Pacific Rim trailer teases Del Toro's mecha-monster mash-up

Guillermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim has been given its first airing, with a geek-pleasing trailer that features giant robots doing battle with enormous aliens.

The Pan's Labyrinth director's new flick sees leading roles for Brit actors Idris Elba (of The Wire and Prometheus fame) and Charlie Hunnam, delivering a gravelly American accent. Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi also stars, while any gamers watching the trailer will immediately identify Ellen McLain, the voice of Portal's GLaDOS.

The film's premise is one sucked straight out the mind of a 10-year-old. Armies of evil aliens, dubbed 'Kaiju', have broken into our Earth via a portal in the Pacific ocean. Rather than die quietly, the human race decides to fight back by crafting giant robots, which are piloted by two pilots locked in a neural link.

Sounds like exactly the kind of CGI-heavy snoozefest you'd be better off avoiding, but with a decent director at the helm, I've high hopes that Pacific Rim can rise above its Saturday morning cartoon premise.

The trailer gives quite a lot away, so if you'd rather go into the movie spoiler free, look away now. I was impressed at the brief scenes of giant robot movement though, and I'd hazard that the screen-filling mechs run, jump and punch buildings with more weight than Michael Bay's Transformers. Elsewhere you'll be treated to yet more Inception-inspired 'BWAAAH' noises and scenes of wanton destruction.

An inspiring speech from Elba is also teased, and confirmed to feature the line, "Today we are cancelling the apocalypse," which could be worth the price of admission alone. Hellboy star Ron Perlman, who acts opposite Hunnam in TV's Sons of Anarchy also features in the movie, though he doesn't crop up in the trailer.

The film comes out on 12 July in the UK, and will be showing in 3D and IMAX 3D. Are you intrigued? Or could a decent director have dropped the ball on this one? Say so in the comments or on our Facebook wall.