Detective Pikachu (2019)

[Benjamin Haines]

[lhb412]

^ I was one grade ahead of you and I totally disagree: Pokemon was still huge in the middle school demographic! '98, '99, '00s... I don't recall everyone aging out of it until High School, although I'm sure many still loved it and were just keeping that on the down low because that's the way you do when you're in high school.

[Benjamin Haines]

^ That's interesting. I reached middle school (sixth grade) in fall of 2000 and I was struck by how swiftly Pokemon and Digimon were deemed uncool kiddie stuff. Dragon Ball Z was considered cool. I mean, I get it, the Pokemon anime aired on Kids WB, the Digimon anime aired on Fox Kids, so middle schoolers hitting puberty had to distinguish themselves by getting their anime from Toonami.

[jellydonut25]

I played the poop outta Red and Blue but never anything else in the franchise....other than Go for a while, but I got bored with it when I just kept catching the same 5 over and over and couldn't even remotely compete in gym battles.

I never actively watched the show, but my younger brother did (8 years younger) and I know some of it...and I also have vague memories of the first movie.

[jellydonut25]

Detective Pikachu is just kind of okay. While it's fun enough and moves at a brisk pace, it's got some dreadful character work (the lead's emotional arc feels particularly muddled and confused...is he on a journey to rediscover his love for Pokemon and training them or to get closure on family issues and become his own person or to reconnect with his dad or to reluctantly save the world or to become the next great detective? Who knows? Not the movie), some fairly inane plot conveniences (ie, an 'unpaid intern' at the biggest company in the universe has direct access to the CEO of said company), and at least one performance that's really bad and derailed my enjoyment whenever the actress was on-screen.
Also while luckily this actress is not in it much, she's the "lead actress" kind of by default in that only two other female characters in the movie have ANY lines at all, and the only other female character who's in more than one scene actually doesn't have any speaking lines. So...hooray! FINALLY something where the men are front and center AMIRITE?!?!?
I'm probably at a 3/5...but just barely. A rewatch will either firm that up at a 3/5 or drop it to a 2.5/5. I don't think it'll go any higher.

[TerranigmaFreak]

Guys, guys, guys!!! I think Torterra should totally be in the next Godzilla movie.