POKÉMON Detective Pikachu

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POKÉMON Detective Pikachu (Japanese: 名探偵ピカチュウ Great Detective Pikachu), sometimes formatted as Pokémon Detective Pikachu or Pokémon: Detective Pikachu and often referred to as simply Detective Pikachu, is a live-action Pokémon movie focusing on the character , who was first introduced in the Nintendo 3DS game of the same name. It was released in Japanese theaters on May 3, 2019 and in North American theaters on May 10, 2019. The film was produced by and distributed by outside of Japan and Mainland China, where it was distributed by Toho and , respectively.
The movie was first revealed in July 2016. Filming took place in from January to May 2018. The logo and title for were revealed during the opening ceremony of the 2018 World Championships on August 24, 2018.
Directed by , Detective Pikachu is the first live-action film in the Pokémon franchise, in addition to CGI-animated Pokémon. The movie features Ryan Reynolds as the voice of , as Tim Goodman, and as Lucy Stevens.
==Other posters and logos==
Detective Pikachu movie teaser poster.png|Teaser poster
Detective Pikachu movie poster.png|First poster
Detective Pikachu movie poster 2.png|Second poster
Detective Pikachu movie poster 3.png|Third poster
Detective Pikachu movie poster 4.png|Fourth poster
Detective Pikachu movie poster iTunes.png|iTunes poster
Detective Pikachu movie poster Dolby Cinema.png|Dolby Cinema poster by Aracely Muñoz
Detective Pikachu movie Japanese poster.png|First Japanese poster
Detective Pikachu movie Japanese poster 2.png|Second Japanese poster
Detective Pikachu movie Japanese poster IMAX.png|Japanese IMAX poster
Detective Pikachu movie logo.png|English logo
Detective Pikachu movie Japanese logo.png|Japanese logo
==Blurb==
The story begins when ace private eye Harry Goodman goes mysteriously missing, prompting his 21-year-old son Tim to find out what happened. Aiding in the investigation is Harry’s former Pokémon partner, Detective Pikachu: a hilariously wise-cracking, adorable super-sleuth who is a puzzlement even to himself. Finding that they are uniquely equipped to communicate with one another, Tim and Pikachu join forces on a thrilling adventure to unravel the tangled mystery. Chasing clues together through the neon-lit streets of Ryme City—a sprawling, modern metropolis where humans and Pokémon live side by side in a hyper-realistic live-action world—they encounter a diverse cast of Pokémon characters and uncover a shocking plot that could destroy this peaceful co-existence and threaten the whole Pokémon universe.
==Plot==
At the , a remote laboratory in the mountains, awakens within a tank. Sensing the presence of a man somewhere outside, Mewtwo bursts free as the tank's containment protocols fail. The man flees the lab and drives away with Mewtwo in pursuit of his car, until an explosion apparently caused by Mewtwo throws the vehicle off a bridge.
Some time later, 21-year-old insurance salesman Tim Goodman is spending time with his friend in their home of Leaventown. Jack brings Tim to a field in search of wild Pokémon despite Tim's protestations that he does not need a Pokémon partner. Tim, who gave up being a after the death of his mother and alienation from his father, eventually gives in and attempts to capture a wild . His attempt fails and the Cubone chases Tim and Jack away. Back in Leaventown, Tim receives a phone call informing him that his father Harry has died as a result of the car crash.
Tim travels to Ryme City to place Harry's affairs in order. En route aboard a train, he and the other passengers are shown a public service video explaining the city's history: billionaire tycoon Howard Clifford, who developed a degenerative disease, became fascinated with Pokémon as he traveled the world in search of a cure for his condition. Howard eventually became convinced that if humanity could live as one side-by-side with Pokémon, they too could evolve into the best versions of themselves, much as Pokémon do. To fulfill his vision, Howard used his fortune to found Ryme City as a utopia where Pokémon live with humans free of Poké Balls, with battles outlawed. Upon arrival in Ryme City, Tim heads for a police station and notices a watching him. He meets with Lieutenant Hide Yoshida, an old colleague of Harry's, who consoles him over his father's death. Yoshida urges Tim to find a partner like his so he no longer has to be alone, but Tim is unreceptive to this advice.
