The movie Real Steel is directed by Shawn Levy and came out in 2011. It stars Hugh Jackman (who I love!), Evangeline Lilly, and Dakota Goyo. This movie takes place in the near future where instead of people boxing, 2,000 pound and 8 feet tall steel robots have taken over the ring. Hugh Jackman plays Charlie Kenton a former boxer who has hung up the gloves and now boxes robots. When he finally hits rock bottom he finds out that his former girlfriend has passed away leaving him an eleven year old son Max who is played by Dakota Goyo. When Max finds an old generation 2 sparing robot in a junk yard named Atom and fixes it up, their luck just might turn around when they see what this little robot can do.
Real Steel kinda reminds me of Rocky. They are both about boxing, obviously, but they are both about underdogs who are stronger than they seem and have the will to win no matter what. In both movies the underdogs, Atom and Rocky, get a shot at the title and they give the champs a run for their money. This movie was really good, despite some cheesy lines and predictable story line. The writer of Real Steel is John Gatins who also wrote and directed the movie Dreamer (2005). The story lines are almost exactly the same. Dreamer is about a little girl who convinces her dad to take a horse that has a broken leg in to heal. The father, retired horse trainer, is skeptical but against all odds the horse makes a full recovery and goes farther than anyone thought he could go. Real Steel is about a little boy who finds an abandoned robot that is out of date but convinces his father to let him fight. The father, a retired boxer, is skeptical but against all odds the robot goes farther than anyone thought he would go. And in the meantime in both movies father and son/daughter become closer through the experience. The plots are pretty much identical! Just substitute the horses for robots and races for fights and it could be the same movie. 
The camera work was pretty generic there wasn't really anything that popped out or seemed artistic but the visual effects stuff is amazing. They built real full scale robots for the movie so it would seem more realistic and so the visual effects would seem more real, and it worked! You can't tell what is an actual robot and what was done on the computer. The full scale robots helped the visual effects people make it more realistic because they knew what the real thing looked like and how it moved.
I loved this movie and anyone who love movies about underdogs or boxing would love this movie. People who loved Transformers, Rocky, I, Robot, Terminator, Million Dollar Baby, The Fighter, and Fight Club would enjoy this movie.
Good job, Emily. I liked your analysis of the "Hollywood" storyline. It's true. This is a formula that works/sells, so they stick to it, especially for certain target audiences. Good job with this.
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