Pokémon Detective Pikachu

The design rule behind Rob Letterman’s film fits in one line: keep the silhouette of the two dimensional originals, then add real texture and animal movement. Justice Smith described the Pikachu puppet on set as furry and soft, with a wet nose and eyes that had depth, while noting that other scenes left him playing against a tennis ball or tape on the floor. Ryan Reynolds was not the partner Smith worked with. Mikey Brett handled the puppet, Cornelius Geaney Jr. read the lines into the actors’ earpieces, and Reynolds replaced every temporary line afterwards in a booth, so the timing of the buddy comedy is assembled in the cutting room rather than struck between two performers. John Mathieson shot on Kodak 35mm with Panaflex Platinum cameras and anamorphic lenses instead of digital, rating 500T 5219 at 400 ASA and leaving daylight uncorrected so the city would read as slate grey and corporate; producers had worried celluloid would push the shooting ratio past what they could pay for. A good fit if you want the creatures to read as furry, damp nosed animals and the city photographed in the slate grey of film stock. Not a fit if you expect a two hander where the leads truly play off each other, since Pikachu’s voice was laid over finished scenes later.