Let me start by saying that this post contains a lot of details about Detective Pikachu, so if you haven’t seen the movie, you WILL be spoiled!
Detective Pikachu and the Pokémon franchise were created by Satoshi Tajiri and belong to The Pokémon Company. The movie was directed by Rob Letterman and distributed by Legendary Pictures.
When I went to go see Detective Pikachu in May, I went in expecting to like it.
I might not be a huge Pokémon fan the way my sister, brother-in-law, and fiancé are (I didn’t even know Detective Pikachu was adapted from a specific game and not the franchise as a whole) but I knew enough to be excited when I saw the trailers and Ryan Reynolds looked like absolute perfection as Pikachu, so I was invested in seeing it when it came out.
I’m pretty easy to please when it comes to movies (at least I think I am), so kid’s movie or not, I expected to like Detective Pikachu.
I actually ended up loving it.
I loved the characters, I loved the way they built the world with humans and Pokémon living together, and I actually loved what they did with the premise. Sure, it is a kid’s movie. The story is pretty simple and yeah, some of the plot twists are easy to see coming, but I think it can appeal to older people as well. I really liked how they handled Harry and Tim’s estranged relationship without vilifying either one, and the mystery of Mewtwo’s allegiance kept me guessing for most of the movie.
But I think one of my favorite things was the way the film handled some of the common literary devices you see in so many movies, books, TV shows, you name it.
Have you ever watched a TV episode or a movie or read a book and there’s a character whose personality vividly reminds you of a different character from a different work? And suddenly, nothing this current character does will surprise you? Whether they fall in love, get into a big fight, turn traitor – you know what’s coming because you’ve seen it all before, right?
Lucy Stevens, who could be labeled as a ‘love interest’
Call them clichés, call them stereotypes, call them stock tropes, call them whatever you want. We might not agree on the name or the exact definition, but I think we readers, watchers, and writers all know these devices when we see them – and may have even struggled with them ourselves.
These tropes are sort of a double-edged sword because aren’t we told that employing them is a bad thing? That it makes our work predictable, maybe even boring? But there are SO MANY out there, and there’s a reason for that – they WORK, and they work QUICKLY. Sometimes your hero does have to rescue a damsel in distress to boost his motivation. Sometimes slasher victims do have to get intoxicated so they’ll wander into danger and the plot will move forward in a timely manner.
Well, that was something that was really cool about Detective Pikachu. It doesn’t pull a Game of Thrones and actively try to avoid, subvert, or deconstruct these literary devices. It’s a kid movie! It doesn’t have time for that! What the movie did instead was just put a little twist on these tropes, just approached them from a slightly different angle, and suddenly, the story felt more original. The characters came across as more real and complex. I kept thinking ‘oh, I like that! That was a good idea!’ while watching the film and I enjoyed it that much more.
Sometimes, little things DO make a big difference.
I wanted to share the tropes that caught my attention and what I thought the movie did to freshen them up. Just to be clear, I am not bashing other stories that use these tropes. I understand why those stories include these tropes in their plotlines, because they aren’t inherently bad. I just want to explain why I thought the differences I saw in Detective Pikachu were also good. Maybe you’ll see something here that you want to add to your story as well!
1. Tim and Pikachu’s Friendship
When Tim and the titular Pikachu first meet each other, we see just how different their personalities are. Tim is pretty low-energy, a bit of a loner, and wants to get in and out of Ryme City as fast as possible because of his complicated feelings about his father. Pikachu, on the other hand, is hyper (even without the coffee), starved for connection, and desperate to figure out what happened to him, Harry, and his memories. Tim grumbles about all of Pikachu’s quirks and at one point pretends to be on the phone so no one thinks the two are together. And while Pikachu is more open to Tim, he is visibly frustrated with the fact that Tim will not listen to him.
What I expected: That they would keep fighting, and it would get worse. I thought we’d see them insult each other, not listen to each other, push each other’s buttons, and basically anger each other to the point where you wonder how they could get anything done together.
What I saw: Basically the polar opposite.
