Ultraman: Ascensão

A fun, sincere, and thoughtfully conceived piece of kids entertainment. And it's liable to make young viewers more curious about the world around them -- not less.

Director Shannon Tindle and co-director John Aoshima's feature needs to pick up its pace and not bang the drums so loudly its message about the importance of family. We get it already.

Netflix's Ultraman: Rising has many elements working in its favor, including a solid and vibrant animation style and a strong voice cast.

"Ultraman: Rising" lacks a noteworthy vision of what it means to be a parent, let alone an adult struggling to wear several hats at once.

If Ultraman wants to conquer the world, he'll have to try something livelier than a cartoon that looks like a kids movie but lurches about like a saccharine family drama.

Featuring plentiful battles with kaiju and military forces, so expect a lot of flying and stomping and rampant property destruction, all aimed at a younger audience. Even so, it weaves in family issues that are easily relatable to adults.

"Ultraman: Rising" is a contender for best animated movie of the year, one of the best superhero movies in years, and one of the all-time greatest American adaptations of a Japanese franchise

"Ultraman: Rising" is a bit longer than it needs to be, but buoyed by a strong voice cast and a unique point of view that blends elements of superhero action with heartfelt family drama, it's an effective reinvention of a franchise...

Ultraman: Rising offers much more than the average animated kids' film: It rises to stand as not only one of the best Ultraman stories in recent memory, but arguably one of this year's best animated movies.

The narrative veers between the action-packed and the insipid often enough to give one whiplash. The messaging is so shallow as to simply invite shrugging off. And the jokes are few and far between.

A love letter to the original character, it's clearly made with reverence for the souce material. It finds a way to pay homage but also include new audiences. Sometimes it runs a little long / doesn't want to cut segments, but a monster sized family tale.

Utterly charming and warm.

Ultraman: Rising may be a kaleidoscopically color-timed action adventure of throw-down battles, but it's really about parenting in its many shapes and forms.

Ultraman: Rising is one of the best-animated features I've seen on Netflix, and I hope this leads to a couple more films, but that's up for Netflix users to decide by watching, which I hope you all do.

A gorgeous, family-friendly animated film with a lot of heart and an impressive level of sophistication, the latest installment in the long-running franchise still manages to crescendo in an exhilarating action-packed finale.

While beautifully animated and conceived, the true beauty here is in the message of family, acceptance, and forgiveness. It's a perfect Father's Day movie for the whole family.

This family-friendly take on Ultraman is a fun and lighthearted adventure that anyone can enjoy, familiarity with the character or not.

Ultraman: Rising will likely touch viewers, especially ages 10 and under, for its story of a young man trying to be a good dad while also reconnecting with his own estranged father, in what ultimate becomes a parable about responsible parenting.

The idea is to bring father-child stakes into all this mayhem, which works to a degree. But in the movie's desire to wring tears...The film winds up having it both ways once too often.

Ultraman: Rising is easily the best-animated film of the year, and I don't know if anything will surpass its emotional depth and artistic beauty.