'Ultraman: Rising' Review: Netflix’s Superhero vs. Kaiju Movie Swings for the Fences (2024)

There is a good chance that fans of Ultraman, the long-running iconic science fictionsuperhero franchise, will be divided on Netflix’s new take on the mythos in Ultraman: Rising. Some of this is the nature of the beast when creating a new work that will inevitably be in conversation with such a long history. In the case of Ultraman, this dates back to 1966. In other words, there is both a lot of baggage and pressure that this English-language animated film is carrying with it. There will inevitably be comparisons to many of the past incarnations of the character, one of the most recent of which includes last year’s Shin Ultraman, with each viewer coming to their own conclusion about where it ranks based on their relationship to the material. There are even those, particularly younger viewers, who will likely be meeting the character for the first time when this hits the streamer. They will probably appreciate it most, but longtime fans will likely be a harder sell as this film, even with all its frequently vibrant animation that is bursting free, remains quite a mixed bag of a movie.

It’s a film that frequently swings for the fences, with plenty of new reinventions, but it’s far from a home run. In a year that has already seen stunning animated sci-fi that shatters our expectations, Ultraman: Rising plays things a little safer and more down the middle. It’s not without its charm, with playful needle drops and a largely light sense of humor, though it will likely resonate most with younger, less discerning viewers (particularly if they’re a fan of baseball). Of course, considering its nearly two-hour runtime, there is a good chance that it may even lose them in parts as the film frequently drags with a generally belabored setup and many stumbles on the way. Throw in a largely middling story that never quite connects as cleanly as you’d hope, it doesn’t truly rise as much as it is elevated by the animation. The visuals prevent it from being a complete miss, but it's far from the consistent hit it’s aiming to be.

What Is 'Ultraman: Rising' About?

Directed by Shannon Tindle and John Aoshima, this all centers around the talented yet co*cky baseball star Ken Sato (voiced by Christopher Sean) who must balance his playing professionally with the big responsibility of turning into a towering superhero to protect Japan from enormous kaiju that will periodically wreak havoc on the city. He has returned to Tokyo after playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers, though his now playing for the local Giants is essentially a front for him to continue the family business. The Ultraman mantle is something that he took over from his father (Gedde Watanabe), who essentially abandoned his family to be the hero. Thus, there are complicated feelings that Ken has about his role, especially as his mother (Tamlyn Tomita) has recently disappeared, leaving a combination of mystery and trauma behind. Though father and son have a strained relationship, they’ll have to work together to continue protecting the city. This becomes even more complicated when Ken finds a baby kaiju in the aftermath of a battle. He will then have to take care of the adorable, though still plenty dangerous, creature as other nefarious forces in the city seek to capture her. Oh, there is also a halfhearted romantic subplot surrounding a local journalist that gets tacked on though never sufficiently developed.

If you’ve seen any movie, there is little to Ultraman: Rising and the path it takes that will surprise you. While not every story needs to reinvent the wheel, the creativity in the animation is often done a disservice by the writing itself. The script, written by Tindle and Marc Haimes, is consistently reliant on contrivances in everything from the dialogue to the conflicts that arise. Whether it is the tension between father and son or between humans and kaiju, it’s all resolved so quickly that it undercuts its own emotional impact. Even when it gestures towards potentially darker developments, it lacks the nerve to see them through. There are so many reversals of fate that it’s increasingly hard to take any of them seriously.

That Tindle and Haimes were previously writers for the also beautifully animated Kubo and the Two Strings tracks as that too was not the most memorable of stories, even as it was something to behold in a visual sense. For every moment where we see Ken’s emotions expressed through more subtle yet evocative animation, there is much to the film that is painfully blunt. Instead of letting the art communicate the emotion, Ultraman: Rising often spells out everything to its detriment. Even as Haimes recently also worked on the lovely Nimona, which also was released on Netflix after being resurrected from its original home at Disney, this latest effort can’t quite reach the same heights that flawed yet still more engaging film did. The film does pull out all the stops for the finale but, for nearly every moment it stands tall in this conclusion, it also stumbles and falls in the getting there.

'Ultraman: Rising' Still Finds Silly Superhero Fun in the Ending

If the kids watching potentially fell asleep before this, the final climactic battle where it goes full Pacific Rim with guitar shredding and bursts of color will certainly wake them up. The emotional notes it tries to hit in all of this still don’t fully resonate, but at least it looks vibrant as it does so. There is still something frustrating in how there is a final moment where the film proves to be most impatient, not even waiting a moment of sitting with the potential for sacrifice before cutting in with narration to make sure we know everything is okay. It’s a fascinating push and pull as the frequently ambitious animation style represents the type of breathtaking, big-swing approach worth championing, just as the story consistently falls short. This is what ultimately separates Ultraman: Rising from something like the spectacular Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. You're just always waiting for it to take that extra leap. Even as this Netflix movie certainly looks the part, it’s never quite able to swing as high.

REVIEW

Ultraman: Rising (2024)

Netflix's Ultraman: Rising is a film with vibrant animation that is often undercut by a less than super story.

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Pros

• Everything is beautifully animated, with many moments of emotional tumult captured in evocative fashion.
• The ending goes all out with guitar shredding and bursts of color galore.
• This will likely be a good introduction for newer viewers to the character and the franchise.

Cons

• The story is rather standard stuff, lacking the creativity that was felt in the animation.
• Even when it gestures towards darkness, the film often lacks the patience to see any of it through.

Ultraman: Rising is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S. starting June 14.

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