Having received a key from Yoshida, Tim goes to the apartment building where Harry lived. He again encounters the Psyduck and soon meets its partner Lucy Stevens, who is investigating the circumstances around Harry's death despite her position as a fluff column blogger for news network CNM. Lucy tries to gain information from Tim, but he turns her down and goes to Harry's apartment. He comes across a room made to resemble his childhood bedroom, as well as an unsent letter from Harry asking him to move to Ryme City so they may reconcile. Later, while searching Harry's desk, Tim finds a vial of purple gas labeled "R", which he accidentally opens. He vents the gas out of a window, unaware that a group of are nearby and are exposed to the fumes. Tim hears strange noises and encounters a Pikachu wearing a deerstalker hat that, to his shock, speaks human language. He barely has time to make sense of Pikachu's speech before the Aipom invade the apartment, driven mad by their exposure to the gas. Tim and Pikachu end up being pursued to the roof of the building, where they escape to the street using a trash chute. Once the Aipom calm down and leave, they go to a nearby street market where Tim tries to get other people to hear Pikachu talking, but none of them can hear Pikachu say anything other than his name.
Tim and Pikachu go to Hi-Hat Café, where Pikachu explains that he has amnesia but can remember two things: he was Harry's partner as a detective, and they were investigating a case involving the "R" substance. Tim reluctantly agrees to help Pikachu solve the case, as Pikachu believes Harry is alive and finding the truth will help them locate him. They go to the CNM facility to gather information on the case from Lucy. There, they find her working on the set of a commercial for the upcoming Pokémon parade involving both Howard Clifford and his son Roger. Howard leaves after an argument with his son, and Roger dismisses Lucy's efforts to call attention to the R story. Tim and Pikachu meet with Lucy and learn that Harry had a source at Ryme Wharf he was getting information from. Traveling there, they encounter a that they quickly realize was Harry's source. Mr. Mime is initially uncooperative with them, but when Tim plays along with its miming and pretends to pour gasoline over it, it agrees to help. It reveals that R was being distributed at a place called the "Roundhouse," which Tim and Pikachu find is an underground facility where illegal Pokémon battles are held. , the Roundhouse's operator, recognizes Pikachu and angrily confronts the pair, telling them that Pikachu once damaged his coat and scarred his prized in battle. He refuses to give up any information unless Pikachu and Charizard have a rematch. However, before the battle starts, Sebastian gives Charizard a dose of R, causing it to go on a rampage. Making matters worse, Pikachu finds himself unable to remember any of his moves. Tim interferes in the battle to protect Pikachu, and when Sebastian enters the ring, he is knocked down by Charizard and breaks the vials of R inside his coat. The gas spreads over the entire room, causing all the Pokémon present to fly into a frenzy. In the midst of the chaos, Tim demands answers and Sebastian tells him that R was being given out by someone he knows only as "the doctor." Soon afterward, a newly evolved defeats Charizard with , flooding Tim and Pikachu out of the building in the process. They are arrested by Ryme City police and brought to Yoshida, who shows them footage of Harry's accident to convince them of his death.
Dejected following their meeting with Yoshida, Tim and Pikachu are soon summoned to Howard's office by his enigmatic assistant Ms. Norman. Howard explains his beliefs regarding Pokémon and humans helping each other evolve by evolving his into and reveals that Harry was working on his behalf to trace the source of R, whose mastermind he identifies as Roger. He confirms that Harry is indeed alive by showing them a hologram of the accident, which reveals to them that Harry crawled from the wreckage only to be taken away by Mewtwo, leaving Pikachu behind. Howard tells Tim and Pikachu that if they can find Mewtwo, they will find Harry. However, he warns them to beware of Roger, who he says is in control of both the media and the police.
Continuing their investigation, the duo meets with Lucy at Hi-Hat Café. She shows them documents regarding the mysterious destruction of the PCL, which has been designated off-limits as a hazardous site following the explosion. The unexplained circumstances regarding the lab's destruction arouse the group's suspicion, as does the history of chief scientist Dr. Ann Laurent, who was a Pokémon neurologist that had her research grant revoked for experimenting with mind-controlling Pokémon prior to working there. They head to the ruins of the PCL, unaware that Roger is following them with a team of his henchmen.