Tim and Pikachu bicker a lot at first, but it stays low-key and their first instincts are actually to help each other. When the Aipom are attacking Tim on the roof, Pikachu has an opportunity to run, but instead he tries to shout for help and finds Tim an escape route. When Tim admits that he’s in Ryme City about his missing father, Pikachu gently invites the young man to get coffee so they can talk. When they interrogate the Mr. Mime about Harry, they don’t insult or mock each other when their techniques don’t work at first. Instead, they brainstorm, bounce ideas off each other, and eventually find something that does work. The crowning moment might be during the cage match at the underground club. Tim is visibly concerned during Pikachu’s fight with the Charizard and when the Charizard looks ready to eat or burn Pikachu, Tim rushes into the cage and starts stomping on Charizard’s tail to give Pikachu a chance to escape, despite the fact that Charizard is twice as big as Tim is, hyper-aggressive, and able to breathe fire.
Not long after that, Tim and Pikachu open up to each other and you see their friendship start to grow.
My thoughts: I really liked that they didn’t fight. I thought the fact that they could work so well together even at the start was pretty awesome, and it actually establishes a good foundation for the fast, strong friendship they build over the movie. Plus, watching them go out of their way to help and protect each other showed me that they were compassionate, good-hearted, and mature, and endeared them to me right away.
2. Tim and Lucy’s Relationship
It’s pretty clear that Tim is attracted to Lucy soon after they first meet. He’s shown to be a little socially awkward, but he really kicks it up a notch when he talks to Lucy. He tries to sound cool, but he stammers more than usual and the words come out wrong, something that Pikachu instantly picks up on and teases him about.
What I expected: The usual beats of a romance subplot. Flirting, longing looks, opening up, a first kiss, supporting characters teasing them about their connection to no end. Tim and Lucy are young, attractive people working closely on an intense mission together. It seems like a perfect breeding ground for sparks to fly.
What I saw: Nothing but the bare minimum.
All the stuff that I denoted in the first paragraph is pretty much the whole romantic subplot between Tim and Lucy. They exchange a few lines of dialogue that are vaguely flirty, but it comes across more awkward than sexy and they quickly focus back on their mission. We see them briefly hold hands when they escape the lab and they hug after the final battle, but that’s more celebratory than romantic and they don’t kiss or even try to. Heck, even the long car ride to the lab focuses more on Pikachu and Lucy’s Psyduck instead of Tim and Lucy. All in all, Tim blurting out that he’s attracted to Lucy during the fight with a transformed Ditto is the most overt romantic thing that happens in the movie.
My thoughts: I love these dorks. They are two awkward beans and I ship them so hard. I actually think that’s kind of the point. Them having such a subtle attraction the movie barely focuses on lets Lucy have her own personality and fits really well with their characters. The mission to find Harry is very important to both Lucy and Tim (albeit for different reasons), so of course most of their energy is going to be focused on solving the mystery rather than developing their relationship. Plus, I feel like it’s a little more realistic. People just don’t tend fall in love in two days, even if the two days are super intense.
3. Tim and Pikachu’s Separation
After Mewtwo heals Pikachu from the damage inflicted by the Torterra, he starts to restore some of Pikachu’s missing memories. Tim and Pikachu both see a memory where Pikachu messes with Mewtwo’s containment pod, which leads to the psychic Pokémon breaking out and going after Harry’s car, which crashes, presumably killing him. Before Tim and Pikachu can wrap their heads around the revelation, Mewtwo is captured, and Tim and Pikachu separate not long after.
What I expected: For Tim to be furious. He’s still struggling to accept what happened to his father and just got what seems to be evidence that Pikachu, the goofy Pokémon he’s seriously bonded with, had a hand in Harry’s death. Regardless of whether or not he fully trusts Mewtwo’s recovered memories, that’s a huge emotional blow for him. I thought Tim would storm off, angry and hurt, with Pikachu trying to explain himself.
What I saw: The exact opposite.
Pikachu is the one who is most freaked out about the possibility that he betrayed Harry and HE’S the one who’s running away, while TIM is chasing him, trying to talk. Tim tries to assert that there has to be more to the story that they don’t know yet, but Pikachu won’t listen. Pikachu ends up accidentally shocking Tim, which makes him believe that he’s a danger to Tim and shouldn’t be around him. They sadly part ways after that.
My thoughts: This tweaked trope is probably my favorite one in this post. As heartbreaking as their departure was, I loved that they didn’t fight. They didn’t say ugly, hurtful, untrue things to each other that they had to apologize for later (though Pikachu does anyway after they stop Howard). In fact, the whole scene was a great showcase to their friendship. I loved that cynical loner Tim held great faith in Pikachu’s loyalty despite lots of evidence to the contrary, and I loved that Pikachu only left because he thought Tim was in danger around him. That same friendship is what brings them back together at the climax.
