Pokemon: Detective Pikachu

Well, this is a delightful surprise. Rarely has a movie so clearly designed to cash in on the popularity of another corporately spawned intellectual property turned out to be so charming and genuinely sweet. Downright adorable, even. Pokémon: Detective Pikachu is a very obvious response to the enormous popularity of the Pokémon Go augmented-reality smartphone game, which is itself only a tiny part of the biggest media franchise on the planet.

And yet, by some miracle of movie magic, Detective Pikachu sparkles with originality, fresh humor, and a natural, organic fantasy. Perhaps the fact that this is the first live-action Pokémonanything (yes, I expect more) forced everyone involved to bring their A games. It all works even if you don’t know the first thing about Pokémon.

The setting is a truly lovely world where Pokémon – friendly, cute “pocket monsters,” though almost all over them are considerably larger than pocket-sized – and humans live in companionable harmony in Ryme City.

Out there in the rest of the world, humans capture and train Pokémon (the term is both singular and plural, dontcha know) to battle other Pokémon for everyone’s amusement, perhaps even for that of the Pokémon themselves, since they seem pretty impervious to mortal damage.

But here in Ryme City, battling is outlawed and everyone has a Pokémon partner. It’s a step above a human-pet relationship, partly because the Pokémon seem more intelligent and more sentient than a parrot or even a dog. You might find yourself longing for such a sidekick after seeing the movie.

The absence of Pokémon battling here as a good, necessary and essential part of the experience may well be a reaction to some criticisms of Pokémon Go, chiefly that it promotes animal cruelty in its focus on capturing, training and battling the cute little monsters.

If there’s anything daring or radical here, it might be in how Detective Pikachu doesn’t have a lot of time for what might be considered the central conceit of this franchise – its cartoonish but undeniable violence – and you barely even seem to notice.

Not that Detective Pikachu ignores the game that is its reason for being, either. The extremely cool Ryme City is an alt-London that almost seems like a live-action take on the augmented reality of Pokémon Go, which overlays its game environment on the actual park or sidewalk where you’re playing.

Here, soaring make-believe skyscrapers sit nicely among an iconic real-world skyline, and strange wondrous beasties wander streets plied by red double-decker buses. This is also a city that echoes the Japanese roots of Pokémon, too, neon-soaked and oft-navigated via enchanting alleyways dotted with food stalls hawking noodles eaten with chopsticks. Imagine if Blade Runner was not a dystopia, and you’re almost there.

Of course, not everything is hunky-dory in Ryme City!

Detective Pikachu ventures into downright kiddie-noir territory with the tale it has to tell. Intrigue strikes when human Tim’s (Justice Smith) cop dad goes missing, so he teams up with Dad’s Pokémon partner, a fuzzy yellow Pikachu (the voice of Ryan Reynolds, reigning way in his usual smarm), in order to find his father.

The task of Tim and the Pikachu – who is not officially a detective, you understand, but does seem to enjoy sporting a Sherlock Holmesian deerstalker cap – is made somewhat easier by the strange fact that Tim and the Pikachu can talk to and understand each other, which is not usually the case with humans and Pokémon.

The ensuing mystery is gentle enough for little’uns but has enough satirical bite for imaginative grown-ups to appreciate, too.

Much of that comes in the form of a huge corporation – headed up by Bill Nighy in full-on Bill Nighy form – that built Ryme City and is deeply dedicated to human-Pokémon cooperation rather than conflict.

No spoilers, but there is some sly play here about humanity’s use and abuse of the natural world, a green theme that is subtle but one that I think may positively impact young children.

I got enough of a thrill from watching Detective Pikachu that makes me think some kids watching it will look back at this as one of the seminal cinematic experiences of their childhoods, perhaps one that made them fall in love with movies.

POKEMON: DETECTIVE PIKACHU ( 3 1/2 ) • Directed by Rob Letterman• Starring Ryan Reynolds, Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton l • Rated PG • 104 min. • At Century Cinemas Del Monte, Century Marina, Maya Cinemas, Northridge Cinemas, Lighthouse Cinemas.