Pikachu is about to hit the big screen once again, this time in the form of a live action film. Whether it not it be because the powers-that-be have seen the success of Pokemon Go and decided to take a chance on what a film might do or whether they simply decided that it is time for everybody’s favourite Pokemon to have a bigger storyline, it doesn’t matter, what does is that the film will hit cinemas this week.
Voicing the cute and fluffy Pikachu is one of Hollywood’s biggest starts Ryan Reynolds who thanks to Deadpool is no stranger to big action blockbusters, but he says his reasoning for do Pokemon: Detective Pikachu was a lot closer to home. “When I first heard about this film, Detective Pikachu, I was excited to be able to do a film that my kids would love… for me that is a big one,” he says the excitement obvious in his voice. “It’s a film that they can watch, and a film that I can watch with them.”
On the back of the criticism levelled at how Sonic The Hedgehog looks in the trailer of new Sonic film critics have been applauding Pokemon: Detective Pikachu for just how realistic Pikachu looks and that is something that Reynolds is aware of as well. “When you see a fully rendered version of him you just feel like you could reach and touch him and cuddle him… but never, ever cuddle him,” he says with a mock warning tone. “I’ve never seen a film to this scale of interaction before. I mean I have done films with CGI before, there has been films like Deadpool and stuff, but to do something like this it is very special.”
For those worried that Reynolds might not be the right fit to voice Pikachu Reynolds reassures them by showing just how similar he and the cute Pokemon really are. “Detective Pikachu has got some sass – he has some serious attitude,” he explains. “You know he is a kind of larger-than-life character, and I mean he has to be because he looks like a little yellow cottonball, but he is basically like somebody flash-fried me and then injected me into this little yellow guy… that is basically what it is. I’m trying to bring as much personality out of the character as I possibly can.”
Despite the fact that Reynolds wasn’t a huge Pokemon fan he did do a lot of research to make sure that he had all corners covered. “Reading the script was a huge education for me,” he says. “I found myself reacting to each character and then immediately Googling them to see what they looked like. So you are going to see an absolute tonne of Pokemon, a huge variety of Pokemon in this movie. There are also a lot of little Easter eggs that have been planted in there so I think fans that know and love it are really going to be into it, and those that are uninitiated are going to find it pretty amazing to.”
Pokemon: Detective Pikachu is in cinemas this Thursday.
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