By: Bryce L. Jackson

Stop me if you heard this one before: This could be a serious contender for best video game movie ever.

For the uninitiated, Detective Pikachu is a Nintendo 3DS game So when Warner Bros. announced that they had attained the rights to the property in 2016 during the height of the Pokemon Go craze that summer and shorty afterwards they signed on Ryan Reynolds to voice Pikachu, it seemed like a cash grab that could in no way be good.

And then we got the trailer:

I don’t know if it was because of the art style they chose, or the charm, or the low expectations I held, but the amount of joy that watching this trailer gave me is unwritable. As I watched the trailer, I only remember having a dumb smile on my face, a little bit of welling up in my eyes, and the immediate need to watch it again. Since its debut on Monday, I’ve probably watched the trailer about 15 times. Along with the art style of the Pokemon, I loved the scene of Mr. Mine using Mirror Coat (or Reflect) in the movie and I like that (unless its an actual battle sequence like the Charizard underground fight club clip using Flamethrower) the moves will be somewhat subtle.

In an objective eye, it’s almost a predictable plot that reminds me of 9th grade English class in the structure of storytelling but the charm and the setting of this story can be enough that I have hope that it is at the minimum, good.

Because of the origins of the source material, Detective Pikachu is instantly thrown in to the pile of attempts to make a good video game movie. I honestly believe that this may buck the trend of video game movies. It’s highly possible that this may not beat “Mortal Kombat” as best video game movie ever, but it has a chance to land close to the top. Personally, I think it will surpass MK, but thats my bias to the property talking. Keep in mind though, that the MK movie isn’t well praised as a movie, only holding a 58% Metacritic score, so the bar is low.

We are bound to see another trailer, and additional marketing in Pokemon Go, and Pokemon Lets Go! and other Nintendo properties so we’ll be able to get a better idea of what to expect and an exact release date as May 10th, 2019 gets closer.