Ty Watches "Detective Pikachu"

As RD and I talked about on a recent podcast, I did take my kids, mostly because my son begged me, to see "Detective Pikachu". I talked on that pod how I was kind of reluctant to see the movie. I am a Pokémon novice. More correctly, I know next to nothing about Pokémon. I do know who Pikachu is. I know some other names of some other Pokémon. I knew that Ryan Reynolds was the voice of Pikachu. But, other than that, I was lost. My kids uncle did come with us, and thankfully, he knew a ton about Pokémon. He was able to talk to my son about everyone in the movie. He knew just as much, if not more, than he did, so it was nice for my son to have someone who he could converse with about the deep characters in the movie.

All of this leads me to my personal review of the movie. "Detective Pikachu", from a true outsider's perspective, was an odd, but fun movie. I do need to say, the look and feel of the movie was pretty cool. This movie took a real shot, and I think they hit a double. No homerun, not even a triple, but they accomplished a little something that made it memorable for me, and it has nothing to do with the story. The story, if there was one, was absurd, but I expect that from a Pokémon movie. That is my one very nitpicky thing about the movie. From an adult, and a parent's perspective, going to this movie, don't expect a cohesive story. The movie jumps and changes at the drop of the hat. Yes, there is a bad guy, a fake out and something that seems like a thru line, but outside of that, it kind of goes off the rails. But, when I really look into it, especially through my son's eyes, that doesn't matter. The movie was very nice looking. The way they shot it, they really made the world of Pokémon pop. And that is another thing, about shooting this movie, they did it on 35 millimeter film. That is wild. That is taking a chance. That was a baller move. I respect that. This is, for all intents and purposes, a kid's movie, yet they shot it on real film. That took some guts. I also appreciated the fact that they tried to make this a noir movie for kids. It also resembled old school detective movies. Hell, it is called "Detective Pikachu". I am a big fam of noir and thriller movies. It is one of my favorite genres. So, for a kids movie to attempt the noir, again, I respect the effort. I really enjoyed the thought that went into this choice, the lingo they used with the characters and the "dark" tones to try and set up a noir feel. It was fun.

All in all I'd give "Detective Pikachu" a solid B-, maybe a C+. It isn't the best movie in the world, but I have seen a lot worse kids movie. I was never bored for the 90 plus minutes run time. I liked the look. I enjoyed the feel. I had no idea what was going on, but my son absolutely loved it, and that was why I went to see this movie. It achieved its goal for me. My son has not stopped talking about it since we saw it last Saturday. He and his friends are all talking about it too. This movie knows its targeted audience, and they won all those people over. And, for a non Pokémon fan, it kept my attention. It was an okay movie, and fans of Pokémon, I'm sure, will love it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He feels cheated because they never made any big budget movies about his favorite toys. Where is Ty’s Pogs movie?

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Last Generation Gamer: Pokemon Go

I was a bit too old to really get into Pokemon. In the 1990's the Sega Genesis, and then the Sony Playstation, appealed to my college and young male adult mind more than any of the kid games that were thrown out by Nintendo. While I did play my share of dice rolling role-playing games, the card trading games like Pokemon and Magic were never on my radar. As I grew older Nintendo reentered my life with the DS and then the Wii. By that time I was still only interested in the Mario, Zelda, and Metroid games. Pokemon was always the game of mythical animal cock-fighting that I never really understood. Never cared to catch them all, probably never would.

Last week the mobile game Pokemon Go was released in the United States. I downloaded the app immediately. By switching from Windows Phone to Android a few months ago, I was just happy to have the option to download the new hip thing. I signed in with my Google account, allowed all the ridiculous permissions, and waited for the game to start. My phone told me there was an error, and I was immediately kicked out of app. The next day I woke up and tried to sign in again. Since I was up fairly early, I figured the servers could not be overloaded. I assume my hunch was correct, because I finally was able to create my trainer. Being the short bald man that age has turned me into, my trainer is dashing with a nice full head of hair. There were not that many options.

