REAL STEAL ★★★

Robot movies are usually great fun. Throw in a Father who has abandoned his eleven year old son at birth and is now forced to look after him temporarily after his Mother dies, and you have a fun movie with some heart.

Hugh Jackman is Charlie Kenton, a down and out robot boxing promoter, who when he takes on the care of his son Max, Dakota Goyo, also takes on his beaten up and previously dumped sparring robot, Atom.  After using up all his favours with, Robot fixer-upper and boxing gym owner, Bailey Tallet (Evangeline Lilly), he begs just one more to get the broken down Atom on his feet and fighting.  Max’s enthusiasm for getting a match for his robot, and the road to the inevitable match up with the top league robot, Zeus, evoke all those other rousing movies like ‘Rocky’, ‘The Champ’, and even ‘The Fighter’—although I’m not saying this is another ‘Fighter’.

If you’ve seen the ‘Real Steel’ trailers, then you will have a good idea of what you are in for, when sitting down with your popcorn and coke.  Dakota Goya and Evangeline Lilly are very good in this.  I’m sure we will see Dakota popping up in upcoming films just as his namesake (female Dakota Fanning) did after ‘I Am Sam’ and ‘War of the Worlds’ set her on the road to childhood stardom.

Hugh Jackman seemed a little uncomfortable in this role and the American accent was a little off.  Perhaps, he was missing his Wolverine claws.   Having said that there was a moment there where I wiped away a tear whilst pretending I was scratching my cheek.  Don’t you hate that? 

The highlight of the movie has to be Max and his robot’s dance sequences. Those alone are worth the ticket price.