Pokemon is about to make its debut for a mass audience when the first live-action film in the franchise, Detective Pikachu, debuts next week. A handful of critics have already seen the movie, and their reviews are now online. So far, the new film is doing pretty well, while the movie only has 32 reviews as of this writing, the majority of them are positive, as Rotten Tomatoes currently has the film with a solid 75% positive score.
The movie has actually seen something of a boost in the last few hours. When Detective Pikachu first had enough reviews posted on Rotten Tomatoes to calculate a score, it had a 67% score after 21 reviews. Since then, 11 additional reviews have come in, and they've clearly been more positive.
Having said that, the movie has an average rating of 6.26 out of 10, which means that while most of the reviews may think the movie is good, they're not necessarily glowing.
While most seem to be in agreement that Detective Pikachu as a character is adorable as hell, and that the digital effects are impressive, It seems the story might be a bit disjointed and convoluted.
It's certainly going to be interesting to see just how Detective Pikachu does at the box office. The size and passion of the Pokemon fan base cannot be understated. Pokemon is a huge brand globally and it seems to be almost a certainty that overseas this movie is going to do serious business.
Domestically, things might be a little different. If you're not an expert on the hundreds of types of Pokemon that exist, will Detective Pikachu still work? Some of the critics seem to indicate thew answer is no, and as such there's a segment of the potential audience for whom lukewarm reviews might be enough to keep them home.
Still, Ryan Reynolds is incredibly popular and while Pikachiu might not be Deadpool, trailers indicate Reynolds is bringing a very similar style of (more family friendly) humor that could bring in a larger audience.
For those that have been waiting their entire lives for a live-action Pokemon movie, however, this film is almost certainly "critic proof." The only question is just how big that fan base is. Box office estimates currently have the movie looking at a domestic opening weekend of $82 million. In absolute numbers, that's a solid effort, even if it still might mean coming in second to the third weekend of Avengers: Endgame, which is currently still a possibility.
Certainly, there are going to be a lot more critics that are going to be seeing Detective Pikachu before it hits theaters next Friday, and considering how the Rotten Tomatoes score jumped significantly with only 11 reviews, it has the potential to do the same, and in either direction, after many more people file their opinions.
Detective Pikachu hits theaters May 10.