Once my trainer was created, I checked my surroundings, and I immediately saw a blue box. Excitedly I touched the box and the augmented reality of Pokemon Go went into full effect. Sitting right on my breakfast table was a little blue Squirtle. I was very familiar with this particular Pokemon due to my experiences of playing Super Smash Bros for the Wii and Wii U. He was hanging out right next to my coffee. I quickly tossed my Pokeball, and I missed. I tried a few more times and after a few trials, I caught the little bugger. It was quite a thrill.

Now that I had my pokemon, I was ready to start fighting. Since I never read any of the rules, I had no idea what I was doing. Soon the realization came to me that I need to train the Pokemon at a gym. Luckily there was a gym within walking distance of my house. I grabbed my son, our new dog, and we embarked on a nice long walk on a very hot day. Along the way my son manned the phone looking for new pokemon, he caught one. When we were in range of the gym I quickly hit the icon, I also noticed my phone battery was near the end. Again, not being one for reading the rules, I learned I needed to be level 5 to use the gym. Maybe it was time to stop investing in this game I know nothing about?

I let Pokemon Go stay unused for a few days, then yesterday I was with my son and dog at a new park. There were people all over the place with their phones out looking for pokemon. I figured why not reopen the game and see what I am missing. Since I opened the app for a second time, every where I go I will open my phone to look for pokemon. The gym, I caught three more. Playground, I scored a Cubone. Even today, in my living room, I saw a crab little monster hanging out on top of my sleeping dog. I am not level five yet, but I am getting closer.

I am not the only one in my house amused by Pokemon Go. My six year old son is interested in catching the little monsters. Because of his interest I decided to download an old Pokemon game to his 2DS. He choose Pokemon Red because that is his favorite color. Once the game was installed, my son got ready to play. The lack of color, and the story aspect of the game, quickly made the boy bored. He put his 2DS down and went back to playing Mario Kart 8. I picked up the 2DS and decided to give the old game a chance. An hour later I had to force myself off of the ancient game so the dog could go outside and pee. The whole time outside with the dog I was kicking myself for missing out on twenty years of great Pokemon games. I knew I would have to catch up soon, but there was a new pokemon just down the street. It was then that the dog got to take another walk.

Many of the people I know have been looking for all the problems with Pokemon Go. I hear complaints about people going to cemeteries and other solemn places to catch their virtual monsters. My inner circle of friends post memes of how dumb it is for adults to play the game. Stories of danger, stupidity, and the horror of Pokemon Go has been the go to news item for the entire press. The narrative around Pokemon Go seems to be doom and dorkery. It is another fad, and we all must dismiss it immediately.

I am not here to bury Pokemon Go. It is the best mobile game I have ever seen. Everywhere I go there are people with phones out looking for cartoon creatures among the real world. Most of the people playing the game are women. The gaming community could really use more female gamer positive stories. I went to Target and saw people shopping and looking for pokemon. On the bike trail near my house, there were many walkers looking for an elusive pokemon. It is the middle of July in the Midwest, it is hot and humid, and there are way more people outside playing this game. They are playing the game together. Every time I glance at my phone in public, people ask if I am playing Pokemon Go. Most of the time the answer is yes. We need to embrace the social, and active, consequences of a free app that you can install on your phone. Yes people should stay out of cemeteries, but let's focus on the 1000+ great aspects of Pokemon Go and not be obsessed with the handful of bad stories. We should celebrate something great, not tear down what we want to dismiss.

I am so happy to have Pokemon Go on my phone. It has encouraged me to explore areas of my community I have never thought of. It has given my new dog an expectation of frequent, and ever changing, walks. It has made my son want to go outside. It is a great app. You need to download it. Reading the rules is not required. I just wish the actual Pokemon games and cards were not so expensive.

RD

RD Kulik is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. While he was writing this post, RD took a break to check on Pokemon Go. He caught another Pidgey. Catch the SeedSing fever by liking us on Facebook