There are going to be tons of Pokémon in the film but it’s still a little weird hearing Pikachu cuss.

Way back on February 27, 1996, Nintendo released the very first Pokémon games in Japan, Pokémon Red and Blue for the Game Boy. The date has now become known as Pokémon Day, and this year fans of the anime/video game franchise have at least two things to be excited about.

First, today marks the start of online orders for the awesome lineup of Pokémon dress shirts (with previews of all 150 original species patterns right here). Second, the producers of the upcoming live-action Pokémon: Detective Pikachu movie have released a new trailer, giving us the biggest sneak peek of the film yet.

▼ There’s even a bit of the U.S. Pokémon theme music to be heard, before it gives way to “Holding Out for a Hero.”

For starters, the film, with Ryan Reynolds voicing the title character, is taking a page from the anime storytelling playbook by giving Detective Pikachu amnesia. It’s also doubling-down on the character’s love of coffee that originated in the Detective Pikachu video game that predates the film by several years, stepping the Poké-sleuth’s appreciation of a relaxing cup of black coffee up to a full-blown caffeine addiction.

A common complaint when originally animated franchises go live-action is too much attention being given to the human cast, when it’s really the once-illustrated characters that fans have come to see. Judging from the new trailer, though, the Detective Pikachu movie is going to be packed with a huge number of Pokémon species, and not just in rural areas. The creatures are shown as extremely prevalent even in the urban environments of the movie’s world, with a Snorlax napping on the sidewalk of a downtown street not even being something that draws a crowd of human onlookers.

▼ Though these Bulbasaurs make an appearance in their natural habitat.

However, if you’re searching for cute Pokémon, those look like they’re going to be a little harder to find. Perhaps because they’re appearing alongside flesh-and-blood actors and actresses, the movie’s Pokémon have been designed to look less like “characters” and more like animals. So while it’s easy to tell which species each is supposed to be, the scruffy, meaty, and slimy textures of Detective Pikachu’s Pokémon don’t elicit the same desire to give them a big hug that their anime counterparts do.

▼ Flareon, an evolved form of the ordinarily lovable, looks downright intimidating intimidating instead is no mean feat.


It’s also a little weird to hear a Pikachu cuss, even mildly, when panicked the Detective pleads “Get me the hell out of here!” when he’s stuck fighting a far stronger Charizard in a one-on-one battle.

The edgier atmosphere does work to the trailer’s advantage as it unleashes its biggest surprise, however: the appearance of Mewtwo, who looks extra-sinister and unnerving when rendered in a realistic style.

“That’s a twist. That’s very twisty,” says Detective Pikachu as the trailer comes to a close, and we can’t help wondering what other unexpected events are waiting in the film, which opens in the U.S. om May 10.

Special thanks to readers who informed us that scary Pokémon is Flareon, not Eevee.
Source, images: YouTube/Warner Bros. Pictures
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