Imagine Deadpool mixed with Pokemon and you’re getting warm
We all know and love Ryan Reynolds, famous actor from such box office hits as Green Lantern and R.I.P.D., who in recent years has also found success in the form of his role as Deadpool, the swearing superhero.
Whereas most superheroes like Batman and Superman like to do things seriously – whether it’s stopping The Joker or saving Lois Lane they have a stern look on their faces – Deadpool often farts, or says the word “shit” at inopportune times.
It is this level of wit and shock value- combined with the fact that Deadpool is a masked character – which has see Reynolds’ voice become one of the most recognisable on earth in recent years.
It is also probably the reason why Reynolds has found himself cast as none other than Pikachu, the Pokemon, in the Detective Pikachu film.
The film, whose trailer was released on Monday evening, will hit cinemas in summer 2019 and is the first live action Pokemon film ever made.
https://twitter.com/DetPikachuMovie/status/1062027369739771906
From the first glimpses of the trailer, things are very, very weird here. The plot seems straightforward enough: Pikachu sneaks into the house of what appears to be young a police officer who used to harbour dreams of being a Pokemon Trainer.
In a shocking turn of events for both of them – the police officer can understand Pikachu, rather than simply hearing the term “Pika, Pikachu” over and over again.
Instead, he hears Pikachu’s voice, supplied by Reynolds.
There are a couple of things which are difficult to immediately process from watching it. Firstly, it seems an affront to God for Pikachu, cute little furry Pikachu, to have an American adult male’s voice. It just seems wrong.
This is no ordinary detective—and no ordinary Pikachu! 🎬🔍⚡️
POKÉMON Detective Pikachu. Summer 2019. #DetectivePikachu https://t.co/3zl3TxTPWZ pic.twitter.com/PQ4sWu8yOg
— Pokémon (@Pokemon) November 12, 2018
Reynolds has a wonderful smooth voice, but as soon as you hear Pikachu speak here you expect to soon witness him chatting up someone, or uttering a swear word like the dastardly and hilarious Deadpool.
Secondly, Pikachu with realistic fur is the stuff of nightmares.
Finally, and perhaps most crucially, hearing Pikachu speak in such an intelligent and articulate manner raises serious questions about the sentience of Pokemon and – as such – the ethics of trapping them within tiny balls for indeterminate amounts of time.
This film trailer would suggest that Pokemon are as intelligent as you or I, yet remain little more than tools to fight one another in an endless hellscape of self-aware subjugation.
All of this is essentially a long way of saying that we cannot wait to watch this film.
