What was the first Pokémon film to use live-action characters?

Detective Pikachu was the first live-action film based on the Pokémon franchise.

Released in 2019, the film was directed by Rob Letterman and stars Ryan Reynolds as the voice and motion-capture performer for Detective Pikachu. Justice Smith plays Tim Goodman, a young man searching for his missing father in the city of Ryme.

The film is loosely based on the 2016 Nintendo 3DS game Detective Pikachu rather than directly adapting Ash’s anime storyline. Its world combines human actors and computer-generated Pokémon, including Pikachu, Charizard, Mewtwo and Psyduck. This distinguishes it from the earlier Pokémon theatrical films, which were animated.

Pokémon: Detective Pikachu premiered in Japan on May 3, 2019, and opened in the United States on May 10. The title is sometimes shortened to Detective Pikachu, but Pokémon Detective Pikachu is the film’s full English title.