Suspiciously Positive Reviews For Pokemon Detective Pikachu On IMDB

Today I perused the IMDB entry for Pokemon Detective Pikachu. Don't ask me how I ended up there. The first review displayed was by "jakefellows", and it gave the movie 10 out of 10 stars. This seems fishy to me given how much criticism the movie has been getting online. I'm not exactly the target audience (though I did grow up with Pokemon), but even factoring that in I find it difficult to see how the movie could be that good based on the description. Further more, Jake's review has been rated as helpful by nearly all of the couple hundred people which rated it. In fact, there are many reviews giving 10 out of 10 stars. Maybe this movie is better than it appears, or maybe production companies are protecting their investment? Fake reviews are nothing new in the digital age.

I decided to dig deeper by checking out Jake's profile. It shows this as the only review he's ever written. In fact, it appears to be the only participation he's had since registering on IMDB at the start of 2017, because there are no lists, polls, or other ratings shown on his profile. Interestingly, the film was announced about half a year earlier than Jake opened his account. Next I went to Google. A Google search for "Jake Fellows" yields few social media profile results, aside from the IMDB profile itself. There isn't much of a footprint there. It's possible "jakefellows" could be a username rather than a real name, but usernames tend to be more like dragonbeast88. This name sounds real, and I have to ask why, if it isn't? It's likely not a borrowed name from a character in a book or film, because that should have come up in search results.

I'm not saying the review is fake. I'm not saying the other positive reviews are either. However, it is interesting that a movie which many internet users are hating on, has received such positive support from someone whose existence is questionable, and that the review itself has received such positive support too. I also find it interesting that the review was posted on May 3rd 2019 even though the movie didn't open in theatres until May 11, 2019 in the United States and Canada. It did air on May 3rd in Japan though which, is the country of origin of Toho, one of the production companies of the movie. If the user was from Japan, it seems odd they would be posting on an English only American movie website rather than a Japanese alternative.

This review sets off too many bells and alarms for me to find it helpful, but that doesn't mean the review is wrong. With so many positive reviews, it's possible the movie is much better than it sounds.

License:Comprehensible Open License 2.0

Comprehensible Open License 2.0:

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