I honestly wasn't all that excited to see this movie. I made the jokes like everyone else. It's Rocky with Rock'em Sock'em Robots. And largely, that is this movie. But that doesn't mean it's a bad movie. I enjoyed it. There's a lot of good boxing scenes, the CGI is not a jarring as I feared, and you get involved.
The primary focus of the movie is the father and son relationship between Charlie (Hugh Jackman) and Max (Dakota Goyo). Max's mother dies and that means Charlie must now step up and take care of the son he abandoned a long time ago. In the mix is Max's mother's sister, named Debra.(Hope Davis) (Yes I did have to say it like that because we never learn Max's mother's name. More on that later.) Debra is married to a rich man named Marvin. (James Rebhorn) Charlie gets the idea that he will sell custody to Debra and Marvin in exchange for $100,000. The catch is that they are going away to Italy so Charlie will have to take Max for the summer. And they spend their summer with fighting robots.
While I did have fun watching the movie, I would be remiss if I didn't bring up the embarrassing levels of characterization. The people in this movie are just as robotic as their CG counterparts. Max is an eleven year old kid but he seems far more emotionally mature than anyone else. His mom died, his father sold him to his aunt, and never once did he ever bring up his mom. Kid. It's okay to wake up in the middle of the night crying. We'd understand. He often is more rational than Charlie.
Charlie is your standard wash-out bumb. He owes money to just about everyone, he's quick to gamble what little he has, and is generally more reckless than a fully functional human being after an all-night bender.
The rest of the characters are one note if they even manage to get that much attention. They are all plot devices meant to be thrown at Charlie and Max and have no other identity other than the plot needs them. We have Bailey the love interest. That's about it for her. There's Mashido the Japanese robot builder guy. Uhm... he builds very strong robots... and... Then we have rich Russian lady. And Cowboy Redneck. And there's Black Gangster. Oh don't forget super large mohawk guy.
But what really sank the movie a few notches was the characterization of Max's mom. Or I should say complete lack thereof. Never do we see a picture of her, get any kind of fond rememberances of her, and I know her name was only said aloud ONE TIME! Oh yeah. Really warms my heart to know that she raises a son alone and Max forgets her immediately. Charlie never asks about her, Max never talks about her, she is completely forgotten. And how did she die? It's bad enough the only thing I know about her is that she's a woman and dead, but you couldn't throw in a line saying she was in a car accident or something? NOTHING! Fine.
Overall, the CGI is great, the boxing is good, the acting is passable, and the script is terrible. But still a fun movie.
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