Ultraman: Rising

There seems to be an uptick in Ultraman interest lately, with the recent Shin Ultraman and now this animated film that's about to start streaming on Netflix.

What's everyone's favorite Ultraman series/movie and are you excited about the one that's premiering this week?

This is a great weekend for animation buffs, with the new Pixar easily commanding the box-office worldwide and Ultraman Rising streaming on Netflix and playing in a handful of theaters.

Unfortunately, the Ultraman movie is the one that comes off as the weakest, by far, and decidedly not nearly as fun as the recent Shin Ultraman (which was live-action).

The idea of Ultraman having to take care of a kanji baby isn't at all bad, but the execution is.

There's hardly a moment in the whole movie when you don't see what's coming a few miles away; the story beats here feel so ancient, they belong in a museum. Even younger viewers may find the movie overly predictable.

The pacing during non-action scenes is also way off. It's a movie that could have been a snappy 90 minutes, but is unnecessarily padded into a 2-hour movie.

Still, there's some pretty good animation here by Industrial Light & Magic; it's just a shame that the story isn't nearly as good as the animation.

P.S. Make sure you don't miss the mid-credits scene.