At the lab, the group discovers that the and that were experimented on are still being stored there. Pikachu finds a functioning computer in the main laboratory, which he and Tim use to access holographic video records of Laurent's activity. They learn that Laurent created a neural link headband for human use and had been extracting Mewtwo's DNA to create the R serum, which provokes an incoherent rage in its user due to a unique property of Mewtwo's genetic makeup. By going back further in the archive, they discover that Harry had been working for Laurent's benefactors, specifically tasked to help locate Mewtwo so it could be captured. Roger, who has been monitoring them on his laptop using the lab's security cameras, remotely releases the genetically modified Greninja to attack the group. They are pursued relentlessly until Psyduck uses its full power to blow the Greninja away. However, they soon find themselves trapped amidst a group of mountain-sized Torterra. They barely manage to survive, but Pikachu is gravely wounded in their escape. Tim desperately remembers Pikachu's earlier advice about how Pokémon understand humans and is able to convince a to help. The Bulbasaur, along with several more of its species and a number of , bring Tim to a valley where they encounter Mewtwo. Mewtwo heals Pikachu's injuries and shows them both a vision of Pikachu sabotaging the lab's security, enabling Mewtwo's escape. However, before it can reveal the truth of Harry's disappearance and its intentions, Roger captures it with machines and takes it away in his truck. Tim and Pikachu reunite with Lucy, but Pikachu abandons Tim, believing himself to have sold Harry out so Mewtwo could get revenge for its capture. He later comes across the bridge where the accident occurred and discovers proof that it was the Greninja that caused the crash, not Mewtwo. This leads him to realize Howard has been misleading Tim all along.
Tim and Lucy rush back to Ryme City, fearing that Roger plans to attack the Pokémon parade to get revenge for his father's neglect. Lucy disguises herself as a reporter and attempts to talk to the Ryme City mayor, but Roger appears and she flees. Tim, meanwhile, goes to Howard's office, only to discover Howard wearing the neural link headband Laurent created. Realizing too late that Howard, not Roger, was the mastermind of the plot, Tim is powerless to stop Howard from merging his mind into the captured Mewtwo's body. Howard tells Tim that he devised the plot as a cure not only for himself but for all humanity. Harry had begun investigating the case and traced R to the Roundhouse and then to Laurent, forcing Howard to arrange for him to be killed. Howard throws Tim aside with his newfound telekinetic abilities, flies off into the city and ruptures the parade balloons, unleashing the R within on the civilians and Pokémon below. Countless people, among them Lucy and Yoshida, are fused into their Pokémon by Howard as the final stage of his plan. Pikachu arrives and summons his powers to engage Howard in battle. Meanwhile, Tim comes to and realizes he can stop Howard by removing the neural link, but before he can do so he discovers Roger bound and gagged inside the office closet. The "Roger" who captured Mewtwo arrives and s into Ms. Norman, who removes her sunglasses to reveal that she is, in fact, a . She shapeshifts into a and attacks Tim with before assuming the form of Lucy and fighting Tim with her bare hands. She then becomes a and punches Tim until he ends up hanging out the office window, and then becomes a Cubone to try and make him lose his grip. He nearly falls but is rescued when Roger hits Ms. Norman out the window with a pole and helps him up. She soon returns in the guise of a , however, and takes the form of a to headbutt Roger, knocking him out. Ms. Norman next transforms into a Charizard and tries to kill Tim, but he manages to spray her with a hose connected to a tank of R, causing her to uncontrollably shapeshift before melting into unconsciousness in her true Ditto form.
Howard recovers from being hit with Pikachu's and captures him, scorning him for thinking a Pikachu could defeat Mewtwo in battle. Pikachu counters that he was only keeping Howard busy, and Howard is unable to stop Tim from removing the neural link headband from his human body. With their link severed, Howard returns to his body and Mewtwo briefly falls unconscious, but recovers quickly enough to save Pikachu from hitting the ground. Tim rushes out to reunite with them, and Mewtwo disposes of all the remaining R before separating the humans and Pokémon. Howard is arrested, and Roger expresses disappointment in himself for not being there for his father. He grants Lucy a promotion to on-camera reporter and gives her the task of presenting a report on Howard's crimes. Tim and Lucy decide to pursue a relationship. Finally, Mewtwo reveals that in order to save Harry's life, it fused Harry and Pikachu together and waited for Tim's arrival so Harry's injuries could be healed. With his task completed, Pikachu is separated from Harry.
Some time later, Harry and Pikachu go to the train station to see Tim off, but Tim decides to stay in Ryme City with his father and pursue a career as a detective. Tim suggests getting coffee together, and Harry says that it was the only thing he has thought of lately.
