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I'm glad they used Mr Mime despite what the Pokemon Company wanted because it was one of the best scenes in the movie.
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May 12, 2019 05:28
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Macaluso posted:I'm glad they used Mr Mime despite what the Pokemon Company wanted because it was one of the best scenes in the movie. 
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May 12, 2019 05:28
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The only thing I honestly didn't like was Mewtwo's voice. Otherwise, the movie knew exactly what it wanted to be and I enjoyed it for that.
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May 12, 2019 05:39
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DC Murderverse posted:People seem to be really divided on the lead actor's performance. I and others think that he did a wonderful job with the emotional work he had to do but there's a faction of people who apparently really didn't like it. It's kinda weird. He was completely awful. One of the worst actors ever. The female lead was also trash. Seeing the two kid actors against real actors was a pretty jarring contrast. Even the animated Pikachu had much more screen presence than those two terrible actors. The main protagonist was completely emotionless. The female lead was so over the top it felt completely out of place and awful. Like childrens television show terrible. Though then I realized something. This is a kids movie. I don't really know why I expected it to be anything but that. The terrible acting. Horribly inconsistent rules. Terrible plot with an even lazier ending. None of that really matters because its a kids movie with a teeny bit of vague adult humor to keep the parents entertained.
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May 12, 2019 05:44
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Skyarb posted:None of that really matters because its a kids movie with a teeny bit of vague adult humor to keep the parents entertained. I wouldn't go that far. If you're like 28+ now and grew up with Pokemon as a kid when it was first getting big, this movie is a huge deal and they really play to that nostalgia well and in a genuine and fun way. There's a lot of weird yet really fun little beats and moments in there. I had super low expectations and was genuinely blown away by the level of effort put into it. The plot beats and twists were nice enough without being revolutionary and it knows how to play with your expectations. Like people keep insisting it's a kids movie when really it's a movie I think anyone of any age can enjoy. Also it's not vague to kick your movie off with acknowledging that Cubone wears his dead mom's skull, and also covering Mr. Mime in loving gasoline and then loving burning Mr. Mime alive like a goddamn monster that isn't vague at all, c'mon.
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May 12, 2019 06:09
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I'd argue the most adult humor would be the "So you're going to be a Senior Insurance Salesman?" "No actually that's two levels above me" joke.
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May 12, 2019 06:14
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bobjr posted:I'd argue the most adult humor would be the "So you're going to be a Senior Insurance Salesman?" "No actually that's two levels above me" joke. Yeah that's the darkest thing in the movie: loving real life.
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May 12, 2019 06:17
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Bobulus posted:Maybe I misinterpreted the scene, but there was one rather dark moment that I'm surprised no one has commented on: When Tim is trying to save Pikachu from the charizard, he starts trying to stomp out the fire on it's tail. Tim is a former pokemon trainer. He knows that that kills the charizard... doesn't it? I know that putting out the tail flame is supposed to kill a Charmander, but I'm not sure that applies once they are up to Charizard. Also, I read in the anime the rain or something briefly put out Charmander's tail flame but he was revived, which makes sense since people come back to life after being dead for a short spurt all the time. Also, people will totally kill another person (or animal) to try to save another person (or animal) from being straight up killed, which I think is what that dosed, crazed Charizard was going to do to Detective Pikachu. DC Murderverse posted:lead actor OK, here I see the problem. I genuinely can't tell if there is agreement on what is meant by this. I think the lead actor is unquestionably Ryan Reynolds. The main character is the title character, Detective Pikachu. That's all you need to know, except of course that Reynolds was a) masterful in the role he was perfectly cast in, and b) did it by playing the role like Deadpool. Which sort of takes me to my next point. Not only did this not feel like a kids movie--admission: it's been years for me, so I might not know what that is, at least these days--it felt like it might not even be genuinely kid-safe. Sure it felt like it had a kid-friendly shell, but it felt like a PG-13 or even R-rated movie being poured into that PG shell. (Or put another way, it felt 10 parts G, 2 parts PG-13, and 1 part R.) Reminded me a lot of Nolan Batman movies being R-rated movies magic-ed into PG-13, whether by conning the audience or finessing the MPAA. Was I the only one reminded of the Holocaust by the lampshade joke? Not saying that was the intent, just how it landed with me, or at least one thought it triggered.
