PACIFIC RIM (Rated PG-13)

Directing a sci-fi action adventure where giant robots clash with monstrous creatures from the center of the earth is a natural wish fulfillment for Guillermo del Toro.

A self-described “fanboy,” del Toro is within his element for directing “Pacific Rim,” which seems pitched to the sensibilities of Japanese cinema that celebrated such monsters as Godzilla and Mothra.

With the annual Comic-Con geek fest taking place in San Diego, the Mexican-born filmmaker could arrive at the event as a conquering hero. Maybe he did in the past, and I am just not aware of it.

Set in the near future, “Pacific Rim” finds that the human race is at a critical crossroads, following apocalyptic attacks on coastal cities around the world, including San Francisco, Manila and Hong Kong.

Creatures emerging from the depths of the sea look like a mixture of dinosaurs, sea serpents, and horribly deformed alien creatures. These legions of monstrous creatures are known as Kaiju, the Japanese word for giant beast.

The monsters destroy bridges and tall buildings as if they were rambunctious kids knocking over building blocks or Legos. Goodbye, Golden Gate Bridge. Too bad they didn’t attack London because I would love to see a monster tangle with the London Eye.

To combat the Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers (German for “hunters”), controlled by two pilots whose minds are synched via a neural bridge, called “The Drift.”

Unfortunately for mankind, the sea monsters keep mutating into every more powerful creatures, bent on nothing short of complete annihilation of the planet.

On the verge of defeat, the forces defending humanity have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes – a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi).

Hunnam’s Raleigh Beckett was a Jaeger pilot in the initial Kaiju wars when co-piloted a giant robot with his older brother on a mission that went badly.

After the death of his sibling, Raleigh had dropped out of the monster bounty hunting, doing odd jobs along the Alaska coast while others tried to figure out ways to fortify the coastal areas from the monster invasion.

As the world hangs in the balance, Raleigh is dredged out of retirement by his former commander, Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba, a suitably no-nonsense tough guy), for a desperate play showdown with the Kaiju.

The problem, of course, is that it takes two to pilot the 25-story tall robots, and a pilot’s partner has to be someone with whom sharing your brain requires the utmost bond of trust and confidence.

Full of bravado and swagger, Raleigh may be willing to put his life on the line despite any risks, but he’ll only do so on his own terms.

Meanwhile, Kikuchi’s Mako Mori is a beautiful Japanese martial-arts expert who’s a candidate for a robot pilot position, though she must first prove herself capable of enduring the intense training.

Known only to commander Pentecost, Mako’s past includes a dark secret about a childhood encounter with the Kaiju that still brings nightmares that must be purged from her memory. Interestingly, a red slipper is a symbol of the mental torment.

Not surprisingly, there is a severe competitive streak in the international cast of robot pilots, and after Raleigh and Mako tangle in a martial arts contest, they become partners in the robot called Gipsy Danger.

Del Toro has an affinity for Ron Perlman, having used him in his “Hellboy” films. Fittingly, Perlman’s Hannibal Chau is a sleazy black market operator in Hong Kong, selling the salvageable body parts of dead Kaiju.

More comic relief comes from a pair of wacky scientists, Charlie Day’s high-pitched voiced Dr. Newton Geiszler thinks he create a neural bridge with a Kaiju, while his partner (Burn Gorman) is just plain eccentric.

The success of the Jaeger program requires Raleigh and Mako to become a well-connected team. For his part, Raleigh is a loner who grapples with trust issues, and so it is no easy task.

Fans of this genre are anxious to move on from the obvious plot contrivances and get to the essence of what is expected from an action film with roots in the anarchic Godzilla genre.

“Pacific Rim” does not disappoint those who want to enjoy the spectacular clash of the titans, as robots and monsters bang away at each other with ferocious intensity.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.