One of the coolest things about wat-ching The Hobbit was finally getting a glimpse at a trailer for Guil-lermo del Toro’s behemoth Pacific Rim.

Guillermo del Toro has been a favorite ever since I saw his film, Pan’s Labyrinth (set in World War II fascist Spain and told through the eyes of a child). He has also done the Hellboy movies as well as Blade 2.

If there’s one thing Pan’s Labyrinth did reveal about the director, it was that he has this ability to connect to children and to that place in a child’s mind that believes in magic and anything is possible.

When Guillermo was a young boy in Mexico, he made an effort to watch Japanese monster and robot movies, so when the Pacific Rim project landed his way, he called it a “big, fat obscene Christmas gift when I needed it very much.”

Guillermo had previously been attached to The Hobbit (his name still appears on the credits as a screenplay writer) and to a Tom Cruise project, HP Lovecraft’s At Mountains of Madness—those didn’t pan out. So you can imagine him being given a chance to work on a project where the larger than life creatures of his youth clash like “a big tornado versus a big cyclone, or an earthquake versus a tsunami.”

In Pacific Rim, giant robots known as “jaegers” go to battle vs. monsters known as “kaijus.”

The unique thing about the robots is they must be operated by two pilots, each controlling a hemisphere of the brain. The film’s central tandem is Raleigh Antrobus (the yummy Charlie Hunnam from Sons of Anarchy and Nicholas Nickelby) and Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi from Babel).

Also in the cast are Ron Perlman (del Toro’s beloved Hellboy) and Idris Elba (Heim-dall in Thor and Janek from Prometheus).

Going back to capturing that childhood excitement, del Toro says, “I dreamt of being an astronaut, and a pilot, a cowboy,” and he wanted to recreate “what it’s like to be battling with a thing as large as a skyscraper.” However, while providing “obscene robot porn and robot kaiju action” he does intend to infuse the film with humanity and emotion.

Thing is, it just seems the world is already sold on seeing skyscrapers, tsunamis and earthquakes clash. Soundtrack will be provided by RaminDjawadi (Game of Thrones). Waiting time—seven months. Release date is currently set for July 12, 2013.