Real Steel

In a near future where everything is just a li’l gaudier but still grounded in today, human-on-human boxing has been outlawed and instead behemoth robots are now pitted against each other for some rock ’em, sock ’em action. It’s a big deal, filling arenas like the biggest shows on earth. But on a smaller scale, former boxer Charlie (Hugh Jackman) makes a vagabond existence pitting his battle-scarred fighting robot against whatever half-assed contender he can weasel a bout with. He’s a man who doesn’t know the word “quit” … or “luck.” And just like you might expect from any underdog boxing flick, he immediately gets saddled with a precocious long-lost son (Dakota Goyo). The two stumble across a discarded sparring ’bot and realize that if they work together, they just might have a contender on their hands. Yeah, it’s pretty much the same ol’ boxing story, albeit prettied up with slam-bam robot-on-robot CGI. But it’s a solid family movie that embraces the old-school approach to storytelling, even though the story is more than a little familiar. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas and Paradise Cinema 7. Rated PG-13