There is something very likable about Pacific Rim, the new sci-fi, monsters fantasy film, directed by Guillermo del Toro to a script by del Toro and Travis Beacham. The film's main weakness is in trying to inject some important messages in a coating of fluff summer entertainment, an attempt that comes off short. Of these ideas the only one that works, and is part of the film's charm, is that we are all connected; first united by the need to internationally respond to a threat to humankind's extinction, and later by neural bridges the human pilots use to operate the large humanoid mechas fighting machines.
Pacific Rim's dialogues are weak at best, and the acting, suffering from melodramatic moments and kitsch, seems to come secondary to the visuals. On the positive side, striking visuals are del Toro's strength. The film enjoys a few cute moments of comic relief and the action pacing is engaging.
Pacific Rim could have been a better film if its makers didn't aim at imparting universal wisdom and, instead, spent more energy on writing a less trivial plot. Maybe the sequel, which is likely to follow, will do better.