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May 12, 2019 06:58
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I didn’t like this movie because it was uncomfortably dark/violent at moments that didn’t feel good. Examples: pouring gas on Mr Mime, stomping Charizard’s tail, the whole Ditto fight scene, basically it’s down to the fact that in cartoons and video games the comical fake violence feels fun and whimsical, and here, in a live action context, pokemon-on-human and human-on-pokemon violence, and threats of violence, feel awful to see.
FAT BATMAN fucked around with this message at 07:37 on May 12, 2019 |
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May 12, 2019 07:25
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Onomarchus posted:Sure it felt like it had a kid-friendly shell, but it felt like a PG-13 or even R-rated movie being poured into that PG shell. Yeah, we're doing culture a disservice by dividing just along "is there violence and/or tits" lines. The movie definitely had some studio meddling to make sure it was easily digestible (characters reading text out loud and explaining twists to the camera), but the struggles human leads face are meant to resonate with 20-somethings. "I need to kill everyone standing in my way to the McGuffin" is a way more kid-friendly motivation than "my emotional hangups made me reconsider my career choices"
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May 12, 2019 07:32
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Skyarb posted:The main protagonist was completely emotionless. f'real though, this i don't get. Dude was clearly seconds away from a breakdown during the entire first act. I think he did a great job portraying someone who is desperately trying to avoid/push down feelings and failing. Being snippy and short with people, slightly shaky voice, he wasn't emotionless, he was trying to push the emotion down but still letting it pop through in select moments. The emotional work really stops for the middle third of the movie and only shows up a few more times but he definitely wasn't *emotionless* honestly a way better criticism I've heard is that he feels like he's in a different movie, which is more understandable given how cartoonish all of the other characters are.
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May 12, 2019 07:38
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Yeah, I thought he did a decent job.
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May 12, 2019 07:44
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Justice Smith was the only human being in the entirety of Jurassic World 2. He good.
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May 12, 2019 08:42
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This movie reminder me of the Carmack quote . "Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but it's not that important.". This communicated a strong point for kids, strong nostalgic moments for adults, and successful comedic beats for all viewers around an unfortunate plot. This will keep a lot of technically expert work unrespected. Unfortunate because acting, writing, and cinematographic performances were in excess of what this movie should have had, but I think the community will look at it and view having worked on this project as more indicitive of quality work than most children's movies.
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May 12, 2019 08:42
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I loved all the visuals but wasn't thrilled with the main actors. I think the movie needed less scenes of Justice being sad and standoffish and more light-hearted moments. Also with Pikachu being the detective in the story I wish he acted more like a detective and less like the snarky sidekick. Like I was hoping for more of a hard-boiled detective in a cute animal body surrounded by slightly cartoonish humans like the reporter.
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May 12, 2019 09:02
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rodbeard posted:I loved all the visuals but wasn't thrilled with the main actors. I think the movie needed less scenes of Justice being sad and standoffish and more light-hearted moments. Also with Pikachu being the detective in the story I wish he acted more like a detective and less like the snarky sidekick. Like I was hoping for more of a hard-boiled detective in a cute animal body surrounded by slightly cartoonish humans like the reporter. Yeah, I'm on the same boat. The Mr Mime scene was the best part of the movie and I wanted more of that, honestly. I thought they'd play up the ridiculousness of the premise and make it more of a detective/cop movie but with pokemon. That's not really what they do though, it's mostly an action movie and the humor came mostly from Pikachu's quips. I agree that protagonist and reporter weren't great, the movie was definitely carried by Pikachu. It was fun but I did expect something better, like a PG Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and this wasn't it. I only have myself to blame though. Elman fucked around with this message at 10:02 on May 12, 2019 |
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May 12, 2019 09:59
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Onomarchus posted:Was I the only one reminded of [spoiler]the Holocaust by the lampshade joke? Not saying that was the intent, just how it landed with me, or at least one thought it triggered. P sure this was more of an Ed Gein reference than a Holocaust one but it's also both
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May 12, 2019 14:41
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Miching Mallecho posted:torterra used rock smash. It was super effective. Pikachu fainted It was Rock Throw, actually
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May 12, 2019 15:40
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Funny to see people in the SA forums of all places getting all Seduction of the Innocent about the Pokémon movie.
