PACIFIC RIM (PR) is part Godzilla, part Macross/Gundam Wing, part Power Rangers, and a little WWE. Mix it together and package it like a Transformers movie and you get the gist of it. I get what they were doing, but I'm not really sure who they were marketing towards. I think this is where/why the movie didn't do as well as expected (based on the budget).
The production design and FX were phenomenal. I was OK with the story to a point because it could have been taking place in an alternate universe, yadda yadda yadda, but the gaps in logic, which are OK for pre-teens and possibly teens to some extent, and primarily male, is where it I think the problems lay. If you're marketing to that demo, great, but do it like Godzilla and have a kid character and keep it that realm. As a father, I can deem the violence and adult themes in PR not suitable for that age group.
As an adult and huge sci-fi and movie fan, I found the Power Rangers logic rather annoying. I get that movies can be for sheer entertainment and logic and such details should be overlooked, and I tried to view PR that way. I enjoyed the watch overall, but I can't hep but feel it could have been so much more. I might watch it again just to gawk at the FX, but I'll have to turn off the inner dialogue a bit so I don't get frustrated trying to figure out why things are happening the way they do in the movie.