Hood Today

Beautiful CGI animation and a typical coming-of-age story bring the highly-celebrated Japanese manga "Astro Boy," not only back to life, but to the big screen.
Set in futuristic Metro City, "Astro Boy," follows the story of Astro (Freddie Highmore), a robot built by Metro City's top scientist, Dr. Tenma (Nicolas Cage) in the aftermath of the death of his son, Tobi.

Tenma designs Astro in his late son's exact image and powers him with an unlimited positive energy source coveted by President Stone (Donald Sutherland) who holds the conviction that power and war are the sole sources of respect and authority.

Astro soon discovers that he is not an ordinary child, as his energy source, known as the blue core, enables him to fly, gives him super strength, x-ray vision and energy blasters.

Tenma later regrets creating Astro because he realizes that nothing can replace his son, while Stone sets out to hunt the super powered robot and take the blue core for himself. He is driven by a scheme to engage war on the surface world and solidify his position of power in Metro City.

Shunned by his father and creator, and hunted by a power hungry maniac, Astro sets out to find his purpose in the world. He makes many friends along the way and later realizes that he is destined to protect Metro City and his loved ones from destructive forces.

There isn't much to say about a movie like "Astro Boy," except that it wasn't very entertaining and it is a movie that would have done better if it had just jumped straight to DVD.

"Astro Boy" is high-flying animated film that kids will love, but older audiences will be bored to tears by or probably be more concerned with the various themes brought about during the movie. For example, Metro City is hovering several hundred feet above the Earth, while the Earth itself is buried in robotic waste, pollution and ruins.

Certain themes revolving around global pollution, war and destruction are unnecessary in a children's movie and parents could be concerned about what impact these messages could have on their children.

The voice of Freddie Highmore as "Astro" is somewhat of a mismatch, as Highmore's voice doesn't fit the character of the young hero. Highmore's voice sound more like a young adult, rather than a young teenager.

Despite its lackluster story, the animation throughout the film is truly vivid and lively, and young children will be very entertained by "Astro Boy."

"Astro Boy" is a movie that is perfect for taking young children to see if anyone with children wants to kill some time.

For kids, it is a very fun and face-paced movie with colorful CGI animation, but for die-hard moviegoers it isn't worth much attention in theaters. If you don't have children or a kid sibling to take to see "Astro Boy," it isn't worth the ticket or the rental cost.

Article Tools