Pacific Rim: Man, Machines & Monsters Hardcover – June 18, 2013

Guillermo del Toro's blockbuster monster-vs-mecha film "Pacific Rim" was, in my personal and unprofessional opinion, the best movie of 2013. It caught my attention in a way few movies ever have, and sported amazing special effects, thrilling action sequences, jaw-dropping visuals, and a surprising amount of heart and decent characterization. The plot was a little thin, but I believe most movie-goers were too caught up in the world and visuals to care much on that front. It was, to me, a spectacular film that balanced out eye-candy visuals with attention to story and characters, and it made me want to learn more about the world of the movie and how it was constructed. So I ordered the art book... and promptly had to wait a month for it. (My best guess is that the publisher underestimated demand for the book, and I had to wait for another printing to get my hands on a copy.)This book was totally worth the wait, however. Not only is it an informative, in-depth look at how the film was made, but it offers crucial background information on the characters, technology, monsters, and world of the film. And the extras help sweeten the deal.The book starts off with a thoughtful foreword by del Toro himself, talking about his love for the movie and his desire to share it with the world. From there, we learn more about how the movie took shape, and how del Toro signed onto the project after leaving "The Hobbit" and having his adaptation of "At the Mountains of Madness" cancelled. The film contains storyboards, concept sketches and designs, production photos, and movie stills showing how the film took shape, how the actors and set and costume designers and special effects teams collaborated to bring the film together, and how much attention was given to even seemingly insignificant details in the film. And for those interested in the characters themselves, every major human character, Jaeger, and Kaiju is given some background, including "tech specs" and some insight from del Toro, the actors, and the designers on how they were developed and what their stories beyond the film are. It's a fascinating look at how much thought and effort went into the world, taking what could have been a slapdash summer "popcorn movie" and turning it into something with weight and texture.The aforementioned extras I spoke of are detachable cards, posters, and sticker sheets that adhere to some of the pages of the book. There are bio cards for Raleigh and Mako, a sheet of stickers with symbols of the various Jaeger teams and Kaiju "kill records," Kaiju War propaganda posters, and even reproductions of sketches and notes from del Toro's own notebook. The reader needs to be careful removing these from the book so as not to damage the pages, but I was able to get them out without damaging the book or leaving behind residue. And they are fun little extras to have.If I have any nitpicks with the book, it's that there are a few factual goofs in the "tech specs." For example, Cherno Alpha is listed as a Mark-4 Jaeger, when other information lists it as a Mark-1, much older than the book's tech specs state. But these are fairly minor, in my opinion.Stories of how films are made, from the conceptual stages to filming to special effects to everything else, always fascinate me, and doubly so when it's a movie I love. If you're a fan of "Pacific Rim," or simply enjoy learning how a film is made -- especially a film made with loving attention to detail and story -- then this book is a must-own. It's gorgeous, informative, and high-quality, and will be quite the conversation piece sitting on your coffee table.

I have always enjoyed a good movie companion art book associated with summer blockbusters. I liked the ones that Marvel put out in the past few years (I would give most of those 5 stars for the amount of art contained in them and the associated MSRP) as well as the ones Disney has put out for their recent animated films. I find it interesting to be able to see the progress a certain design goes through from what it looked like in the first stages of concept to the final product.I must admit, I was a bit hesitant about purchasing the Pacific Rim book, because even though this combines two of my favorite things (You got your Monsters in my Giant Robot movie! No, you got your Giant Robots in my Monster movie!), the company that put this out apparently also published the one for Man of Steel (which I was also thinking of purchasing, till I saw all of the abysmal reviews). I'm glad that I decided to take the leap and stick with my pre-order, because WOW!It may not be as big as some of the other art books, but it is packed to the brim with giant robot and monster goodness! There is a reason why this particular book is plastic wrapped, because if it wasn't, all of the extras would come falling out! OK, slight exaggeration there, since the extras are secured on the pages by some sort of rubber cement. Along with all of the beautiful color pages of the jaegers, kaiju, and sets (both concept pics and actual set pieces), you get all sorts of extras attached to the pages relevant to the extras.I can only imagine the amount of additional effort it took in order to not just print a beautiful art book (which in and of itself would have gotten 5 stars from me), but to have inserts made of different material than the pages themselves. Going that one little extra step just made those extras such a nice additional bonus. Among the added goodies, you get what looks like trading cards of the two main characters, blue prints of the jaegers, detailed drawings of the kaiju, and notes that look like something an observer of the kaiju would jot down. Oh, and I can't forget the full sized propaganda posters!The only thing that I can think of that could have made this book even better would have been a cardboard slipcase to fit it in (just to make sure that the extras do not accidentally fall out), but that is just being nitpicky, as it already deserves 5 stars.If the movie ends up being half as good as the art book, I will be a very happy camper this summer!A very strong 5 stars (+ if I could make it go to 11).