Detective Pikachu: How Pokémon Finally Made It to Live Action

For more than two decades, a live-action Pokémon movie sounded almost impossible. How do you make Pikachu, Charizard and Psyduck look believable next to real actors without losing the charm that made them famous? In May 2019, Pokémon Detective Pikachu answered that question, and the answer turned out to be a buddy-cop mystery.

The film did not start from a blank page. It was based on Detective Pikachu, a Nintendo 3DS adventure game first released in Japan in 2016 and worldwide in 2018. In the game, Pikachu is not the cheerful partner fans knew from the anime. He talks, he is a little grumpy, he loves coffee, and he is trying to crack a case alongside a young man named Tim.

The biggest surprise came with the casting. Ryan Reynolds, best known at the time for playing the wisecracking Deadpool, was chosen to voice Pikachu. His delivery gave the character a mix of sarcasm and warmth, and the first trailer became one of the most talked-about movie moments online that year.

Justice Smith starred as Tim Goodman, a young man searching for his missing father, with Kathryn Newton, Bill Nighy and Ken Watanabe rounding out the cast. Director Rob Letterman set the story in Ryme City, a neon-lit metropolis where humans and Pokémon live side by side instead of battling.

Here is the first official trailer:

The visual effects team faced a tricky balancing act. The Pokémon needed fur, scales and textures that made sense in a photographed world, while still looking like the designs fans had loved since the 1990s. Pikachu's fluffy, slightly scruffy fur became one of the film's signatures, and creatures like Psyduck and Mr. Mime stole entire scenes.

The gamble paid off. Detective Pikachu earned more than 430 million dollars at the worldwide box office and proved that Pokémon could work in live action.

The story did not end with the film. Pikachu returned to sleuthing in Detective Pikachu Returns, released for Nintendo Switch in 2023, and fans still turn up at conventions around the world wearing the trademark deerstalker hat.

More than anything, Detective Pikachu showed that Pokémon stories can stretch in new directions without losing what makes them special. Sometimes all it takes is a hat, a cup of coffee and a very talkative mouse.