Guillermo Del Toro missed out on his chance to helm The Hobbit films, with the Tolkien-experienced Peter Jackson getting the nod. Now the Mexican film maker has had his hands on a multi-million Hollywood Blockbuster, but has he made the most of it?

Check out the Pacific Rim trailer here

The premise is simple: huge monsters are emerging from the depths of the ocean – a kind of portal to another world deep in the sea – and attacking populated cities, causing millions of death. The humans, that’s us; we then develop huge fighting robots, which require two soldiers fighting as one via a neural handshake, as they call it. Surprisingly, the critics haven’t slated it, but it hasn't been unanimously praised, either.

Charlie HunnamCharlie Hunnam has to fight the huge monsters in Pacific Rim

“They don't let 14 year-old boys direct multi-million dollar feature films, but somehow Guillermo Del Toro has channeled the interests, attitudes and fears from that mindset with a clarity that far surpasses contemporaries like Michael Bay,” says The Daily Telegraph, basically saying this is a film for 14 year old boys, which is very much is. “A visually striking film but hollowed-hearted,” say HeyUguys. Surprisingly, given the shallow nature of this action-packed sci fi adventure, Idris Elba and co. are still enjoying a 78% rating on Rotten Tomatoes – not too shabby at all.

Idris ElbaIdris Elba is very much in charge of cancelling the apocalypse

The reviews aren’t all good, though: “Guillermo del Toro doesn't rise above the obligations of staging a film of this sort as a multi-level video game, a stylish but programmatic ride toward an inevitable final boss battle,” say Slant Magazine. Pacific Rim is out on July 12th, and if you want an all-out battle between huge robots and Godzilla-like monsters, then you’re in for a treat. If you like characters development and good films, you should probably avoid it.