'Ultraman: Rising' Review: Giant Daddy Issues

The venerable Japanese franchise gets a family-friendly animated movie version on Netflix.

Now Streaming: Created by Eiji Tsuburaya, whose long career including directing effects for Gojira (1954) and other Toho kaiju (giant monster) movies, Ultraman (1966) became immensely popular and spawned numerous spin-offs, sequels, and reimaginings, including Shin Ultraman (2022). 

Shannon Twindle hatched an idea in the mid- to late-2000s, adjusting it in the following years to follow "a billionaire who is forced to grow up when he takes on the orphaned children of his former foe." Eventually, Twindle moved to Netflix Animation, and he "repurposed" his premise "to fit with the Ultraman IP." 

Written by Shannon Twindle and Marc Haimes, who previously teamed to write the story for Laika's lovely animated film Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), and directed by Twindle, Ultraman: Rising is top-heavy, in that the first quarter of the film is devoted to telling the backstory for Ken Sato, a young Japanese boy who grew up knowing that his father's secret identity as Ultraman, a human who could transform into a giant robot in order to protect people from kaiju. 

Inspired by his mother's love for baseball, young Ken followed eventually becomes a top star in American baseball, only returning to Japan some 20 years later, after the death of his mother, due to an urgent request by his long-estranged, now-aged father to assume the mantle of Ultraman, which Ken only accepts reluctantly. 

Yes, there are references to Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the film makes clear that Ken Sato is the true two-way hero, since he is both a highly-acclaimed baseball superstar and also a superhero in disguise. 

The extended prelude jams a lot of plot into what might have been the first episode of a series, filled with action sequences, while also established the film's primary themes: Ultraman has giant daddy issues, which get much, much bigger when he defeats a kaiju who was protecting her egg from harm. 

The newly-hatched baby immediately bonds with Ultraman as its parental unit, which makes life infinitely more complicated for a single professional baseball player with a secret identity as an on-call giant superhero. 

The animation is very colorful, very good, and always engaging. The voice acting is even better. Christopher Sean captures the youthful enthusiasm and adult befuddlement of Ken Sato / Ultraman, with Tamlyn Tomita and Gedde Watanabe providing good support as his parents, Keone Young supplying appropriate menace as Dr. Onda, the head of Japan's Kaiju Defense Force, and Julia Harriman manifesting dogged curiosity as reporter Ami Wakita. 

Make no mistake: Ultraman: Rising is a giant robot movie, featuring plentiful battles with kaiju and military forces, so expect a lot of flying and stomping and rampant property destruction, all aimed at a younger audience. Even so, it weaves in family issues that are easily relatable to adults, and its release is well-timed for this Father's Day weekend, in particular. [Netflix]