Ultraman: Rising

A Kaiju Film That Earns Its Tender Moments

Released on Netflix in 2024, Ultraman: Rising arrived as one of the more unexpected family action films of the year: a superhero spectacle built around a baby monster and the reluctant adult who has to raise it. The premise sounds absurd. It works.

The film uses CG animation with a visual language that leans into scale, contrasting the enormous with the intimate. The kaiju sequences feel genuinely massive, while the quieter domestic scenes pull the register down to something almost sitcom-warm.

The Story

A young man returns to Japan to take up his father's legacy as Ultraman, a giant superhero tasked with defending the country from monster attacks. When he finds himself responsible for a newborn kaiju, the film pivots from action spectacle to something closer to an accidental parenthood comedy, with very high stakes.

The story draws on the long-running Ultraman tokusatsu franchise, one of the most enduring in Japanese popular culture, but functions as a standalone entry. No prior knowledge is required, and we think that accessibility is one of the film's quiet strengths.

The Ideal Audience

The film sits comfortably in family action territory, accessible to older children while offering enough emotional texture to hold adult attention. There is action violence in the kaiju battles, nothing graphic, but younger children may find the scale intense.

Fans of the franchise get a loving tribute; everyone else gets a story about duty, inheritance, and the chaos of caring for something that depends entirely on you.