A decent kids' movie, but my lack of Pokémon fandom probably kept me from appreciating the film more than I did.
I heard good things about this movie for years but never sat down to watch it until my three-year-old started saying "Pikachu" when she saw him in an ad. So we gave it a shot, and she really liked all the little creatures and noises. I enjoyed the movie fine, but after watching the Sonic movies recently, I had high expectations that expected. Justice Smith did a great job interacting with the CG characters, and Ryan Reynolds' voice acting was as fantastic as I expected. Detective Pikachu wasn't bad, but I kept feeling like I needed to be more of a Pokémon fan to enjoy the movie more. The whole climax and reveal of the evil plot to merge people with Pokémon was kind of lame to me, so this movie fell short of Sonic or Puss in Boots or Minions. I didn't mind it, and I'm sure I will end up watching it more times than I wanted, but there are other kids' movies I enjoyed more.