Special effects have come a long way. I've now seen all but one of the nominees in this category and Real Steel does the best job of blending CGI and animatronic effects seamlessly. The light and color shading match reality beautifully and go a long way towards suspending disbelief.Story-wise, it's Rocky...with robots. At least as far as the boxing goes. The rest of it is about a degenerate robot controller (Hugh Jackman) who signs over parental rights of his eleven-year-old son (Dakota Goyo) to his dead girlfriend's sister (Hope Davis) and her rich husband (James Rebhorn) but agrees to take custody of the kid for one summer while the couple is in Italy on vacation. The kid finds a broken down sparring bot and convinces his father to let him enter it into fights. Father and son bond over winning.
Now this movie differs from other schmaltzy similar fare by never having Hugh Jackman try and fight for custody. Rob thinks that's morally reprehensible of the character but I think he was acting in the best interests of the child since his lifestyle is not conducive to stability. Rob conceded the point but maintains that the guy is an asshole. No arguments here. I found the emotional stuff was laid on a bit thick for my taste, like buttercream frosting. A little bit is nice but you eat a whole pink rose and it makes you want to puke.
Also, the movie made several allusions that it never followed up on, like whether the robot, Atom, had any self-awareness; if Atom and the world champion, Zeus, were made by the same designer; and if the kid is even his son. The movie is straightforward enough without them, but it would have been nice to have seen a little more depth.
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