10 Best Pokémon Appearances In Detective Pikachu

Cubone has the first appearance of any real significance in the movie, and it sets the tone well. Desperately wailing in the middle of a field, Cubone perhaps doesn’t have the iconic feel of other creatures, but it does lay down an important ground rule.

The movie makes no serious attempt to explain Cubone’s backstory as an orphan who wears its mother’s skull as a helmet. Instead, it makes a joke about this where full context is required to get it. Aside from the personality Cubone has, it sets the movie’s stall out as being for the fans.

Early on, this subtle buy in lets everyone know that Pokémon are going to be utilised to their full extent. For Cubone personally, they dial his rage up to eleven and give us a good laugh early on.

Pretty much inconsequential to the overall story, Cubone is instead used not only to clarify that Pokémon backstories aren’t always going to be explained, but also to demonstrate protagonist Tim’s loneliness and talk us through the fact that that (in this narrative, at least), the Pokémon must choose the trainer too.

They don’t get the most out of Cubone, but it’s used well for its intended purpose.