‘Detective Pikachu’ Team Reveals Reasoning Behind Film’s Photorealistic Pokemon

Detective Pikachu promises to be a hit which no one saw coming. After plenty of bad live-action anime takes, it seems Hollywood will get it right with this adaptation, and its crew is breaking down the film’s decision to go for photorealism.

Recently, a slew of reports went live breaking down a set visit to Detective Pikachu. It was there the folks at Gamespot shone a light on co-producer Ali Mendes who revealed the film’s top challenge.

“The biggest thing was of course seeing Pikachu in live action, figuring out how these characters are going to come into our world–‘What does a live Pokemon, a realistic, 3D Pokemon look like?’ That was a really exciting challenge for us.”

Continuing, Mendes went on to say the team at Legendary was inspired a great deal by Fantastic Beasts.

“These creatures are as photo-real as they can possibly be. We’re working with the best visual effects team in the world,” they stressed.

“We thought about Fantastic Beasts a lot just in terms of the quality of that animation and how life-like [the creatures] were. But it was interesting; we worked very closely with The Pokemon Company. They’ve been wonderful collaborators through this, and we’ve really let them guide us, because they know their brand better than we ever will, and we want to make sure that we’re giving fans exactly what they want, and they know that better than anyone.”

So far, reception has been good for Pokemon‘s live-action designs. More than a month out, Detective Pikachu still has time to convince those who are still on the fence, but it seems both Warner Bros. Pictures and The Pokemon Company are feeling good about the franchise’s scary realistic designs.

So, are you digging the film’s realistic aesthetic…? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

Directed by Rob Letterman, and co-written by Nicole Perlman, Pokemon: Detective Pikachu is scheduled for a release on May 10. The official synopsis for Pokemon: Detective Pikachu reads as such:

“The story begins when ace detective Harry Goodman goes mysteriously missing, prompting his 21-year-old son Tim to find out what happened. Aiding in the investigation is Harry’s former Pokémon partner, Detective Pikachu: a hilariously wise-cracking, adorable super-sleuth who is a puzzlement even to himself. Finding that they are uniquely equipped to communicate with one another, Tim and Pikachu join forces on a thrilling adventure to unravel the tangled mystery. Chasing clues together through the neon-lit streets of Ryme City—a sprawling, modern metropolis where humans and Pokémon live side by side in a hyper-realistic live-action world—they encounter a diverse cast of Pokémon characters and uncover a shocking plot that could destroy this peaceful co-existence and threaten the whole Pokémon universe.”

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