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May 12, 2019 15:53
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So when they first announced this movie I thought it'd be just another awful western take on a video game (y'know. like another certain video game movie we saw a few weeks ago), but in the end it was far better than it had any right being. It wasn't a perfect movie since they kinda went for the easy approach to characters and plot, and a major change from the game ends up coming off as really abelist (the only handicapped person in the city that he created that can't cater to them, so he's evil and also forces everyone to become pokemon), but they definitely exceeded my expectations. As far as minor complaints, they were really inconsistent on how they pronounced Pokemon which got pretty annoying. The e has never been long in any official thing, so hearing it here sometimes was jarring. I thought Justice Smith did a decent job, but the writing in general didn't allow for him to really show much range, since Pikachu was obviously the one showing all the charisma. I think they should have leaned more on scenes like the Mr Mime one (the real standout of the movie for multiple reasons) where he actively took charge of it. Honestly, considering the stuff the girl (Lisa? The names in this movie are too normal and I sorta forget them) does, like cutting through the fence at the facility and breaking the glass later on, feel like stuff he should have done. I get having a female lead is the norm for this sorta movie, but considering she has no real presence in the final act I wonder if it was worth having her at all. bobjr posted:I'd argue the most adult humor would be the "So you're going to be a Senior Insurance Salesman?" "No actually that's two levels above me" joke. Am I missing something about this or is it just about the reality of millennial job advancement, cause that was the point where I realized Tim is literally just a standin for every adult watching this movie.
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May 12, 2019 16:18
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The trailer had a scene of hin actually working in a call center. Would have liked to see that, I imagine there are some pretty good jokes about handling pokemon insurance claims you could make.
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May 12, 2019 16:36
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I'm a total loving film snob and I can't sit through most children's movies these days (including some Pixars) but by god as a Pokemon fan this was a dream come true. It's clearly so flawed in some areas but I'm so willing to forgive it because it nails so many other things. I really did expect this to be absolutely terrible but it ends up being genuinely good in so many ways. I have such high hopes for what a more competent and confident sequel can do.
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May 12, 2019 16:41
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I think Smith did a great job. He had to do a lot of emotional heavy lifting and pulled it off admirably. Like others said I wish we had more detective-y scenes and I wish we had gotten to see more of the consequences of people merged with Pokémon. As is we don’t see enough to know if that’s really such a terrible fate (Harry is fine, after all) that it kinda took away some of the stakes.
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May 12, 2019 16:47
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DC Murderverse posted:f'real though, this i don't get. Dude was clearly seconds away from a breakdown during the entire first act. I think he did a great job portraying someone who is desperately trying to avoid/push down feelings and failing. Being snippy and short with people, slightly shaky voice, he wasn't emotionless, he was trying to push the emotion down but still letting it pop through in select moments. The emotional work really stops for the middle third of the movie and only shows up a few more times but he definitely wasn't *emotionless* How did you get this so backwards? Tim gets a phone call telling him that his father is dead and he doesn't so much as twitch in response. He's not teetering on the edge of a breakdown at all; his complete lack of emotional affect is a running gag. He's withdrawn, detached, unmotivated and--take note Adult Fans of Pokemon--unable to feel anything at all without the triple dose of industrial grade sentiment that can only come from cheap, manipulative children's media. I believe the technical term is "dead inside". Remember Pikachu weeping as he sings a sad version of the Pokemon theme song?. That's you, millennial theater goer, sobbing over YouTube compilations of American Idol auditions and that scene from Fresh Prince of Bel Air to get you back on the emotional register and able to deal with whatever you're not currently dealing with. Like you, Tim was raised on this. No wonder his circuits are fried. Also he mumbles way too loving much to be in a movie but I think that's unrelated.
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May 12, 2019 17:16
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Tim is super relatable if you’re a person in their 20’s and life is super boring/sad because you’ve given up your childhood dream because it never went the way you hoped.
