If my math is right, buying everything in the Rasta Rhino Emporium will cost 71 pearls. There are only, what, 88 pearls in the whole game, and I can't stand the racing sequences, the air-hockey that begs for a joypad, or the conveyor-belt jumping puzzle, and there's a limit to how many dragons I'm willing to beat to death with a stick when it doesn't move the story forward. I have to do these things to get pearls, and I have to have pearls to pimp my ride so I can fire Chekov's Gun in time for the last battle. As I understand it. And I'm less than motivated.

Does it sound like I'm playing the wrong game? Minigames, racing, flailing away with a stick at monsters in the hope that I land a blow during their "vulnerable" period... If these things don't turn my handle, and the idea of collecting every last photograph for its own sake gives me a migraine, should I just stop playing now?

I haven't begun invading the big buildings yet, if that gives you an idea how far I've gotten into this.

Reading through the forum, I see that I can't progress beyond a certain point in the story unless I win the third race, and that if I'm not hooked and hungry for more within ten minutes of leaving the lighthouse it's not going to "get better" for me. So never mind about the pearls. I suppose you can mark this one "solved."

I guess not every game is great for everyone. I personally love this game. It's not perfect but I enjoy the diversity.

Not necessary to win the third race. Making pictures for pearls is a good idea. I remember I had a lot of pearls left at the end and no use for them. I just played the game and used every opportunity to get pearls. There are other minigames, too, where you can get some. But if you don´t like minigames at all you probably should play another game...

I was bummed that getting al Rhino-Items were mandatory.
However, the game doesn't even try to make finding pearls a big problem. I ignored the races and still had enough pearl obtained to find Serene, which are, well, 8 pearl missing. Meaning, there are still nine pearls left, which should be easy to get.

Near the end, there's a volcano that holds at least five or six pearls and don't get me started on the pearl detector you can buy at the shop.
If you shoot fotos of every animal, including the furrys, you'll get money in no time to buy every pearl and detector from the shop. That way, traveling to Selene is not an issue.