==Featured Pokémon==
* 
* 
==Characters==
===Humans===
* Tim Goodman
* Lucy Stevens
* Lieutenant Hide Yoshida
* Harry Goodman
* Howard Clifford
* Roger Clifford
* Dr. Ann Laurent
* 
* 
* Grams
* DJ
* Cynthia McMaster
* Scientists
* Male 
* Citizens of Ryme City
===Pokémon===
* ()
* (Lucy's)
* (Yoshida's)
* (Howard's; Ms. Norman)
* (Howard's; evolves)
* (Howard's; newly evolved)
* ('s)
* (×5)
* (multiple)
* (×3)
* 
* (; multiple)
* (×2)
* (×2)
* (multiple)
* 
* (×4)
* (×5)
* (×2)
* (multiple)
* (×4)
* (multiple)
* (×10)
* (multiple)
* (multiple)
* (multiple)
* 
* (×2)
* (multiple)
* 
* (×3)
* (×2)
* 
* (×2)
* (×2)
* 
* (×2)
* (×3)
* (×2)
* (multiple)
* 
* 
* (multiple)
* (evolves)
* (newly evolved)
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* ()
* 
* (multiple)
* (×5)
* 
* 
* 
* 
==Cast==
|}
==Staff==
Detective Pikachu 	Detective Pikachu
Great Detective Pikachu	Great Detective Pikachu
Director 	
*
Casting 	
* Sarah Halley Finn
Music 	
*
Costume designer 	
* Suzie Harman
Film editors 	
* 
* James Thomas
Production designer 	
* Nigel Phelps
Director of photography	
*
Executive producers 	
* Joe Caracciolo, Jr.
* Ali Mendes
* Tsunekazu Ishihara
* Kenji Okubo
* Toshio Miyahara
* Keiji Ota
Producers 	
* 
* Cale Boyter
* Hidenaga Katakami
* Don McGowan
Screenplay 	
* Dan Hernandez
* Benji Samit
* Rob Letterman
*
Story 	
* Dan Hernandez
* Benji Samit
*
Co-producer 	
* Alexandra Mendes
Visual effects 	
* 
*
==Soundtrack==
The film's score was composed by . The movie features the title theme under the title Red & Blue Theme, Carry On by and , and ELECTRICITY by the featuring over the ending credits. The songs Le Fantôme de Saint Bechet and Payin No Mind by , Gotta Catch 'Em All (Pokémon Theme), Jigglypuff by Rachel Lillis, Goh by & featuring KLP, and Kyoto Mist by David Wahler were featured during the film itself.
The songs by , by , and by were also featured in trailers for the film. In the Japanese versions of trailers featuring Holding Out for a Hero, the by is used in its place.
==Promotion==
Some publicity stunts were held to promote the film:
On April 12, 2019, an interview-style comedy skit with Reynolds and his wife Blake Lively was released, where Reynolds exaggerated the extent of his method acting to get into character - including not picking up his daughters from school because "[Detective Pikachu] doesn't know who those two little girls are" and "attempting to lose 182 pounds to match [Detective Pikachu]'s weight until doctors intervened".
On May 7, 2019, a YouTube channel titled "Inspector Pikachu" uploaded a false leak of the film, and a similarly-named twitter account also tweeted about it. The video was watermarked with Ryan Reynolds's name and started by showing Warner Bros.'s logos, but then transitioned into a looping animation of Detective Pikachu dancing. This animation references a Key & Peele comedy skit (which itself references the National Aerobics Championships in the 80s) that performs the same motions and uses a similar fitness gym setting. The video's length was 1:42:53, similar to the actual film's runtime of 1 hour and 44 minutes, and Reynolds also tweeted about the videoReynolds tweet about fake leak stunt to add to the illusion. This animation is unique to the promotional video, and does not appear in the final film.
==Future==
During January 2019, months ahead of the scheduled release of Detective Pikachu, Legendary Entertainment announced that a sequel was already being planned, with Oren Uziel signed on as the screenwriter.‘Detective Pikachu’ Sequel in the Works With ’22 Jump Street’ Writer (Exclusive) - The Hollywood Reporter‘Detective Pikachu’ Sequel in Development With ’22 Jump Street’ Writer - Variety However, during May 3, 2021, Justice Smith said on a sequel: "I think we have to just kind of bury our hopes. I don't think it's going to happen. I really hope so though."Justice Smith on defining a Generation and Detective Pikachu 2 - Inverse In October 2022, during a live feed on Instagram, Kathryn Newton also expressed an interest in the possibility of a sequel, but was unsure about its future.
==Events==
==Release==
Date 	Locations 	
May 3, 2019 	Japan 	
May 8, 2019 	, , , Luxembourg, Malta, , , Switzerland (French) 	
May 9, 2019 	Antigua and Barbuda, , Aruba, , , , Brunei, , , , , , Fiji, , Georgia, , , , Laos, , , , , , Papua New Guinea, , , , , Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, , , Switzerland (German, Italian), , , , , , U.S. Virgin Islands, 	
May 10, 2019 	Andorra, Austria, , Cambodia, , , , , , Estonia, , Guadeloupe, , , , , , Kenya, Latvia, , , Mongolia, Nigeria, , , , (Basque, Catalan'Pokémon: detectiu Pikachu' s'estrena en català aquest divendres - Llengua catalana, Spanish), , Tanzania, , , , ,	
May 15, 2019 	Trinidad and Tobago 	
May 16, 2019 	, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, , Cyprus, Guyana, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Montenegro, Uzbekistan, , , , , Slovenia 	
May 17, 2019 	, 	
May 31, 2019 	 	
June 6, 2019 	Moldova 	
June 7, 2019 	 	
June 13, 2019	, , , , , , , 	
July 10, 2019	 	
 	 	
==Trivia==
* The rights to distribute the outside Japan were initially won by , but they were eventually taken over by , a distributor of previous Pokémon movies.
