I can't say I'm a big fan of Guillermo del Toro. I think of him as the awkward guy you knew in school who had the type of weird imagination that was mistaken for creativity: quirky and different but nothing overly mind-blowing.
When I think of his films I think of paper-thin characters, one-note plots, silly visual style, dialogue that makes Lucas look like Shakespeare, absolutely zero comedic timing and terribly awkward direction (as in, I feel awkward watching these actors pretend to play terrible characters). Suffice to say, I don't know what the fuss is about when it comes to this guy.
And so there's Pacific Rim: the AICN-hailed "geek film of the summer" and it's getting tons of love from their writers and even some good buzz from the more level-headed folk.
The prologue to Pacific Rim is the most tightly directed sequence of the entire film. It felt like I was transported to this great and exciting world in the way the best sci-fi can work it...and then it becomes a Guillermo del Toro movie. The one thing I will say is that for a movie that wasn't shot in 3D, it had fantastic use of it. As a fan of visual effects, there's a lot to love here even if del Toro decides to stage almost every action sequence in the rain at night.
Overall, I liked it fine but when I hear things like "Pacific Rim is this generation's Star Wars" it makes me want to pull the plug on the internet. It's as paper-thin, clumsy and awkward as his Hellboy movies; it just has giant robots fighting monsters...at night and in the rain.