The very first live-action Pokémon movie is now out after years in development, and from the moment the first trailer debuted, people were surprised to see how charming Detective Pikachu looked. But other than Pikachu talking and sounding not like Danny Devito--as some fans wanted--but like Ryan Reynolds, what really made an impression in that first trailer was arguably the new look of the Pokémon.The world of Pokémon is filled with a variety of different creatures, each with a unique design. From the scaly and terrifying Charizard, to whatever nightmare Mr. Mime came from, the biggest surprise in Detective Pikachu may have been that Pikachu looks undeniably furry. It`s not that Pikachu and the other furry Pokemon look bad--but up until this point, they`ve always been portrayed looking, uh, smoother.Naturally, we jumped at the opportunity to talk about Pokémon fur, whether Pokémon like Machamp wear clothes, and just what the hell Mr. Mime is with Detective Pikachu visual effects supervisor Erik Nordby.`We didn`t really have another choice,` Nordby told us regarding furry Pikachu. `The Pokémon Company didn`t want it to have fur, and they wanted something that felt more like a horse, with very fine and short hair. But look at it. There is no real-world equivalent of a Pikachu. It just looks unnatural and a bit disturbing, since that type of yellow skin doesn`t really exist anywhere. So we built the texture and showed the company what Pikachu could look like with fur, and eventually they grew to love it.`Having to communicate with a media conglomerate like The Pokémon Company, and across two languages, wasn`t an easy task. Nordby told us that they had a slew of rules for what Pokémon could and couldn`t look like, but one mandate was key: `They were very conservative when it came to changing the original designs, and `kawaii,` or cute, was the word of the day,` Nordby said. Indeed, Pokémon fans know that in both the anime and the games, even the scariest or stranges ...
|