4. Roger Clifford
Roger Clifford establishes himself as an asshole the minute he’s shown on screen. The second the cameras stop rolling, he insults his father and doesn’t let Howard explain himself. When Lucy asks him to run a story about the R gas, he is very rude when he shuts her down and insults her fashion sense for absolutely no reason.
What I expected: That he would remain an asshole. He made quite the impression in such a short scene, which, in hindsight, might be to make us believe he’s the villain when we see him lurking in the background with that creepy smile. Even when we learned the truth, I didn’t expect much more from him other than complaining (although he has plenty of reason now after what his father did to him).
What I saw: A completely different side to him.
Roger to the rescue! I love this face
When Tim finds him tied up in the climax, he doesn’t have a chance to free him before the Ditto attacks, but when the Ditto is about to knock Tim’s grip on the window loose, Roger manages to snap out of his restraints, smacks the Pokémon away from Tim, and pulls the younger man inside. When we see him after the fight, he catches sight of Lucy, remembers her from earlier, and promises to put her on TV to report her story. He also makes a statement of his own, but it’s not gloating about his father. Instead, he apologizes for the damage done and swears to make things right.
My thoughts: Roger does have an important role in the story, but he’s still a minor character, so I was pleasantly surprised to see the movie give him a heroic role in the climax. The writers could have easily left him as he was, but instead they showed that he’s actually a decent person just because they wanted to and I found it very heartwarming.
5. Howard Clifford’s Plan
Howard Clifford’s plan, once we learn about it in its entirety, is intense. He uses Harry to capture Mewtwo, who he subjects to experiments in order to experiments in order to develop the R gas that sends Pokémon into a blind range. He then fills the huge balloons set to float in the founder’s day parade with the gas so he can unleash it on the mass population of Ryme City, merge his mind with Mewtwo using a neural link, and use Mewtwo’s powers to fuse all the humans with their Pokémon. And while he’s planning all this, he has his Ditto impersonate his son so Tim, Pikachu, and Lucy believe that Roger is the one responsible for all the shady business they uncover. By the time Tim learns the truth, Howard’s fusion plan is already well underway.
What I expected: That Howard would get overconfident and make a stupid mistake, or there would be huge loophole in his plot that gets exploited. He had such a complex plan that obviously took a long time to set up, and him getting cocky was the only way I thought the heroes could defeat him in a timely manner.
What I saw: Just how smart Howard and careful really is.
When he has the Ditto impersonate Roger to implicate him, he kidnaps the real Roger and keeps him tied up in a place where Howard can keep an eye on him. When he takes over Mewtwo’s mind and leaves his physical body vulnerable, he has his genetically enhanced, very capable Ditto stay behind to guard him. And while he does get distracted by Pikachu outside, Howard eventually directs Mewtwo back to his building to check on the Ditto’s battle. The Ditto comes very close to killing Tim and likely would have killed anyone else who tried to interfere. If the Ditto had been faster to throw Tim out the window, Howard’s plan would have fully succeeded. If Roger hadn’t been able to break free of his restraints and rescue Tim in time, Howard’s plan would have fully succeeded. The only reason Howard fails is because Pikachu is able to Volt Tackle Mewtwo and because Roger is able to buy Tim a few minutes to figure out how to defeat the Ditto, and because both of these events happen at the same time.
My thoughts: I actually really respect Howard as a villain. He’s incredibly smart and he’s obviously put a lot of careful thought and preparation into this fusion plot. I never got the sense that there wasn’t an obvious flaw in his plan. It’s not completely foolproof, because he’s still human, but he actually took proactive steps, like kidnapping Roger and keeping Tim under surveillance, to try and avoid pitfalls, and for the most part, he was successful. It’s only a few crucial strokes of luck that turn the final battle to the heroes’ side and that’s after a hard very fight.
And that’s my list!
I hope these examples help you find your own ways to add a few more layers to your characters, re-imagine their relationships, thicken your plots, or adjust anything else in your story that you think needs a bit of tweaking. If not, I at least hope you enjoy Detective Pikachu a little more the next time you watch it!
Keep a critical eye the next time you watch your favorite movie or read your favorite book. See any twisted tropes there too? Let me know what you find in the comments!
Photo courtesy of Reuben Juarez