Back to the basics.
I suppose, after Ultraman: The Next failed to revamp the venerable franchise with a grittier reboot, it does seem an obvious move: bring back four of the most popular Ultramen and put them in an adventure featuring the current Ultraman. As this was also Ultraman’s Fortieth anniversary, it made a lot of sense to indulge in a bit of nostalgia, and it is mildly impressive, in the outtakes at the end of the film, to see the row of “Ultramen” at the cast party. I assume that the row of masked actors represent every single Ultraman from every series (or at least, the starring ones!).
That’s a lot of Ultramen. Even for forty years.
There’s a young Ultraman who’s in disguise as a member of an interplanetary defense force named GUYS (which is an acronym for something or other. Maybe it doesn’t sound quite so silly if you are Japanese) who goes to Earth because he wants to understand why the four Ultra Brothers — Ultraman, Ultraseven, Ultraman Ace and Ultraman Jack — loved it so much they sacrificed their powers to seal away the monster which would have destroyed it.
What he doesn’t realize is that the problems he’s been sent to investigate are part of an alien conspiracy to revive the monstrous Yapool and before long, he’s caught up in a battle with the first of the aliens. Only, he is young and inexperienced and uses too much of his power. The four Ultra Brothers decide to use the last of their power to transform one last time — knowing they might die — and come to his aid.
Not realizing, of course, that the alien’s sinister plan may be more complicated than they realize…
The tone here is very much like a children’s TV show. While The Next was aimed at an older audience, here we have the requisite little kid at the heart of the story, who gives Mebius an opportunity to teach him a lesson about courage — and for him to do the sort of courageous (but foolish) thing little schoolboys do in Japanese children’s films.
And perhaps it is because is trying to be children’s film that the aliens are so…silly. Really silly. They rival the Martians in Zhan shen in silliness. I’ve seen a lot of Ultraman monsters and can’t remember any this bad. While they put a bit of effort into these suits, it is the basic design that’s the problem, particularly when it comes to the white one with stripes.
Mind you, Yapool and his henchman U-Killer are actually fairly good: U-Killer comes with tentacles, horns and fangs, and gets even uglier once he transforms, while Yapool is particularly unique as he is a multicolored and changable shape in a psychedelic swirl of color.
While some of the battles are fairly good, the real problem is that most of them were CGI: I can’t really remember how good that CGI would have looked in 2006, but the quality reminds me of the cut scenes you’d have seen in a videogame maybe six or seven years ago. It really isn’t impressive, even if they do use it in some fairly spectacular ways.
I”ll admit I’m a bit amused by the rather casual attitude everyone displays towards both giant monsters and sudden appearances of giants in silver and red suits, as if it were an everyday experience. But then I suppose that would be an everyday experience in any world in which Ultraman was real.
Oh, well. It’s not bad, but it isn’t anywhere near as entertaining as the insane Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends – The Movie. I suppose the hardcore fans of the franchise will enjoy it more than I did. My nephews — our family’s official Ultraman fans –did seem to enjoy the big battles, but ended up having their own battles with empty pop bottles in the parts in between.
But then, it is subtitled. That does make a bit of a difference. Even if they should be used to it by now.
I do have to admit that there is one thing that bugs me about this one: “Mebius” is rather obviously meant to be a translation of the word “Moebius” (which would be “Mebiusu” in Japanese) and when he uses his powers, he often leaves an infinity symbol — ∞ — in the air as he waves his hands — which, again, is frequently used as a representation of the “endless” Moebius strip, which has only one side.
So why the heck isn’t he called Ultraman Moebius in English???
That really bugs me. Someone at Tsuburaya should straighten this one out.
rivets on the poster 
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