has the unique ability to transform into anything it wants. The film has a lot of fun with this and even draws similarities to the anime.
You see, a poorly trained Ditto sometimes has trouble copying its target’s eyes.
Ditto’s shapeshifting antics represent one of the best parts of the whole movie.
3. Worst: Greninja
Greninja is a cool, ninja frog that throws shuriken made out of water. How do you screw that up so bad?
Although Greninja is a frog, it does not use its tongue in combat. Even in games like “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate,” Greninja prefers to use his water-weapons to fight off bad guys. However, in the film, Greninja uses its tongue, and it is weird.
In another scene, we can see a Greninja walking upright next to a person. In this scene, the CG Greninja looks like a weird teen in an extremely awkward Halloween costume.
Congratulations Greninja, you made ninjas weird.
2. Best: Ludicolo
When the movie was announced, we were excited to see how Pokémon were going to behave in the real world. We got to see a Machamp directing traffic and Growlithe and Arcanine assisting the police, but the mon with the most fitting job was Ludicolo.
Ludicolo was a barista at a coffee shop. Somehow, that’s perfect.
Its sombrero-like head is the perfect serving tray for cups of coffee, and its life-of-the-party personality makes for one friendly host.
Come this fall, we would love to get a pumpkin spice latte from our favorite water-grass Pokémon.
2. Worst: Gengar
OH SWEET, MERCIFUL GOD! WHAT DID YOU DO TO GENGAR?!?!
Gengar is 100% a fan-favorite Pokémon. It is a chubby, purple ghost who flies around causing mischief.
The movie captures none of Gengar’s magic in their incarnation. Here, Gengar is a mass of teeth and purple smoke that looks like something you would see in a shoddy Ghostbusters movie.
We made a mistake in Pokémon Red and Blue; we should’ve sent Gengar to the afterlife, not the ghost of Marowak.
1. Best: Pikachu
Was there any doubt about this one? This is Pikachu’s movie, and he looks amazing. He looks 100% like what we think a real-life Pikachu would look like. He’s a chubby, fuzzy ball of charisma and sass who we would allow on our shoulder any day of the week.
Ryan Reynolds’ performance aside, Pikachu’s face captures so much emotion that makes for great comedic moments as well as touching moments. He looks so good that we could watch a nearly two-hour long video of him dancing.
1. Worst: Slaking
Aipom made us uncomfortable. Gengar made us question our religious beliefs. However, Slaking changed us on a subatomic level.
Slaking is a Bigfoot-like creature who is also known as the laziest Pokémon in existence. In the movie, it looks HORRIBLE.
All of the mons in this movie have some life to them. They move around and interact with the world. Slaking looks like a dead gorilla lying in the corner that’s starting to stink.
We don’t want to talk about or look at Slaking any more than we have to. We just want to put it in the furthest corner of our PC box, and forget that it exists.
Like no one ever was…
All in all, “Pokémon: Detective Pikachu” was a great first step into what will hopefully be more live-action Pokémon movies. For every mon that looked bad, there were five that looked great.
The only problem now is that we want to see more. We got to see dozens of mons, but we can all think of a few of the 809 Pokémon that we still would like to see. Heck, we haven’t even covered the full Pokérap yet.
With more games on the horizon, we hope that this film will inspire GameFreak to tread more into the world of movies.
