I had mixed thoughts about the film Real Steel that was just released in theaters. In some respects, I liked it more than I had anticipated, and in some respects, I liked it worse. Firstly, I thought they did a good job of making it family friendly. It had very little language or unrestrained violence, no nudity or sexual scenes, and some heart warming scenes.
From that perspective, I found it to be a great movie, one to watch with the family. There are far too few films that have both action as well as heart warming scenes between parents and their kids. Real Steel had both those things. And from that aspect, it was a great movie.
The one overarching problem that I had with the movie was the way the kid, Max Kenton, was written. He was certainly the most confident 11 year old I had ever seen, so much so that it was a little unbelievable. He didn't seem to show any emotion at all over his mother's recent death, and they did not even bring it up till close to the end of the movie.
I haven't anything against children that give off confidence, but it needs to be kept within reason in order to be plausible. I definitely liked the dynamic that existed between father and son, the son teaching his dad how to make better choices and to believe in himself again, but I felt like they brought it a bit too far. The son was a little bit too self assured and confident to be believable.
In the final analysis though, this is definitely a movie to see, and definitely a movie to see on the big screen with your whole family. Your kids will love the robot fights, and your wife will appreciate the relationships and lack of sexual content and extended violence. Just be aware that the movie is rated PG13, so don't bring kids that are too young.
From that perspective, I found it to be a great movie, one to watch with the family. There are far too few films that have both action as well as heart warming scenes between parents and their kids. Real Steel had both those things. And from that aspect, it was a great movie.
The one overarching problem that I had with the movie was the way the kid, Max Kenton, was written. He was certainly the most confident 11 year old I had ever seen, so much so that it was a little unbelievable. He didn't seem to show any emotion at all over his mother's recent death, and they did not even bring it up till close to the end of the movie.
I haven't anything against children that give off confidence, but it needs to be kept within reason in order to be plausible. I definitely liked the dynamic that existed between father and son, the son teaching his dad how to make better choices and to believe in himself again, but I felt like they brought it a bit too far. The son was a little bit too self assured and confident to be believable.
In the final analysis though, this is definitely a movie to see, and definitely a movie to see on the big screen with your whole family. Your kids will love the robot fights, and your wife will appreciate the relationships and lack of sexual content and extended violence. Just be aware that the movie is rated PG13, so don't bring kids that are too young.
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Real Steel is an awesome family movie. Another great family film coming out in 2012 is Ice Age: Continental Drift.