Movie Review "Pacific Rim"

I read that this movie was the result of the director listening to his inner 12 year old self and making his dream movie. I gotta say, this has got to be one of the best approaches to making movies and other directors should take note, even though I suspect that even Christopher Nolan's 12 year old self was also a bit serious, gritty, and mostly joyless. Its clear that old, giant monster movies played an important role in the director's early upbringing, but what is a little more subtle is the soft spot he obviously has for a little film called Top Gun. Seriously, its there, especially early on. You've got your Maverick, Goose, Iceman, and even Viper in here, but it tends to fade as the movie progresses. While its good that most of the focus was on the giant robots and giant monsters punching each other, after all thats the bread and butter here, I do wish he had maybe embraced those Top Gun tropes just a little more. I mean, I think the world is ready for what would certainly have resulted in this generation's beach volleyball scene. Imagine a giant robot pulling out that infamous Slider stance (as found at 0:39 in the linked video). Thats about the only thing that could have made this movie better. As for the movie my inner 12 year old self would make? Well, thats probably the same movie my current self would make: a buddy action/adventure starring Batman and Optimus Prime as vigilantes caught in the middle of an intergalactic rebellion against an evil empire that has employed an army of Predators to hunt them down. Go ahead. Lie to me. Tell me you don't want to watch that movie.