A young astrology nut named Musashi (Konosuke Tokai) desperately wants to meet his hero Ultraman. Luckily for him, he gets his chance when Ultraman crashes to Earth after fighting a metal lobster monster in space. The Scientific Research Circle hears about his encounter and takes the kid on as an honorary member. Eventually, Ultraman must stop another alien from trying to take over Earth.
The CGI during the monster fights is a bit chintzy. However, some of the goofy touches are surprisingly endearing. Musashi’s robot sidekick had the potential to be annoying, but he winds up being rather cute and innocuous, all things considered. I also liked that the SRC spaceships came equipped with humorously oversized boxing gloves so they could safely do battle with rampaging kaiju.
The best thing I can say for Ultraman Cosmos: The First Contact is that it handles the scenes with the kid characters much better than Ultraman Tiga, Ultraman Dyna, and Ultraman Gaia: Battle in Hyperspace did. I especially loved the scene where Ultraman repays Musashi for nursing him back to health by scooping him up in his arms and flying him over the city. That’s the good stuff right there.
I also enjoyed the rivalry between the SRC, who want to capture and study the monsters, and the military outfit SHARKS, who naturally just want to destroy them. It helped give the human drama a bit of a different dimension than your typical Japanese monster movie. The SRC’s efforts also makes you think of the monsters with a hint of compassion.
That’s not to say there isn’t some dumb stuff here. The scene where the citizens of Earth band together to stop the monster by… uh… singing it a lullaby is particularly cringe-inducing. And at ninety minutes, it’s by far the longest Ultraman flick I’ve watched so far this week. (It’s over twice as long as Ultraman Tiga Side Story: Revival of the Ancient Giant.) Because of that, it’s not nearly as fast-paced as some of the best Ultraman movies. However, when it manages to find the right balance between giant rubber monsters and genuine heart, it works.
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