Tetsujin, a wildly** **popular ’50s manga character, is the great-granddaddy of all giant robots, from which everything from Transformers to Sky Captain can be traced. Following many well-received animated adaptations, this live-action reworking could easily be dismissed as yet another niche oddity, but its visually intriguing style and true heart demand closer attention.
The quirky story — megalomaniac launches flying-robot attack on Tokyo, only to face resistance from a small boy and his own mechanical family heirloom — cloaks a beautifully crafted family film.