Ultraman: Rising

• (Japanese: ウルトラマン: ライジング, Hepburn: Urutoraman: Raijingu)
• Directed by Shannon Tindle (Directorial Debut)
• June 12, 2024 (Annecy Festival) / June 14, 2024 (Worldwide)
• Netflix
• Based on Tsuburaya Productions’ Ultraman franchise

Voice Cast

• Kenji Sato/Ultraman-Christopher Sean
• Professor Sato/Ultradad-Gedde Watanabe
• Mina/Emiko Sato-Tamlyn Tomita
• Dr. Onda-Keone Young
• Ami Wakita-Julia Harriman
• Captain Aoshima-Lee Shorten
• Coach Shimura-Artt Butler
• Ito-Francois Chau       
• Kubo-Robert Yasumura         
• Oba-chan-Karen Muruyama 
• Chiho-Mila O’Malley 
• Mrs. Onda-Brittany Ishibashi
• Akiko-Veronica Lapke
• Bunny (Ollie)-Jonathan Groff

A famous but egotistical baseball player lives a secret life as the hero Ultraman and is forced to balance his career and hero duties while caring for a baby kaiju after defeating their mother.

I went into Ultraman: Rising largely ignorant of the Ultraman concept and character. I have seen fragments from it over the years but nothing to give me an adequate picture of what it was all about so in that aspect that is how I am looking at this film-as someone completely ignorant of it. That is a long way of saying I have no horse in this race.

I was intrigued by how the kaiju were used in a metaphor for animal rights. Here it is driven home how the kaiju are innocent creatures and Ultraman routinely protects them from the Kaiju Defense Force (KDF) headed up by a dangerous scientist named Dr. Onda seeking to kill them off by finding Kaiju Island. That’s the story connecting all events in the movie. How he plans on killing an island full of them when one is an issue is never told. Methinks he forgot that part.

The main story though is not only about our hero Kenji Sato growing into his duties as Ultraman but also repairing the rift between he and his dad. While mom was around, dad was frequently checking out to fight kaiju so naturally Kenji is upset. The idea of being resentful over vaguely defined absences is fine but Kenji knew exactly what his dad was up to and he looked up to the man in that aspect.

We get a moderately inconsequential girlfriend type deal. Kenji and her never actually become romantic. She’s firmly in the friend zone here, but her experiences with her daughter lay the groundwork for our hero to achieve enough of an understanding to mature, and to be able to care for the baby that he finds. Yay?

The understanding between father and son comes when Kenji finds himself caring for a hatched kaiju. I get that working together can bond people but Kenji understands Ultradad by the care aspect of him for a giant beaked lizard. This change from irresponsible youth to responsible adult occurs over days or at the most a week.

I really wish American animated features would get a brighter color palette. While it does look good from a design and execution side, the colors are muted. I grew up on bright colors. Not gaudy but bright. Animation though lately seems to be taking direction from Zack Snyder’s DCEU run.

As a coming-of-age story Ultraman: Rising is okay but what really sells this for me are the kaiju aspects of it. The giant monsters and the fighting are what you really come to see. Yeah it does have enough emotion in not only the father and son becoming closer but in how it portrays the head of the KDF. There are no real hardcore villains here interestingly enough.

Dr. Onda is seeking revenge for the deaths of his wife and daughter after Ultraman (Ultradad) failed to stop a monster before they were killed. Misguided but maybe not evil. With that I think the father should’ve had a little more involvement in the story. He does help in the close but this is largely Kenji cleaning up his father’s mess. Mostly though he is giving Kenji pointers on kaiju. There’s no moment where he is hit with the reality that this whole situation was brought on by his failure.

I know this has received praise for the voice work but I am not there. Not bad but not great. I think back to characters voiced by the likes of Mel Blanc, Frank Welker, Charlie Adler, and so many others. The voice told you about the character. From the first words you had a feeling for the personality of Bugs or Fred or Buster Bunny. While good, the voices do not do quite that good.

I can’t say I was amazed by it, but I enjoyed Ultraman: Rising. Kids unfamiliar with Ultraman will probably have fun but I’m not sure about adults who grew up with a concept since I’m not one of them. Still a good choice if you are looking for some animation.