Pokémon Goes True Crime With 'Detective Pikachu' Film Featuring Ryan Reynolds

The trailer for the latest hard-boiled installment of the Pokémon universe arrived on Monday, and it gives both the classic franchise and its most popular creation a previously unexplored noir-ish, true-crime twist.

“The first-ever live-action Pokémon adventure, ‘POKÉMON Detective Pikachu’ stars Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu, the iconic face of the global Pokémon phenomenon…” the movie’s official website states.

The trailer for the latest hard-boiled installment of the Pokémon universe arrived on Monday, and it gives both the classic franchise and its most popular creation a previously unexplored noir-ish, true-crime twist.

The website and trailer lay out the film’s basic premise: “Ace private eye” Harry Goodman goes missing, and his son, Tim Goodman, a 21-year-old who once had dreams of becoming a Pokémon trainer, must determine what happened to his father. At some point, the “hilariously wise-cracking, adorable super-sleuth” Pikachu — voiced by Ryan Reynolds and wearing a Sherlock Holmes hat — shows up to help with the investigation.

Somehow, Tim is able to understand Pikachu’s speech (which, unlike in the cartoon from the late 1990s, does not consist of Pikachu constantly repeating its own name in different tones, volumes and syllabic stretches), and the two set out to find clues throughout Ryme City, “a sprawling, modern metropolis where humans and Pokémon live side by side” and which also seems perpetually drenched in rain and neon lights, much like the detective films it was clearly inspired by. The duo evidently comes across a ton of other Pokémon during their adventure before discovering some horrible plot twist that could literally DESTROY THE POKÉMON UNIVERSE.

The trailer, mostly scored by The Turtles’ bona fide classic 1960s love anthem “Happy Together,” is a CGI-soaked fever dream full of Ryan Reynolds quips, explosions and zoom-in shots of other Pokémon like Charizard, the fire-breathing dragon-like beast that is also on probably the most-sought after hologram card, and Mr. Mime. But perhaps most importantly, it establishes a new, true crime-focused direction for the franchise that is likely a result of the genre's recent explosion in popularity.

The film, which also features Justice Smith, who was previously in “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” Kathryn Newton (the TV show “Big Little Lies”) and Oscar-nominee and all-around badass Ken Watanabe, comes out May 11, 2019.

It also seems like the movie will be spun-off into a companion game, because, well, it’s Pokémon and ultimately that’s what it’s all about. But since this is true crime Pokémon, we can only assume that a 10-part podcast will soon follow, as well.

(Photo Credit: YouTube/Warner Bros. Pictures)