'Detective Pikachu' is ‘relentlessly cute’ according to first reviews

The first reactions from the live-action Pokemon movie starring Ryan Reynolds (as Pikachu!), Detective Pikachu, have landed online, and we’ve been trying our best to catch ‘em all.

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The good news is, despite a slightly bizarre premise that sees Pikachu turning private eye to help a young man find his lost father, the movie appears to work, with almost as many glowing reactions than there are Pokemon balls.

Well, as long as the fact that Warner Brothers flew journalists to Tokyo for the first screening hasn’t coloured the reviews.

Not that we’re saying anyone’s lying about how much they loved it, just that Fantastic Beasts 2 got positive reviews from the Paris screening, so who knows how these trips affect the mood of those who get to go on them (we’re not bitter we didn’t go, we promise).

Anyway, for what they’re worth, here’s those early responses.

Detective Pikachu is the first live-action Pokemon movie, and it certainly sounds like Warner Brothers has franchise plans for the property, so there’s a lot riding on the film’s success. Let’s hope it’s as popular in Tooting as it was in Tokyo. We’ll find out when the film hits UK cinemas on 10 May.

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We’re looking forward to what will surely be a fun marketing campaign in the immediate run up to the film’s release. Ryan Reynolds is generally good at this sort of thing, as he proved with his Deadpool / Deadpool 2 viral marketing – we’d keep an eye on his twitter account over the next few weeks if we were you.

Here’s the official synopsis:

A young man joins forces with Detective Pikachu to unravel the mystery behind his father’s disappearance. Chasing clues through the streets of Ryme City, the dynamic duo soon discover a devious plot that poses a threat to the Pokémon universe.