Astro Boy
Astro Boy is released on February 5th
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By Tom Powell. |  |
Monday, 01, Feb 2010 11:12
Directed by David Bowers, out February 5th in cinemas, starring Freddie Highmore, Kristen Bell, Nicolas Cage, Charlize Theron, Samuel L Jackson, running time 94 mins.
What's it all about?
Set in futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy is about a young robot with incredible
powers created by a brilliant scientist named Tenma (Cage). Powered by positive
"blue" energy, Astro Boy (Freddie Highmore) is endowed with super strength, x-ray vision, unbelievable speed and the ability to fly. Embarking on a journey in search of acceptance, Astro Boy encounters many other colorful characters along the way. Through his adventures, he learns the joys and emotions of being human, and gains the strength to embrace his destiny.
What the others say
"Like a lot of movies, Astro Boy has been designed to function on different levels and serve different audiences, but in this case these multiple meanings and points of address have created a confusion of tone." - Manohla Dargis, New York Times
"A well-oiled CG-animated superhero pic that makes up in competence and vitality what it lacks in originality." - Andrew Baker, Variety.
So is it any good?
When I was but a wee lad in Australia - back in the dim, dark days of the early 1970s - I would rush home from school to watch Astro Boy. Back then, it was a simple black-and-white, hand-drawn cartoon, made in Japan in the 1960s and dubbed into English. Then, in the 1980s, a new TV series was produced, which I have never seen; by then I was an adult and had put away such childish things. (I was also too busy chasing girls, and now, 20-odd years later, I still hope to catch one).
All that is a long-winded way of saying that I am somewhat acquainted with the Astro Boy character. I'm led to believe that, like many other of my childhood favourites - Gilligan's Island, Get Smart, F-Troop and My Favourite Martian - it never got an airing on British television at the time. Which means this CGI reimagining of the character for a whole new generation (I guess you can't really call it a remake, because this is the first big-screen version of Astro Boy) may suffer from a lack of recognition, and even affection, in the UK. So is this computerised, whizz-bang Astro Boy adventure actually any good? Well, yes and no. For me, the biggest problem is caused by Pixar. Yes, thanks to the geniuses who actually invented computer animated films, the efforts by almost every other studio in the world pale in comparison. I'm sorry, but they do. Each year, Pixar ups the game, and everyone else struggles to keep up, let alone match their mastery. And Astro Boy is no exception. For me, I guess I'll always want to see Astro Boy as hand-drawn animation. Where's Studio Ghibli when you need them?
Enough of the gripes - what about the positives? The script is good: there's plenty of laughs, decent dialogue by kids' film standards, and the origin story is well handled. Toby (Highmore) is the son of the workaholic scientist Dr Tenma (Cage). When Toby dies in an accident, Tenma builds a robot in his image, powered with Toby's memories. Toby eventually realises that he's not a "real" boy, but a robot - shades of Pinocchio - and decides to use his robot powers for good, calling himself Astro Boy. And what powers: he's super-strong, can fly (with the use of jets in his legs) and can even fire rockets out his arse. How cool is that?! Also in the plus column is the voice cast; well, almost all of it. I can't stand Cage, but luckily here we only have to listen to him, not look at him. The rest, though - Bell, Theron, Jackson, Donald Sutherland, Bill Nighy et al - are spot on.
As a reinvention of a classic carton for a new generation, Astro Boy gets it almost right. But I'm still keen to see what Studio Ghibli would have done, given the chance.
6/10
Stuart O'Connor
This review is provided by www.screenjabbber.com