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May 12, 2019 18:22
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more thoughts: I like how they sidestepped the dubious morality of pokemon battles by having the setting be one in which they're illegal and pokemon are treated like sapient biengs. kinda interesting how Pokemon definitely existed at a societal level higher than pets, but clearly not as equals to humans -- you never see a Pokemon in a position of power, while we see human mayors, megacorp owners, etc, but I'd be willing to accept the explanation that there were but we just didn't see them. That probably has weird implications if you want to mine it for such but it didn't bother me since they did give nods to the idea that Pokemon only work with people they want to work with, so there's the implication that a person and their pokemon partner are spiritually aligned, so one could make the safe assumption that the bad guy's ditto is not just complicit in his Pokecrimes but enthusiastic in them as well. I suppose Pikachu/Harry says so much out loud when he says that Pokemon don't know what people are saying but know what people are feeling. (Incidentally when we're doing spoiler chat it feels weird to refer to the principal character as Pikachu rather than Harry but I guess that's probably the best way to go about it?) I kinda liked how in the diner when Pikachu orders another coffee, the pokemon behind the counter (I only played gen 1, I don't know what it is, sorry!) gets him another coffee and the human working there doesn't question it or need verification, which def shows it's a world with a level of trust between people and pokemon even if they explicitly cannot communicate. There was one thing that kinda bugged me -- on a thematic level, since characters in that city are spoken of as having a specific pokemon "partner" in the singular and since they find someone not having a pokemon partner very strange I got the impression that outside the literal narrative, on a thematic level we were supposed to see people's Pokemon as a sort of familiar or counterpart that in some way reflects on them. I feel this works out when we look at detective guy/snubbull, bad corporation man/ditto, but I wasn't feeling it for Lucy/Psyduck, which I thought was a shame.
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May 12, 2019 18:50
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Woozy posted:How did you get this so backwards? Tim gets a phone call telling him that his father is dead and he doesn't so much as twitch in response. He's not teetering on the edge of a breakdown at all; his complete lack of emotional affect is a running gag. He's withdrawn, detached, unmotivated and--take note Adult Fans of Pokemon--unable to feel anything at all without the triple dose of industrial grade sentiment that can only come from cheap, manipulative children's media. I believe the technical term is "dead inside". It cuts from him on the street to him on the train, he hasn't seen the dad in years and harbors a slight bit of resentment towards him, it's not unnatural for him to not be a blubbering mess. If this is some weird sticking point, you can imagine that he cried off-screen during the gap from street to train and they chose not to show it because it would be too bleak for the start of the movie. quote:Remember Pikachu weeping as he sings a sad version of the Pokemon theme song?. That's you, millennial theater goer, sobbing over YouTube compilations of American Idol auditions and that scene from Fresh Prince of Bel Air to get you back on the emotional register and able to deal with whatever you're not currently dealing with. Like you, Tim was raised on this. No wonder his circuits are fried. Yes but tell us what you really think TwoPair fucked around with this message at 18:59 on May 12, 2019 |
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May 12, 2019 18:56
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I think the movie kind of implies that that specific Ditto was genetically engineered/altered to be able to transform into a human instead of only another Pokemon. I know the anime is kind of shaky with regards to that but I don't think Ditto is able to transform into a human in the games
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May 12, 2019 19:00
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I guess an angle you could go for with Lucy/Psyduck's bond is frustration - Psyduck suffers from constant headaches that probably don't help it's mood, and Lucy is constantly being underestimated by everyone around her. Psyduck is a powerhouse treated as a danger or a joke but never with respect, the same as Lucy until the end.
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May 12, 2019 19:02
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Macaluso posted:I think the movie kind of implies that that specific Ditto was genetically engineered/altered to be able to transform into a human instead of only another Pokemon. I know the anime is kind of shaky with regards to that but I don't think Ditto is able to transform into a human in the games Ditto is shown to be able to transform into any fighter in Smash Bros!
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May 12, 2019 19:04
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It's not just implied, it's stated. Tim asks how the gently caress is a Ditto able to do all that and they had to explicitly handwave it away by saying that Ditto in particular was genetically modified. I'm okay with how handwavey a lot of the final act is. They throw so many twists at you it almost feels like a satire of hardboiled crime movies.
