Tetsujin-28 - The Movie

                
Director: Togashi Shin
Year: 2005
Rating: 6.0
Giant robots. Cool! Giant robots fighting. Cooler! Giant robots fighting in Tokyo. Godzilla cool! The World of Mecha or giant robots. Tetsujin-28 has a long history going back into the 1950's as a manga, then numerous anime's and then this film with live actors. This film seems intended for children or adults nostalgic for their childhood. On that level it is fairly entertaining but without that background it feels a bit plodding and at times dull. I read some reviews that complained about the quality of the special effects but to my less experienced eyes, they seemed just fine. Near the beginning of the film one of the robots walks and flies through Tokyo causing all sorts of mayhem and destruction and I thought it looked great. Whether Godzilla or Rodan or Tetsujin, seeing Tokyo getting wrecked is always fun. Nothing against Tokyo - I love the city but it is like in the USA it is always NYC where my apartment is that gets destroyed. Why do filmmakers always pick on these two cities? Because they matter.




So this evil black giant robot with yellow eyes appears one day in Tokyo and doesn't really try to cause damage but a fifty foot high or so robot walking around a crowded city will do some damage. One of those injured is the mother of Shotaro a 12-year old boy. The mother is played by once upon a time teen idol Hiroko Yakushimaru (Sailor Suit and Machine Gun). Shotaro is a cute kid, picked on at school who lost his father years earlier. The evil robot called Black Ox is being run by Dr. Takumi and I was never quite sure why he was doing this except he lost his son and wants the world run by computers. Well, it pretty much is.





Shotaro's uncle shows up and tells the boy to come with him. Turns out Shotaro's father was a scientist who had also developed a giant robot but for peace. Tetsujin-28. And only Shotaro can control it! With some sort of mental connection and a Game Boy console. In the first fight Tetsujin-28 gets his ass kicked. It is like Pong against Minecraft. Then a genius shows up to upgrade Tetsujin, paint him and get him ready for Round II. The genius is Yu Aoi whose smile has been known to move mountains (Hana and Alice). It is like watching two old tired past their prime heavyweights slugging it out. Less than on your toes excitement. Poor little Shotaro is so connected that he feels the punches. He goes down. Gets up. Goes down. Gets up. It's Rocky. One of the later sequels. When Stallone was about 80. Sweet film with a very sweet ending.