Movie review: 'Astro Boy'
Kenny Williams
Issue date: 11/4/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment
Before Pokémon and Dragon Ball Z, there was Astro Boy.
Astro Boy is widely known in Japan and is an anime equivalent of Mickey Mouse. Astro Boy was the first Japanese animated series and started the "giant cartoon eyes" that have become a standard in modern day anime characters.
The film opens up with a small documentary of Metro City, which is a gigantic city that floats above the highly polluted earth, and how robots are now responsible for "the things that we simply don't want to do anymore."
We are then introduced to Toby Tenma (voiced by Freddie Highmore) who finishes a surprise pop quiz early and is free to leave school for the rest of the day. He is greeted by a hologram of his father Dr. Tenma (voiced by Nicolas Cage) who cancels plans to spend time with Toby. In response to this Toby reprograms his servant robot to take him to see his dad at work.
Toby is killed by an experimental robot gone haywire thanks to the very evil President Stone (played by Donald Southerland). The grieving Dr. Tenma then tries to create a robot with all of Toby's memories to replace him. However the new Toby doesn't seem to be exactly like the original not having as much an interest in science and more interested in having fun.
Tenma regrets the decision he made and plans to shut down Astro, but Astro overhears and runs away to the earth's surface. Where he befriends a girl named Cora (Kristen Bell)
Astro is hunted by President Stone, who wants Astro's power core to build a fleet of military robots. (Did I mention the President is ridiculously evil?)
Astro boy will seem like a rip off of A.I. for viewers who don't know that the character existed since the forties. However, this is a good heartwarming story. Yes, it is a kid's film, but it's a good kid's film.
As far as animation goes, this film is grade A, its visual effects are stunning and it has a certain beauty among it. The designs of the robots are fantastic and the battles are epic.
There's nothing wrong with Astro boy, there's just nothing very noteworthy. It lacks the charm and emotion that it could have. The characters come off a little cliché and it just needs more jokes that are actually funny.
Astro Boy is widely known in Japan and is an anime equivalent of Mickey Mouse. Astro Boy was the first Japanese animated series and started the "giant cartoon eyes" that have become a standard in modern day anime characters.
The film opens up with a small documentary of Metro City, which is a gigantic city that floats above the highly polluted earth, and how robots are now responsible for "the things that we simply don't want to do anymore."
We are then introduced to Toby Tenma (voiced by Freddie Highmore) who finishes a surprise pop quiz early and is free to leave school for the rest of the day. He is greeted by a hologram of his father Dr. Tenma (voiced by Nicolas Cage) who cancels plans to spend time with Toby. In response to this Toby reprograms his servant robot to take him to see his dad at work.
Toby is killed by an experimental robot gone haywire thanks to the very evil President Stone (played by Donald Southerland). The grieving Dr. Tenma then tries to create a robot with all of Toby's memories to replace him. However the new Toby doesn't seem to be exactly like the original not having as much an interest in science and more interested in having fun.
Tenma regrets the decision he made and plans to shut down Astro, but Astro overhears and runs away to the earth's surface. Where he befriends a girl named Cora (Kristen Bell)
Astro is hunted by President Stone, who wants Astro's power core to build a fleet of military robots. (Did I mention the President is ridiculously evil?)
Astro boy will seem like a rip off of A.I. for viewers who don't know that the character existed since the forties. However, this is a good heartwarming story. Yes, it is a kid's film, but it's a good kid's film.
As far as animation goes, this film is grade A, its visual effects are stunning and it has a certain beauty among it. The designs of the robots are fantastic and the battles are epic.
There's nothing wrong with Astro boy, there's just nothing very noteworthy. It lacks the charm and emotion that it could have. The characters come off a little cliché and it just needs more jokes that are actually funny.
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