"Man, I thought Ultimate Robot Fighting was real, like pro wrestling, but it turns out it's fixed, like boxing."
--Fry; Futurama

So this is Disney's new release. Hugh Jackman and Evangeline Lilly are the big names in thie film, along with their core demographic, a new actor named Dakota Goyo, as Max Kenton, the kid in the movie.

This movie, if nothing else, is entertaining. From the trailers we know Charlie(Jackman) has some sort of problem with his kid or a relationship went south to cause the rift. This conflict is really at the center of the movie movie. I think it finds a resolve a bit too soon into the film, but to the film's credit, it pushes this a long way.

The robot fight scenes are not the debacle Transformers was, and for that, thank god. Since every fight happens in some version or variant of a ring that is contrasted against the robots, it makes it easy to see them take hits, move, and navigate around clearly without getting lost in the flying fists.

I tried to imagine seeing this movie through the eyes of an 11 year old, the film's driving character. It's hard to remember back then, but if I saw this back in my youth, I'd be collecting Transformers... oh, I was. Well, nevermind then

It should not be surprising they left this movie open to a sequel. There's a major gaping story left open when the credits roll. In fact, there's A LOT of open plotlines, to me, at it's end. Which tells me one thing, I'm focusing on the adults too much. This movie is for the kids. The kids won't be as invested as we are in the lives of the adults, and at the film's end everything seems to have worked out.

At least until Part 2. Think of this movie like The Karate Kid. It ended RIGHT after Daniel won the tournament. Part 2 starts in parking lot after. If there's a sequel I suspect this one may use the same idea.

There's some good movies out this week. I couldn't see In Time since it's not showing here, so I saw this.