Review of Astro Boy (2009) by Anthony S — 31 Mar 2010

Tagline: Have a blast.

Summary:

Set in futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy is about a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist in the image of the son he has lost. Unable to fulfill the grieving man's expectations, our hero embarks on a journey in search of acceptance, experiencing betrayal and a netherworld of robot gladiators, before he returns to save Metro City and reconcile with the father who had rejected him.

My Review:

Oh my god they killed Freddie Highmore! Sorta. At the beginning of this CG adventure we follow Freddie Highmore's plucky young hero Toby, a whizzkid who lives in a futuristic flying city. Toby sneaks into a live demonstration of a military robot. Everything goes RoboCop as the robot runs amok, there's an almighty explosion and then no more Toby! Gasp!

Luckily Toby's scientist dad, voiced by Nicolas Cage, thinks he can rebuild him, and so Astro Boy is born in a sparky creation scene evoking Pinocchio and Frankenstein. Astro Boy looks like a doe-eyed kid, but he's got jet-rockets in his feet, enough horsepower to stop a T-Rex and other hidden extras. If you're an anime fan you'll be familiar with Astro Boy already, as he's one of the oldest manga and anime heroes, dating back to 1951.

This version is made by a Hong Kong studio and a Birtish director. However, if there's one way that the new Astro Boy feels like anime, it's in its readiness to explore conceptual questions in a toony form. For all Astro Boy's superpowers it's the protagonist's identity crisis that's at the story's heart, just as it was in Ghost In The Shell, Moon and Steven Spielberg's A.I (which Astro Boy brazenly borrows from).

Problem is many viewers will see Astro Boy as cheap and dated, rather than modestly retro. The zooming Superman-style action is fun, but there isn't that much of it. The dialogue is less polished or sophisticated than The Incredibles or Monsters Vs. Aliens, leaning towards youngsters, and the characters are a lot less real, despite their famous voices (Donald Sutherland stands out as a warmongering baddie). Yet within these limits, Astro Boy is often funny, enjoyable and surprisingly thoughtful.

Astro Boy first appeared on-screen in a live-action Japanese TV version, clad in a plastic looking body suit. You can find bits of it online.

I saw this film because my children wanted too, otherwise I doubt I would have.