‘Detective Pikachu’ Crew Reveals Why A Live-Action ‘Pokemon’ Film Took So Long

Detective Pikachu is slated to become one of the most talked-about movies of 2019, and fans are eager to see their favorite pocket monsters come to life. At long last, The Pokemon Company will reveal how characters like Jigglypuff and Snorlax will live in live-action, and there’s a real simple reason for why this film took so long.

When it comes down to it, the thing that kept Pokemon away from Hollywood was technology.

Recently, IGN released a slew of information it gleaned from a set visit to Detective Pikachu sometime ago. The site spoke with producer Ali Mendes about the wait, and they said The Pokemon Company was hesitant to pursue live-action until now because of technology.

“The reason for that is simple: technology is finally at a place where digitally rendering live-action Pokemon will look good. Producer Ali Mendes said they didn’t want to take the same approach as The Smurfs or Alvin and the Chipmunks where they’re essentially little cartoon characters running around in a live-action world,” IGN shared.

Rather than going too cartoony, Detective Pikachu will hit up fans with photorealistic pocket monsters. This design choice was hugely inspired by Fantastic Beasts, the prequel film series to Harry Potter. The team behind this Pokemon project viewed the magical trilogy as a goal in terms of creature designs, and The Pokemon Company came to embrace the aesthetic after a few pitch rounds.

So, are you excited to see how Pokemon does in the real world? 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.”