The character of Ultraman has a long history in Japanese culture. I'm not familiar with that history, but, it seems like an offshoot of kaiju culture. That culture and history probably feature a lot of kaiju battles. As such, the filmmakers probably didn't want to tread in those waters again. This film in that regard is less about fighting a kaiju, as it is about embracing one. For those English-speaking audiences, the idea of taking a big scary creature, especially a mythical one, and flipping it so that we end up caring for it, isn't a brand new one. Some might recall that that was the plot of How To Train Your Dragon(2010). It was also a theme in Wolfwalkers(2020). This one is very similar. Yet, if one is expecting an action adventure with a lot of cool, kaiju-fighting scenes, then one will be disappointed.
Christopher Sean is a Japanese-American actor who recently lent his voice to Star Wars Resistance(2018), an animated series created by Dave Filoni. Sean lends his voice to this animated feature as Ken Sato, a baseball player who is also the superhero, known as Ultraman, a person in an Ant-Man kind of suit but when he activates the suit, it causes him to grow into a giant, the size of a high-rise building. His only job is to push back kaijus that attack Japan. Things change when he finds a baby kaiju that he then has to protect.
The majority of the film is Ken having to be the surrogate father to this baby kaiju, which is funny because when Ken isn't in his suit, he's normal human size and the baby kaiju is the size of an elephant if not slightly bigger. It's funny in a way that is akin to the opening scene of Who Framed Roger Rabbit(1988) or a sketch of Buttons and Mindy in Animaniacs(1993). However, those are short moments that don't need to be protracted as it is here. In terms of a property that has someone in a metallic suit protecting an infant creature, I would've been fine with another Filoni series, that of The Mandalorian(2019), which doesn't have a baby kaiju but does have what was dubbed "Baby Yoda." An episode of The Mandalorianhas more thrills and more engaging scenes than this. If this film were shorter or had less repetitive moments, it might have worked better.
Christopher Sean made a name for himself when he was featured in the series Days of Our Lives(1965) of which he was a regular starting in 2014. His character was Paul Narita who was also a baseball player that had a double life and had issues with his father. That makes Sean the perfect person to be the voice of Ken Sato, the protagonist here. The only difference is that the double life in Days of Our Liveswasn't that Paul Narita was a superhero, but that he was gay. Here, Ken Sato has that double life too but unlike Sean's other character, it doesn't seem as if Ken is in any danger of being outed.
Being outed wasn't a concern in Richard Donner's Superman(1978), but it's probably in part why I prefer Superman II(1980) where being outed is a concern that actually happens. Speaking of which, there is a Lois Lane type of character here named Ami Wakita, but she ends up being rather inconsequential to the plot. Ami is a single mom and her experience is meant to be a mirror for Ken's experience as a surrogate parent for the baby kaiju. In one scene, she offers him advice without knowing why. Yet, otherwise, she's not as integral as she could have and perhaps should have been.
The film is ultimately about parenting and how a parent's job, particular a father's job, can affect a child's life or outlook. I don't think the film draws a parallel that's as strong as it could have been. Ken Sato blames his father for focusing on his job more than his family. Yet, when Ken becomes a surrogate father, that parallel gets lost.
Finally, the villain named Dr. Onda wants revenge and wants to kill all kaijus. His goal is to find kaiju island, which is where kaijus live. People say that kaiju island can't be found, which is ridiculous because Onda has all this advanced technology but yet, he or any government can't find an island inhabited by giant creatures. Suspension of disbelief is required, but it seems so unlikely. This goes to my fundamental misunderstanding about the lore of the kaijus. It's one thing if the kaijus stay on their island, but they attack Japan regularly, so I'm not sure what the reason is. Why do they attack? Why aren't they satisfied on their own island? Why can't the island be found? Maybe this is all lore that long-time fans of Ultraman would know, but it was all lost on me.
Rated PG for action, violence and rude humor.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 57 mins.
Available on Netflix.
