Video: Detective Pikachu isn’t the only Pokémon movie with a funky use of CG coming out this year. Fans are also getting a new take on a Pokéclassic.
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2019/05/detective-pikachu-is-almost-too-cute-for-its-own-good/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/rchbiljqxznohxyil2ae.png” title=”Detective Pikachu Is Almost Too Cute For Its Own Good” excerpt=”Video game movies have a tumultuous history of never quite managing to marry what fans love about the games they’re inspired by with a compelling narrative that won’t alienate the unfamiliar. Detective Pikachu manages to succeed at this long-sought combo by pairing a pretty standard family film with some incredibly cute stars. Mostly.”]
The Pokémon Company has released another new trailer for Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution, the rapidly incoming latest entry in the vast franchise’s line of animated movies.
It isn’t actually a new title, but instead Pokémon pulling a Disney and doing a CG remake of one of its beloved back catalogue hits. In fact, it’s the most beloved: The very first Pokémon movie, released in Japan back in 1998 before heading West as Pokémon: The First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back.
Soundtracked by Rita Ora — another bizarre similarity Evolution has with Detective Pikachu, as the British songstress not only provided a track for that film’s soundtrack, but even had a cameo role as a scientist exploiting Mewtwo’s psychic powers as part of her Pokémon research — the trailer pretty much spoils the entire story arc of the film.
Trailers are often wont to do this of course, but hey, spoiler warning for a 20-year-old movie I guess! Still, it hits all the beats fans expect a remake of the first Pokémon film to do so. You have Mewtwo, you have clones, you have crying Pikachu. What more could you want?
Probably less creepy CG Satoshi/Ash and friends, probably. People were alarmed by Detective Pikachu’s terrifyingly cute “realistic” take on Pokémon earlier this year, but honestly, this movie seems like a living reminder that something more accurate to the original Pokémon artwork could come across as somehow even freakier.
Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution is set to open in Japanese cinemas next week on July 12. An English language dub is set to release in the West later this year.