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May 12, 2019 19:05
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Macaluso posted:I think the movie kind of implies that that specific Ditto was genetically engineered/altered to be able to transform into a human instead of only another Pokemon. I know the anime is kind of shaky with regards to that but I don't think Ditto is able to transform into a human in the games There's a sidequest in Ultra Sun/Moon where you hunt down a gang of Ditto who had been impersonating people, though they weren't able to speak properly. That falls in line with the ditto in this movie.
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May 12, 2019 19:05
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Perpetual Motion posted:There's a sidequest in Ultra Sun/Moon where you hunt down a gang of Ditto who had been impersonating people, though they weren't able to speak properly. That falls in line with the ditto in this movie. IIRC Those Ditto could do the eyes right and didn't need sunglasses.
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May 12, 2019 19:07
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IIRC in an episode of the anime they showed a Ditto being able to transform into anything but that one was like defective or weak or something and couldn't change its face. Which kind of works with the movie Ditto's eyes never changing.Xibanya posted:I think Smith did a great job. He had to do a lot of emotional heavy lifting and pulled it off admirably. Like others said I wish we had more detective-y scenes and I wish we had gotten to see more of the consequences of people merged with Pokémon. As is we don’t see enough to know if that’s really such a terrible fate (Harry is fine, after all) that it kinda took away some of the stakes. I'd imagine that it depends on which pokemon you get stuck as. Any flying type would be cool and a bunch of larger ones like Machamp but like, imagine if you get stuck as a drat Psyduck (would you get the headaches too?) or any pokemon that's really tiny. That would blow. Some dude out there for sure got stuck as a Magikarp and was definitely screaming internally trying to evolve for the entirety of the finale...
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May 12, 2019 19:12
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Oh my god, Ludwig the Indestructible is a ditto! https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5szyng?start=1736
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May 12, 2019 19:14
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TwoPair posted:IIRC in an episode of the anime they showed a Ditto being able to transform into anything but that one was like defective or weak or something and couldn't change its face. Which kind of works with the movie Ditto's eyes never changing. oh for sure but imo it would have strengthened the stakes to have shown that.
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May 12, 2019 19:42
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Macaluso posted:I think the movie kind of implies that that specific Ditto was genetically engineered/altered to be able to transform into a human instead of only another Pokemon. I know the anime is kind of shaky with regards to that but I don't think Ditto is able to transform into a human in the games I don't know, I think earlier during the newsroom scene there's one in the background that then starts sweeping the set afterwards. A guy in a snow hat and flannel. As if it's a low paid intern/extra just as much of production support. The special one seemed to completely and autonomously direct the capture effort, actually.
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May 12, 2019 21:42
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It really distracting how much Ryme City was clearly just London - right down to having the Gherkin in multiple shots. The Ryme City train station is five mins walk from my front door FFS. Also it was a bit sad that the Detective Pikachu character effectively died in the finale and noone seemed to care that much.
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May 12, 2019 21:43
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TwoPair posted:It cuts from him on the street to him on the train, he hasn't seen the dad in years and harbors a slight bit of resentment towards him, it's not unnatural for him to not be a blubbering mess. If this is some weird sticking point, you can imagine that he cried off-screen during the gap from street to train and they chose not to show it because it would be too bleak for the start of the movie. Okay fair enough that was too much but I thought his completely backwards character arc was really gross. He goes from being a functional (miserable, fine) adult to moving back into racecar bed at his parents place, complete with weirdly a-sexual high school puppy love romance with the Reporter Type pokemon who also did nothing and learned nothing. I fully get that these movies are nominally for kids and meant to be silly fun, but this movie felt weirdly imbalanced in favor of giving the parents a reason to sit through it with them, and did a very bad job of it.
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May 12, 2019 21:49
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saw it with my wife, we both loved it. I was a big fan of the togepi in the fight club! but I'm just a big old softy. The one thing I would have wanted is for the Pokemon Chaos scene in the fight club, after the R leak, to go on a bit longer. Like, another 40 seconds or so of craziness with moves shooting off wildly. Maybe that Togepi goes purple-eyed and uses Metronome for Hyper Beam or something. But overall I loved it, perfect nostalgia hit. DAD LOST MY IPOD fucked around with this message at 22:16 on May 12, 2019 |
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May 12, 2019 22:08
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