Review of Astro Boy (2009) by Colin O — 01 Jun 2010

Based on the Japanese Manga of the same name, this tells the story of a robot called Astro Boy, banished from the floating Mecca of Metro City to the dirty junkyard below that is the Earth. Is he a real boy or is he just mechanics inside? Frankly the story of this is quite horrific; a grieving father creates a robot boy in the image of his dead son, then decides he doesn't love him anymore and allows him to be thrown on a junkyard where he's likely to be torn apart by the savages that remain on the Earth. Nice.

In terms of staying faithful to the original Japanese comic, it's been completely rebuilt for an American audience. It's kind of a Pinocchio meets Wall*e hybrid; Metro City is a dead ringer for the heavily automated and over populated spaceship from Wall*e, and this little robot questions why you'd want to be a real boy when you can have rockets in your boots and guns in your backside. Another Boy's Own adventure that kids should enjoy, but any adults who have to watch will get quickly bored. Even then I would only recommend this for really young kids, as this level of spectacle will probably just appeal to the under 10's.