* This is the first Pokémon movie to be officially rated PG by the . All previous movies were either rated G or not rated.
* This movie has the highest production budget of any Pokémon movie, totaling $150 million.
* This movie is the highest-grossing Pokémon movie, with box office sales exceeding $433 million as of August 2019.
* This is one of two Pokémon-related movies to be released in 2019, with the other being Mewtwo Strikes Back—Evolution. Coincidentally, both movies prominently feature a and heavily use CGI.
* While the movie takes liberties with the original plot of the Detective Pikachu video game, it does reveal the ultimate fate of Tim's father, which was not addressed in the source material.
* The Jigglypuff shown in the coffee shop wielding a microphone/marker is a reference to the in .
* The Greninja use water swords just like the one in Super Smash Bros. does.
* The gangster movie playing on the TV when Tim enters Harry's apartment for the first time is the movie that Kevin McCallister watches in the 1990 Christmas comedy film . The movie in question, titled "Angels with Filthy Souls", is not a real one, and was made specially for use in Home Alone.
* When attempting to calm Psyduck, Detective Pikachu yells, "Serenity now!" This is a reference to the 1997 episode "", in which Frank Costanza is told to yell the phrase whenever he is angry, in order to lower his blood pressure.
* At the beginning of the movie, says, "They're outside", before breaking out of its container, a reference to how in Mewtwo Strikes Back, says a similar line, "Those voices... they're outside... where I must be", before breaking out of its container.
* While being scratched by Lucy, Detective Pikachu says, "Sweet mother of ", marking the first time the word "Arceus" is used as a replacement for "" in an official piece of Pokémon media.
** However, Detective Pikachu says, "Oh, my God!" when he and Tim are being attacked by a gang of Aipom earlier in the film.
** The developer commentary is also the first time the term generation is combined with a roman numeral in an official Pokémon product to refer to a specific generation of Pokémon games.
* This is also the first Pokémon product of the entire franchise to:
** Be dubbed into ; all previous Pokémon products that were released in Dutch in Belgium used the dub from the Netherlands instead.
** Be dubbed into since 2011, in since 2010, in since 2008, in since 2005, in since 2004, since 2000, and in since 1999.
** Be introduced at all with subtitles in Azerbaijani, Estonian, Latvian, Mongolian, and Slovene languages.
** Be subtitled in and since 2012, since 2004, and since 2002.
** Be released on a Sony console, with it being available for digital purchase on the PlayStation store.
* This movie is referenced in Detective Pikachu Returns, where Tim's mother mentions a movie based on the R case, while Tim's sister points out how she and her mother did not appear in it.
* Ryan Reynolds originally wanted to do a "film noir" voice for Pikachu, but was told not to.Ryan Reynolds Says He Initially Wanted to Do a Different Voice for Pikachu RoleReynolds on The Tonight Show, discussing his initial idea for Detective Pikachu's voice
===Errors===
* Tim refers to multiple Aipom as "Aipoms" and Pikachu says "Greninjas". This is incorrect as Pokémon names are the same for both singular and plural.
* Greninja are colored incorrectly throughout the movie, their yellowish accents appearing pale blue instead.
==In other languages==
==References==
==External links==
* Official website (archived)
* POKÉMON Detective Pikachu on Facebook
* POKÉMON Detective Pikachu on Twitter
* POKÉMON Detective Pikachu on Instagram
* Official website (Japanese)
* POKÉMON Detective Pikachu on Facebook (Japanese)
* POKÉMON Detective Pikachu on Twitter (Japanese)
* POKÉMON Detective Pikachu on Instagram (Japanese)
* POKÉMON Detective Pikachu on Weibo (Simplified Chinese)
* Film on the IMDb database
==Related articles==
Category:Detective Pikachu
Category:Movies
de:Pokémon Meisterdetektiv Pikachu
es:POKÉMON Detective Pikachu
fr:Pokémon : Détective Pikachu (film)
it:Detective Pikachu (film)
ja:名探偵ピカチュウ (実写版)
zh:名侦探皮卡丘（电影）