One of the elements of Pacific Rim that is missing in Pacific Rim: Uprising is the manga/anime feeling that permeates the original. Even the characters that return are missing the things that made them animated stand-ins.
Also missing, thankfully, is the darkness that made the original hard to watch as the combatants engaged each other under cover of night. This one is bright and fascinating to look at. The f/x look good.
I enjoyed it overall. It is a different monster from the original, as are the kaiju and Jaegar pilots, but we get to really see them in this film actually doing their thing.
-all photos via IMDb.com.