Ultraman: A Ascensão

I originally was not enjoying this film. I thought it was going to be just a typical story about a hero getting humbled to beat a better hero. Then the baby kaiju was introduced and this film revealed what it really was, a story about parenthood and just how lovely it is. With the main character, Sato, starting off the most unlikable character I've ever seen, but throughout the film becoming infinitely more likable. The animation is drop dead gorgeous, every frame looks like a painting. The fight choreography is stellar in most fights. The score sounds pretty average mostly until some fights where they pull out the guitar and just start shredding. Overall I enjoyed the film and am looking forward to other projects to come out of this studio.

I am not really familiar with the Ultraman lore. I know he's a guy who can grow to the size of a monster and often fights against kaijus. There is some sort of Kaiju Defense Force that also fights kaijus. Somehow, this film becomes the story of Ultraman defending a kaiju baby from the KDF, which is ironic, but kind of fun.

However, the true strength (and weakness) of the movie is not in the monster battles, but in the story of a young man trying to juggle career, family, child raising and personal life at the same time. Did I want this in a Kaiju movie? Maybe not, but at the same time it was what gave the characters depth and the story emotional power.

Also, this is a kiddie film, designed to appeal to small children and their parents who, probably, try to juggle a lot of things too, so technically it was good product.

First thing, I would rate this a 10/10 but giving I know nothing about the OG Ultraman it's a 9/10. All that said- it's amazing. In other reviews alot of people called the animation "good" but it's absolutely gorgeous. I can tell their are references to the OG Ultraman in it. Now a main part of the movie is "family". It's written many times very cringe in other movies but here it's actually written well without needing to become a meme. I would also say that this movie is also able to be appealing to all ages. I'm in the young adult age range (13-22) if that gives you any help. The animation did draw me in but I did stay for the story. I was able to watch it in one sitting without being bored or it just playing in the background. I extremely recommend watching it. Even the score and music in great (along with the OG references)

I thought it was an alright movie. Its not very complicated and does a good job being an entertaining kids movie. It may not hold adults' attention the full way through, I personally only watched the first half before finishing the rest of the movie later while eating lunch. This was because the story is very predictable and the dialogue bland. However the animation is done well and the movie carries a good message for kids.

The main character as Ultraman didn't really intrigue me too much, but I get the sense the original Ultraman had a much different origin and I would've been interested in how the original came to be. The movie didn't really delve into that or how he got his powers. I'm assuming its all technology, but I could be wrong.

I saw this movie with one of my best friends and we were commenting, pausing and rewinding the movie all the time, so many details to see, so many memorable scenes to repeat.

From the beginning the protagonist seemed charismatic to me, despite being egocentric. Although of course, later we see the reason for his attitude, and it is easy to empathize with him.

In fact, it is easy to empathize with ALL the characters.

AND THE BABY, OH MY GOD, THE BABY. SHE IS REALLY ADORABLE. Every time she appeared on the screen my heart melted.

We had a very good time watching the movie, so much so that we are now watching it a second time, to capture as many details as possible.

It has become one of my favorites. An excellent movie.