Real Steel

On paper it sounds like the stupidest, laziest way for Dreamworks to turn a quick profit: A ne’er-do-well with severe debts finds redemption, is reunited with his son and smashes lots of robots. With little establishing context, an opening scene involving callous animal cruelty and Hugh Jackman as an unlikeable deadbeat dad, Real Steel doesn’t try very hard to win audiences over.

Charlie, the father, is a self-destructive meathead and his cold-hearted approach to parenting initially feels a little hokey. And yet somehow the film pulls a U-turn and makes an unlikeliest of comebacks with a pretty enjoyable second and third act.

Dakota Goyo is the heart of the piece. As Jackmans on-screen son he brings hyperactivity, hope and wide-eyed wonder to a film that could have been a drab parade of manliness.

The robot that he and his father build (a hopelessly unlikely contender, of course) has a great design and the actual robot scraps themselves are tightly choreographed. In fact, in spite of the stupid premise, theyre actually very exciting. On the downside, Evangeline Lillys shoe-horned in love interest is an unforgivably slight and silly addition.

Of course this all boils down to the standard tale of the underdog overcoming all odds that Rocky and the Karate Kid played out so well. Theres no denying the recycled feel of the whole set-up.

But where the film does shine is in its touching father-son relationship. Real Steel has no right to be remotely stirring, and yet Jackman and Goyo make it work. Jackman does a great job with the character once his personality finally arrives a third of the way through and the world of robot boxing feels decently fleshed out.

Theres the requisite level of gloss and spectacle forced in but some strong language does mean that the intended audience is a bit vague. Kids, tweens or teens? At any rate, a decent script and nippy pace do keep things lively.