If you could accusePokemonof having a rough patch in its impressive 25 year cultural domination, you might point to the 2010s. While sales never dwindled to the point where it was in any serious trouble, that was the furthest it had wandered away from its uncontested position at the very peak of pop culture. WhilePokemon Gotookthe world by storm, the releases of Black & White, X & Y, and evenSun & Moon, despite selling well, did not make the lasting impression the games of yore did. The spin-offs in that time (Pokken, Picross, Rumble, PokePark) did not land the waySnap, Stadium, or the earlyMystery Dungeonshad either. The characters from the anime didn’t leave the lasting impression of Misty or Brock, nor even Wobbuffet orCynthia. By the turn of the decade, Pokemon’s minor slump was over, and along cameDetective Pikachu. But now, do we need another one?
Pokemon Go set the stage for the world to fall in love with Pokemon again. The most committed fans never left, and they exist in millions but there has still been a noticeable upturn in fortunes. Pokemon Go’s accessibility, and early reliance on the simple nostalgia of the original 151, had the parents, the grandparents, the butchers and bakers and candlestick makers of the world, invested again. Then cameLet’s Go, which married the love for Pokemon Go with the same nostalgia for Pokemon Yellow, and scratched the itch of those who started with PoGo and did not want to invest in a 3DS for Sun & Moon, full of characters they didn’t know and mechanics they didn’t like. TheSwitch, withthe widest appeal for a Nintendo console(perhaps any console)since the Wiimeant potential players already had the console or were prepared to buy one.
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A year after Let’s Go and three years after PoGo, Detective Pikachu hit theatres. Pokemon movies had been releasing regularly, all centred around Ash’s adventures with whichever Legendary Pokemon was next in line, and no one outside the die-hards cared. Detective Pikachu was different. Part of the appeal was that it was live-action and we got to see ‘real’ versions of these Pokemon for the first time, but mostly it felt refreshing.You didn’t need to be deep into the fandom, you didn’t need to recognise all of the Pokemon, you didn’t need to have played any of the games at all. If you knew Pikachu, that was enough.
Four years on, it seemed like the sequel had been forgotten. Pokemon has since taken great strides - bothSword & ShieldandScarlet & Violetmight have had their fair share of critics, but arriving on the Switch has kept the casual masses interested. Go might have shed its original base for more hardcore players, but still generates huge profits. Sleep is hoping to be the next big thing, Pokemon stores are doing better than ever, and big, in-person events (while harmed by the pandemic) are taking the world by storm once more.
Detective Pikachu came along at the perfect time when Pokemon was at risk of losing its shine. That led to a lot of focus on products and projects aimed at the masses. PoGo, Let’s Go, and Detective Pikachu all did their jobs and brought the casuals back, and now Pokemon has continued to build on its most committed playerbase, having used that time to entice some new or lapsed fans back into the fold. What purpose does Detective Pikachu 2 serve?
Of course, it’s cynical to look at art and think it doesn’t need to exist because it might not help increase future projections on a spreadsheet. But also, it’s a movie about a talking yellow rat who is the mascot for the most famous franchise in the world, and a vague adaptation of the game that changes a lot of the story, because it was made mostly for the sellable image of Pikachu in a detective hat. Also, he’s not Detective Pikachu at the end. He’s a detective, and Pikachu. Two separate entities. You don’t make a sequel to a wrapped up story based on a video game whose plot you minimsed in the first place if your true pursuit is art.
I like movies and I like Pokemon, so I’ll probably see (and probably like) Detective Pikachu 2. I’m not against it being made. But it arrived when Pokemon was repeatedly focussing on bringing back the masses. Now that it has them, and is struggling to appease the die-hards as it pushes forth new ideas held back by broken mechanics, how does Detective Pikachu fit into that ambition?
