Detective Pikachu is out now and doing surprisingly well at the box office. The
Pokémon movie being live-action essentially allows us to see what many iconic Pokémon creatures would look like in real life. This can be seen as either a good or bad thing as; while some realistic Pokémon turned out cute, like Pikachu and Bulbasoar, others appear quite strange.
The Pokémon Company found this a problem. The Japanese firm responsible for brand management and licensing of the franchise believed that Lickitung's scene was too gross to feature in the film. The company were also opposed to Mr. Mime featuring in the live-action film as they were unsure what he actually was.
Erik Nordby,
Detective Pikachu's visual effects supervisor, recently discussed the company's reaction to Lickitung's scene with Time Magazine (via
Gamefragger). Early on in the film there's a scene in which Tim Goodman is on a train and confronted by a Lickitung before being slathered with its enormous tongue and a heap of saliva.
For something to feel real, it has to have real-world grit and texture. But the Pokémon Company would see that and think it was dirty. We had to walk them through… and build the trust that we weren’t going to make these things disturbingly dirty. I wouldn’t say that [the scene with Lickitung] was the Pokémon Company’s favorite scene in the movie. That’s one where we got right up to the edge of what they would be comfortable with.
Ravi Bansal, the film's Art Director, similarly revealed that The Pokémon Company didn't want Mr. Mime included. This was because not even they were certain what the humaoid clown was.
When Rob [Letterman, the film’s director] suggested using Mr. Mime, we asked the Pokémon Company, “What is he?” They went: We don’t know.” They were actually trying to dissuade us from using him, because they weren’t sure what he was or whether he’d work well on screen. That was a bit of a strange one.
Ace detective Harry Goodman goes mysteriously missing, prompting his 21-year-old son, Tim, to find out what happened. Aiding in the investigation is Harry's former Pokémon partner, wise-cracking, adorable super-sleuth Detective Pikachu. Finding that they are uniquely equipped to work together, as Tim is the only human who can talk with Pikachu, they join forces to unravel the tangled mystery.