‘Pacific Rim: Uprising’ goes off rails, gets boring

In 2013, Guillermo del Toro demonstrated to Michael Bay how to create a film with giant robots (and other creatures) and manage to make it fun and lively. Though not a blockbuster, it earned enough favor globally to merit a sequel, "Pacific Rim: Uprising."

While del Toro exited as director (he's still on as an executive producer), "Uprising" looks to expand the world he so artfully created four years ago by bringing back old, colorful characters, introducing potentially exciting new ones, and charting the course for a wider universe where the madness can exist.

So where did things go off the rails and get so ... boring?

Scoff if you will about the idea of giant robots battling giant alien monsters that bubble up from a rift in the ocean floor, but del Toro's original was crazy cool, filled with a fully realized world with cool effects, stunning design and a kick-ass performance from lead Idris Elba as pilot Stacker Pentecost, who vowed to "Cancel the apocalypse!"

In "Uprising," we are introduced to Stacker's son Jake (played by John Boyega), who lets us know repeatedly he is decidedly different from his heroic pop. Now, perhaps it was because we never once heard Stacker speak of his son in the original, even when he adopted an orphaned Asian girl who went on to become a fighter, but it's best not to dig too deep here.

And, despite his denial, you just know that when there is a new threat of nasty, skyscraper-sized beasties, he'll rise to the challenge. The trouble is, it takes so darn long to get there, and new director Steven S. DeKnight decides to fill the film with even more exposition than the origin film (sometimes word-for-word).

We also are introduced to a host of new characters that feel like they were merely checked-off boxes from market testing:

Cute, scrappy young girl who also is also a whiz at technology? That would be orphan Amara (newcomer Cailee Spaeny). Square-jawed fellow pilot and rival to Jake who has love/hate relationship with him? Enter Scott Eastwood, who is essentially a cardboard cutout of his father Clint ... emphasis on cardboard.

Striking female pilot who serves no other purpose but to ratchet up tension between two lead male pilots? Played by Adria Arjona, who is conveniently dropped from most the action.

Multicultural fellow fighters who have no discernible qualities outside of their accents (and assure good overseas box office)? All present, and all in a race to be the first to die in battle. Of the previous cast, Charlie Day and Burn Gorman return as scientists Dr. Newton Geiszler and Dr. Hermann Gottlieb, respectively. Unfortunately, these two were perhaps the weakest links of the first film, and despite Day's role being tapped down a bit, their pairing here feels even more awkward and forced than in the original.

The film spends a good hour establishing all of these various characters, when the real reason why most of us go to a film such as this is to see some good old-fashioned monster-robot action. We want the same kind of fun that was delivered to us weekly as children with "Godzilla," or "Ultraman," or even "Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot" series that populated our Saturday afternoon TV.

And while some of the action is indeed crisp and clean, it comes far too late and with little emotional investment. While del Toro's original staged many of the battles at night or in the rain (or both), they were made by someone who had obvious affection for their source and filmed them with a youthful exuberance that would appeal to those who shared that same childhood experience.

With "Uprising," it feels less like creating a world in which all this mayhem can take place, and more like an obligation to international investors who wanted to see their money and name on the big screen.