Forget Godzilla Minus Zero, Netflix’s Perfect 117-Minute Classic Is Still the Best Kaiju Movie of All Time

Ultraman: Rising has the kind of kaiju movie magic that is easy to miss if you only expect giant monsters to smash cities. The 117-minute animated film, released worldwide on Netflix on June 14, 2024, turns the familiar Ultraman formula into an unexpectedly warm story about family, responsibility, and a hero who has absolutely no idea what he is doing as a parent.

It follows Ken Sato, a famous baseball player who returns to Japan and reluctantly takes over his father’s role as Ultraman. Then everything changes when he ends up caring for Emi, a baby kaiju who has imprinted on him. The setup sounds ridiculous in the best possible way, and the movie commits to it completely.

There are spectacular fights, enormous creatures, and plenty of superhero action, but the emotional core is Ken’s relationship with Emi and his estranged father. That combination gives the film a personality that many kaiju movies never even attempt, making it an especially charming entry for longtime Ultraman fans and complete newcomers alike from the start.

Why Netflix’s Ultraman: Rising Still Beats Godzilla Minus Zero

What makes Ultraman: Rising feel so special is that it never treats its kaiju as an excuse to destroy Tokyo. The movie understands that giant monsters are most memorable when there is an emotional reason to care about what happens around them. That is where it offers something very different from Godzilla Minus Zero, which returns to the darker, postwar storytelling of Godzilla Minus One and centers on a new crisis facing Japan. Early reviews of Minus Zero have praised its human drama, visual effects, and monster spectacle, but Rising takes a much lighter route without making its story feel weightless.

Ken Sato starts as a talented but self-centered baseball star who would rather concentrate on his career than deal with his father’s Ultraman legacy. Then Emi enters his life and completely wrecks that plan. She is a 35-foot-tall, fire-breathing baby kaiju, but the joke is never simply that she is enormous. Ken has to feed her, protect her, calm her down, and learn what she needs. Suddenly, the hero capable of fighting monsters has a much harder problem: figuring out how to be a father.

That is the movie’s secret weapon. While Godzilla Minus Zero uses its kaiju conflict to explore the scars left by war and the struggle to rebuild Japan, Ultraman: Rising uses monsters to tell a story about learning to love someone who depends completely on you. Neither approach needs to replace the other, but Ultraman: Rising has an unusual warmth that makes its giant-monster chaos incredibly easy to enjoy.

Godzilla Minus Zero | Credits: Toho Studios

The contrast becomes even clearer in the action. Godzilla Minus Zero is built around a live-action Godzilla spectacle, while Rising can make a superhero battle feel almost like a family comedy. Ken can be throwing punches above Tokyo one moment and desperately trying to stop Emi from causing another disaster the next. The change in scale is hilarious, but it also keeps the action tied directly to Ken’s personal growth.

The film also avoids demanding decades of Ultraman knowledge. Ken is a new interpretation of the character, so newcomers can understand his relationship with Professor Sato, Emi, and the Kaiju Defense Force without studying the franchise first. That accessibility is something Minus Zero cannot quite replicate in the same way, because its story deliberately continues the narrative established by Godzilla Minus One.

That is why the Netflix film remains such a strong example of what a kaiju movie can be. Godzilla Minus Zero may deliver darker themes, live-action spectacle, and another ambitious chapter in Toho’s modern Godzilla saga, but Ultraman: Rising finds its own lane. It is funny, colorful, emotional, accessible, and genuinely affectionate toward its monsters. Sometimes the perfect kaiju movie is not the one that destroys the most cities. It is the one that makes you care about what happens when the monster finally comes home.

What are your thoughts on both movies? We’d love to know your opinions in the comments below.