Netflix animation film “Ultraman Rising”, which was released a few weeks ago, is as silly and serious as it can be. Based on a famous Japanese superhero franchise, the film tries a cheerful mix of comedy, action, and drama, and the result is engaging enough for us to get amused and then care about the unexpected relationship at the center of the story.

 At first, the movie establishes its hero’s rather demanding circumstance. On the surface, Kenji Sato (voiced by Christopher Sean) is just a popular baseball player who suddenly decides to move back to Tokyo, Japan despite his promising Major League career in US, but he has a little secret personal reason behind his back. His aging father, Professor Sato (voiced by Gedde Watanabe), wanted Kenji to succeed him as the next Ultraman, and, in spite of a long time of estrangement between them, Kenji agrees to come to Tokyo and defend the city from those big monsters just like his father did for many years.

 It seems that he can easily go back and forth between his two occupations without much difficulty, but then there comes another unexpected work for him. Not long after he fights with the latest monster coming upon Tokyo, Kenji happens to acquire an egg belonging to that monster, and, what do you know, a little cute baby monster soon comes out that egg. Mainly because of its hyper-cuteness, Kenji has no choice but to bring this baby monster to his secret lair, and, after discussing with his AI assistant, he decides to take care of the baby monster for a while at least. 

What follows next is a series of comic moments involved with Kenji’s clumsy attempt to raise the baby monster while keeping going with his two big jobs. Despite the considerable help and support from Mina, it is often quite exhausting for Kenji to handle the baby monster day by day, and I am sure that my younger brother and his wife, who recently had a baby girl, will sympathize with Kenji a lot for good reasons. Just like my little niece, the baby monster frequently needs lots of care everyday (My favorite part is involved with its gooey excrement, by the way), and raising this little monster is surely a more daunting task for Kenji compared to playing baseball or fighting against those big monsters.

Meanwhile, it is gradually revealed that the baby monster is in a serious danger. The local military organization led by a vengeful doctor is looking for the baby monster because it can lead them to a certain hidden spot where those big monsters inhabit, so Kenji must protect the baby monster more than ever, though, like any babies, the baby monster becomes more difficult to handle as it grows day by day. Although it is pretty much smaller than its mother, it soon becomes able to fly for itself, and it also begins to show its natural abilities including sputtering a destructive ray.

As he tries his best as the baby monster’s surrogate parent, Kenji, who has been your average cocky lad, comes to learn more about being a real adult, and that eventually makes him reconnect with his father, who is willing to help his son as much as possible despite his weakening physical condition. Furthermore, Kenji comes to befriend a young female sports journalist who is incidentally a single mother who has tried to raise her little adorable daughter (This little girl is a big fan of Ultraman, by the way), and they come to make some connection between them as he gets more advice from her, though he cannot possibly tell her anything about what he has been struggling to do as Ultraman.

Around the third act, the screenplay by director Shannon Tindle, who previously adapted William Joyce’s “Ollie’s Odyssey” into Netflix animation miniseries “Lost Ollie”, and Marc Haimes, goes for more action as expected. While apparently influenced by several recent monster movies such as “Pacific Rim” (2013) and “Godzilla vs. Kong” (2021), the action sequences in “Ultraman Rising” are also colorfully stylish in addition to being intense and exciting enough for us, and it does not even hesitate to use a bit of comic book style for more dramatic impact.

Nevertheless, the film stays focused on its story and characters as usual. How Kenji’s ongoing daddy issues are eventually resolved is rather predictable, but it is handled well with enough sincerity at least, and the same thing can be said about his relationship with the baby monster. Besides brightening up the mood whenever it appears on the screen, the baby monster becomes more endearing to us along the story, and we can see how much Kenji grows up as trying to raise this big baby. In case of the main villain of the story, this character turns out to be driven by an understandable personal motive, and you may come to feel a bit sorry around the end of the story.  

 Although it is more or less than your typical superhero origin story on the whole as reflected by what is briefly shown during its end credits, “Ultraman Rising” is a fairly good one at least. I must confess that I am vaguely familiar with that Japanese superhero franchise, but I was entertained enough thanks to its competent handling of style, action, and story, and I also appreciated the good efforts from its main voice cast members including Christopher Sean and Gedde Watanabe. In short, this is one of the more enjoyable offerings from Netflix during this year, and I am willing to watch whatever may come next after this solid beginning.