A movie set in the world of Pokemon. No Ash, no Oak and no legal Pokemon battle championship. Pokemon in this film work alongside humans with a trusting bond to achieve work goals like how our star is a detective with the twist that he’s also a Pikachu.

The plot follows a young man who finds out his detective father has died on the job. He breaths in some purple gas and can suddenly talk to a hat wearing Pikachu that has amnesia, the hat belongs to the father. It goes on to have the pair slowly develop both their bond and their ideas until we reach a fairly predictable climax. I even guessed a major reveal pretty early in the film.

There are plenty of recognisable Pokemon in the film. Obviously Pikachu is there, but we also see Mr Mime, Charizard, Squirtle, Blastoise, Torterra, Aipom and a few others both lesser known and fan favourite. In this aspect the film doesn’t disappoint.

I get that this is a family film that has to be really inclusive of children but the humour of the film is severely lacking, they throw in slight adult jokes but Ryan Reynolds (although voicing the part well) didn’t get to show the giddy, angry humour that made Deadpool or his Blade character so good. Not really a funny one and it doesn’t try much clever humour either.

The combat is reasonably good considering it’s just brightly coloured CGI monsters attacking one another. Fighting might not be legal but it still happens which means we get to see some of it (welcome to the idea of a criminal underground kids!). There’s also combat against the villains of the film. I’m pleased to say they made Ditto seem impressive.

Overall, it’s like I expect any video game movie to be, fairly average. It’s an alright movie, on the better side of video game movies even, plus it’s for families and youngsters so even an average movie is decent with that in mind. I just think it could have done with a better plot or better humour. Full on Pokemon fans will probably love it.