Several months ago, it was announced that primary filming for Detective Pikachu had begun, and since then, it looks like considerable progress has been made on what is to be the first live-action movie based on the Pokemon franchise. Today, Warner Bros. Pictures and The Pokemon Company have officially released the first full-length trailer for to promote the forthcoming film's theatrical release in 2019.

As seen below in the first official trailer for Detective Pikachu, fans are introduced the the titular character voiced by Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool, TV's Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place), and similar to the game on which the film is based, Pikachu actually speaks in fully formed sentences. The trailer also provides a rundown of the movie's plot, which centers around the protagonist Tim Goodman's search for his private eye father's whereabouts following his mysterious disappearance. Aiding in the investigation is none other than Goodman's father's former Pokemon partner, Detective Pikachu.

Detective Pikachu will take viewers on a journey through the neon-lit streets of Ryme City–a city in which Pokemon and humans live side by side–as a nefarious plot is uncovered that could not only destroy the metropolis' peaceful coexistence between Pocket Monsters and people, but also adversely affect the entire universe. Starring alongside Ryan Reynolds will be Justice Smith (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) as Tim, Kathryn Newton (Lady Bird, HBO’s Big Little Lies) as a junior reporter named Lucy, and Oscar nominee Ken Watanabe (Inception, The Last Samurai) as Lt. Yoshida.

All things considered, it will be interesting to see how the adaptation of the Detective Pikachu game to the big screen will pan out, as it's clear that the film's director, Rob Letterman, has taken some extreme creative liberties with the property. While the 3DS title kept the Pokemon series' original character designs intact, Detective Pikachu is heavily populated with some hyper-realistic Pokemon, which might be a tad disorienting to fans expecting the former. Nevertheless, we will have to wait and see what transpires come next year.

Detective Pikachu is set to release in theaters in 2019.

Source: Warner Bros. Pictures – YouTube