'Pokémon Detective Pikachu' Reviews - What Are Critics Saying About the Movie?

Pokémon Detective Pikachu hits theaters on May 10, and the reviews are already in!

The movie follows a boy (Justice Smith) who comes across an intelligent talking Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds) who seeks to be a detective in a world where people collect Pokémon to do battle.

PHOTOS: Check out the latest pics of Ryan Reynolds

The movie currently commands a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 72%, with plenty of critics weighing in about the highly anticipated film.

Wondering what everyone is saying about the movie? Check out some of the highlights from reviews inside…

- “Neither Pikachu nor any of the other Pokémon look as though they belong in the live-action environments. Rather, they seem to have been superimposed — a miscalculation of several factors, from lighting inconsistencies to unconvincing CG textures to the lack of care put into their virtual performances. What we can make out of Pikachu’s personality comes through Reynolds’ sardonic line readings, although most of the time, the furry yellow critter we see on-screen doesn’t look like it’s actually feeling the things it says…If anything, the blessing of Detective Pikachu is that it’s off-canon. Its box office should demonstrate fans’ hunger for a more robust big-screen version of the Pokémon universe, while the disappointment needn’t dissuade another team from coming along and doing it right.” – Variety

“Whoever decided that the film needed Ryan Reynolds deserves an enormous pay rise. His voice coming out of a little fluffy hamster-y thing is innately amusing, but his lines are also sharp, silly and knowing. The odd-couple riffing between him and Smith produces some scenes of surreal comic excellence — especially one in which they interrogate a mime Pokémon, which has a joltingly dark punchline.” – Empire (3/5)

- “As a mystery thriller, Detective Pikachu is more Scooby-Doo than Chinatown, and unlike Roger Rabbit, there’s little for grownup viewers to savour, although it does at least have some emotional grounding in its heroes’ respective daddy issues. The blend of live-action and CGI isn’t always seamless either, but there’s always another novel creature from the Pokémon menagerie around the corner to keep things interesting.” – Guardian (3/5)

“As the wisecracking voice of Pikachu, Ryan Reynolds deserves some sort of special citation for doing the best he can without Deadpool’s f-bombs (or a decent script) to lean on. But the main problem is that the film’s gumball-mayhem plot is so frenetic that it’s impossible to determine if it makes a lick of sense. Maybe that was the point.” – Entertainment Weekly (C+)

“Detective Pikachu nicely blends live-action elements with the computer-generated Pokemon…Reynolds’ voice has a natural snarkiness that electrifies Pikachu’s personality, though there’s also a heartwarming timbre that’ll make you love him more, if that’s possible. While the pint-sized Sherlock gives Detective Pikachu heart and soul, the rest of the film lacks its title character’s verve.” – USA Today (2/4)

“The story too is strangely light on the Pokémon essentials. It touches briefly on the existential horror of trapping living creatures in tiny balls before whisking Tom off to Ryme City, where humans and Pokémon live together in harmony – which in practical terms means that the Pokémon battles (on which the whole franchise was built) are few and far between. Still, for all its flaws, Detective Pikachu is a generally enjoyable ride. But we can’t help but wonder at some of the strange choices that the filmmakers made for the huge franchise’s first live-action movie. The film rests heavily on Reynolds‘ charm, and it’s fortunate that he delivers in spades.” – Digital Spy (3/5)