Of the big-budget blockbusters geared toward college students I’ve been able to see this summer, none have been as entertaining or satisfying to my expectations as “Pacific Rim.”

This sci-fi summer hit is directed by Guillermo del Toro, known for “Pan’s Labyrinth” and the “Hellboy” series, and features a plot about as simple as an episode of “Power Rangers,” and that is the beauty of it.

Set only a few years in the future, “Pacific Rim” tells the story of a team of soldiers who pilot giant robots called “jaegers” (pronounced like the drink) in a war against the “kaiju,” Godzilla-sized aliens from another universe that desire to conquer Earth. As the story goes, the kaiju enter Earth from a portal deep in the Pacific Ocean and proceed to terrorize various coastal cities until a jaeger can show up to take it down.

The film begins with a prologue, detailing the first kaiju attacks and how the jaegers came to be, before quickly introducing the protagonist: a U.S. Jaeger Corps pilot named Raleigh (played by Charlie Hunnam, who also stars in the popular television show “Sons of Anarchy”).

Raleigh suffers a horrible loss during the film’s first on-screen kaiju battle (sorry I can’t be more specific) that causes him to leave the service until being called on to perform a final mission: destroy the portal between our universe and that of the aliens once and for all.

The film revolves around Raleigh’s struggle to submit to his commanding officer, Maj. Stacker (played by Idris Elba), while learning to co-pilot his old jaeger suit “Gipsy Danger” with a new partner named Mako (played by Rinko Kikuchi). Under Stacker’s supervision, Raleigh and Mako must learn to “drift” together, a really confusing process that involves sharing thoughts in order to pilot the jaeger as a proper brain, all the while preparing to fight monsters and save the world.

There are several other characters of importance in the movie, but none are as entertaining as Dr. Newton Geiszler (played by Charlie Day), a biologist dedicated to studying kaiju remains. To tell you why Geiszler is essential to the movie’s plot would be to spoil the movie, but he is the center of the films humorous sub-plot.

In addition to being generally easy to follow, the movie features very little of the gloomy tone that has dominated so many movies this summer, while being incredibly fun to watch. The monsters, while being hideous, are beautifully designed (as with all of del Toro’s movies), and the jaegers are equally cool to look at, especially during fight scenes.

The fight scenes themselves are homages to all of the wonderful movies and cartoons where giant robots fight things, and they are spectacular.

Since the film does largely revolve around fight scenes, however, those end up being the most developed and entertaining parts of the movie. Unfortunately, this means that other parts of the film are largely underdeveloped, like character back story and dialogue that can be confusing, boring, or cheesy.

Similarly, the acting is about as good as you would expect in a movie with giant fighting monsters. So it won’t be winning any Oscars (except for maybe visual effects), but that should not be why anyone goes to see this movie.

It’s a summer blockbuster at its finest, and should be seen with a large popcorn and good friends nearby. Overall, “Pacific Rim” is an intense and entertaining ride, perfect for a lazy summer evening.