The “Pokémon” brand seems to just keep getting stronger, having already produced videogames, an anime series, trading cards and lots of anime movies, we now have a live-action “Pokémon” film. However, it’s not based on the main “Pokémon” videogames but instead it’s based on the “Detective Pikachu” spin-off game. I am not familiar with the “Detective Pikachu” game, I’m not a fan of anime content, I’ve never bothered with the trading cards and I only have limited experience with the main videogames. People have been hailing this as the best film based on a videogame but I thought it was still pretty bad.

The film takes place in a city where Pokémon and humans live together. After his police officer father is killed, Tim Goodman (Justice Smith “Paper Towns”) reluctantly joins forces with Pikachu (voiced by Ryan Reynolds “Green Lantern”) to uncover the circumstances surrounding his father’s death. They discover a plot that threatens the relationship between Pokémon and humans.

I found the Tim character to be incredibly bland and the actor really seemed like he did not want to be there. Then again, I don’t blame him because I wouldn’t want to be surrounded by Pokémon. I’ve tended to find the Pokémon creatures to be more annoying than cute or cool. There are lots of different Pokémon in here including Mewtwo, Charizard, Jigglypuff and Gengar so I’m sure fans will be excited by all of that. I found Ryan Reynolds to be pretty irritating as the voice of Pikachu.

“Detective Pikachu” may appeal to some of the “Pokémon” fans out there but I just cannot get excited about it. I thought this was a really underwhelming movie with mediocre special effects, bad acting and some really stupid plot points. There is even one scene in the third act that is a rip-off of the 1989 “Batman”. There are a few mildly entertaining moments here and there but most of it is rather difficult to sit through (like most movies based on videogames).