Review of the cartoon «Ultraman: Rising»

On June 14, the Netflix streaming service released the animated kaiju superhero film «Ultraman: Rising», which became the 44th feature-length project in the «Ultraman» media franchise created by the Japanese company Tsuburaya Productions. In the review below, we’ll tell you whether this movie is worth watching, even if you’ve seen the previous 43 and have no idea who this superhero is or where he came from.

«Ultraman: Rising»

Genre animation, superhero action, kaiju movie
Director Shannon Tindle
The roles were voiced by Christopher Schoen, Gedde Watanabe, Tamlyn Tomita, Kion Young, Julia Harriman, Lee Shorten
Premiere Netflix
Year of issue 2024
Website IMDb

A talented baseball player Ken Sato returns from Los Angeles to his native Tokyo, where he plans to become the leader of the local team. Ken tries to combine building a successful sports career with not-so-desirable superhero activities. The fact is that he, like his father, has the ability to transform into Ultraman — metal giant, the kaiju who are attacking the city repel the city.

After a fight with one of the monsters, Ultraman gets a strange orb, which actually turns out to be a huge kaiju egg, from which a baby hatches. As the Kaiju Counterforce, led by the stalwart commander Dr. Onda, is hunting for him, the protagonist decides to take the baby to his place. But Ken could not have imagined that this decision would not only attract the attention of a powerful enemy, but also turn his already difficult life upside down.The history of the «Ultraman» media franchise dates back to 1966, when the Japanese company Tsuburaya Productions released a series called «Ultra Q». Since then, the «Ultra Series» has gained immense popularity not only in Japan but also abroad. The product combined superheroics and the kaiju genre, and at the same time «Godzilla», the character quickly conquered the market. It’s easy to guess that over the years, there have been a lot of different movies, TV series, comics, video games, TV shows, etc. dedicated to the adventures of Ultraman. Not to mention billions of dollars in merchandise earnings.

At the very beginning of the movie, you might think that «Ultraman: Ascendancy» — is an animated version of «Pacific Rim» by Guillermo del Toro. But the giants’ showdown quickly comes to naught and gives way to a sweet story about the difficulties of fatherhood. Ken Sato feels angry with his father because he was more concerned with fighting the kaiju than with his own son. And when a monster baby ends up at his house, he learns the hard way what a difficult mission fatherhood is.

From the beginning of the story to its culmination, the protagonist manages to go through a thorny path and undergo a noticeable character evolution. And the villain, who looks suspiciously like an elderly version of Albert Wesker from another franchise with Japanese roots — Resident Evil, has a clear motivation for his actions. Such a seemingly simple and necessary attribute of the antagonist could not be boasted of, for example, in some Marvel superhero blockbusters.

Somewhere towards the equator, the story begins to sag noticeably. After all, wiping a baby’s snot and all the difficulties of caring for it, although a routine familiar to every young parent, is not the most exciting content for a superhero action movie. However, this sagging is clearly not critical, because you are unlikely to want to switch your attention to something else while watching. And the final battle looks great: here you have a nod to Mechagodzilla, our own variation of «Jaeger» from the aforementioned «Pacific Rim», and a battle on the water in rainy weather somewhere from the same place. There can be no complaints about the quality of the animation. It is interestingly stylized (especially the hair of the characters attracts attention), bright, and sometimes even refers to anime. In other words, the technical execution in «Ultraman» is top-notch, and this is not surprising because the famous special effects studio Industrial Light & Magic worked on this aspect.

The director Shannon Tindle, whose credits include working on the script for the animated film «Kubo and The Two Strings», has made a very successful feature debut. Obviously, it is not without some rough edges, but on the whole, the film is able to captivate both carefree children and their parents. After all, everyday, sleepless care for kids is what real superheroism is all about.