Actually Never

One thing I meant to mention about both Pee-wee’s Big Adventure and Space Jam is that I watched them on my fancy new 4K TV* and I don’t think either of them were meant to be seen that clearly. Wouldn’t be an issue for today’s movie, though I watched it on my 15-year-old 720P TV instead, because I like watching movies wrong I guess.

^{*super cheap Amazon-brand TV}

Also I was going to comment about how nobody in Space Jam seemed particularly surprised that the Looney Toons are, y’know, alive, but skipped it because I didn’t want to nitpick a kids’ cartoon that badly. But I listened to the Space Jam episode of How Did This Get Made? and they were very hung up on this. At least I know why it’s called Space Jam.

What I knew

I know an alarming amount about Pokémon. This is not something I could have imagined 10 years ago, but Pokémon GO came out, and there was so much hype that I used a workaround to download it before it was technically available in Canada. As I did it, I figured I was wasting my time because I’d play it for two days and get bored. If only. I spent 16 hours over this past weekend (not including prep time) (can’t even believe “prep time” is a thing in this context) playing a special in-game event I spent human moneys on. On two accounts. Playing on two phones at once.

For most people, Pokémon Detective Pikachu would not count as an Actually Never. But I’m not most people.

I may have some Life Regrets.

What I know

Despite playing Pokémon GO a ton, I’ve Actually Never (gonna beat this into the ground) watched the cartoons or played more than a few minutes of the main series games. Didn’t matter. I knew enough of the characters and general concepts. And that helped, but I think you’d figure it out if you went in blind.

For what this was meant to be, it was pretty good. Not a must-see or anything, but fun enough, and a very good looking movie. Only after it was over did I think about how the humans would have done most of their acting alone in front of green screens. The acting and special effects combined to create a really immersive fantastical world.

I wonder how this will hold up in 20 years? I remember watching Terminator 2 when it was new and being amazed by the special effects. They are not so amazing now. Someone remind me to rewatch this in 2053.

A lot of the Pokémon are fuzzier than I expected. It initially grossed me out a bit in a carpeted bathroom sort of way, but suppose it makes sense, they’re basically animals, some animals have fur. And I live with a cat who occasionally IS gross in a carpeted bathroom sort of way.

I try not to get to spoilery on here, but I will say – why didn’t the kid think something was up when he heard Pikachu’s voice?