Astro Boy - Der Film

This film is about a top robot scientist, who copes with his sons death by building a high tech robot to replace his son.

I find "Astro Boy" very well made. It has got an engaging and exciting plot with plenty of action. There are also plenty of emotional elements to touch people's hearts. The leading character, Toby, is well portrayed. he is such a good boy with a sad background. It is easy to sympathise with his situation, making viewers connect with him and hence be engaged by the story. Visuals are great as the sets are vibrantly composed, making every scene a joy to watch. "Astro Boy" is a fun film to watch. Both kids and adults will all be entertained by it!

Super-surreal cartoon about a little boy who's love for science took him further than he could ever use in his young imagination. His father serving as a current head of the "Ministry of Science" in the mystical island of Metro City is coerced into utilizing the spheres of energy for political gain. During the experiment the little boy gets caught in the experiment and winds up being an unfortunate casualty. Out of his grief, the father decides to re-create a replica of his lost son in the form of a robot with powers and ability way beyond the expectations of himself and the whims of the politician. This is an incredible journey that you would not want to miss! Please see this!

I just came from an advance screening of Astroboy where I dutifully took my kids at 10 am to watch "this" thinking that if I was lucky I would be able to doze off for a few minutes during the movie. Boy, I couldn't! The story was captivating from the beginning. Yes, it was very directed at kids, you know, the far off humour and such, but when I saw Toby, the genius' "kid", I felt that the movie was after all NOT just a Pinocchio rip-off where an old man made a robot-boy because he was bored or lonely... the reasons behind the creation of Astroboy were tragic and even mature. Of course, if you are a manga aficionado, you may be thinking "duh! that's how's supposed to be", but I am NOT. I barely watched a show now and then when I was a kid (I'm 36 years old... too young for Astroboy), so I wasn't really aware of the story. So I thought, well, this development has to be a fluke inherited from the original story, from then on it should go downhill... but it did NOT. The story is full of tragedy, though decisions that if you think them through you can even understand (like a father understanding that memories cannot truly replace his son), and redemption that may be obvious to superheroes experts, but are very well exposed to a new generation of kids that will witness a clear fight between good and evil (positive and negative forces) adorned with an excellent and adequate portion of comedy. Not just a kid's movie, but a movie that I will surely watch again when my kids "force" me to buy it and to watch it with them dozens of times. Go, Astro!

For some reason my expectations were not high for this movie, the IMDb rating was pretty average and there was not much hype surrounding it's release. It seems any computer animated movie that is neither Pixar nor Shrek has a difficult time getting noticed. Having seen this movie now I can whole heartedly say that this movie is as fun and action packed as any movie from the Pixar stable.

The visuals are excellent and on a par with the latest computer generated movies, the story is heart warming and touches on philosophical themes often related to more adult titles like Blade Runner or even Ghost in the Shell, the action is well handled and true to the cartoon origins of the title and ultimately there is enough depth and charm in this movie to satisfy both kids and adults. The only drawback I feel this movie has is the somewhat out of place voice acting of some of the main characters, it seems that the producers wanted the film to be attached to some big name actors rather then finding voice actors that would suit the specific characters,specifically I felt that Bill Nighy voice was out of place as the Professor and perhaps Nic Cage could have brought more energy to the role. It did feel as though the voice work was done after visuals and not vice versa which led to a somewhat flat performance by some actors. That, however is just me being ultra critical, overall this is a top draw movie and worth a look. Give it a try.

Astro Boy has always been the symbol of the golden era of anime as well as the golden era of American licensing of anime. This movie presents Astro Boy in a slightly new way.

The story for it is rather simple, but doesn't fail in keeping one entertain throughout it's time run. Those who seen the three anime adaptations would already know the origin of Astro Boy's creation. That's still included as well as appearances of a couple of recognizable characters. And a couple of new additions that fit in for this movie.

Now to list the good and bad thing about this movie. The good thing is this movie remains true to the concept and Astro Boy a like. It still takes place in the future where robots and humans live together. As well as robot civil rights which was a common topic in the previous Astro Boy adaptations on robots being questioned whether they should have the same rights as humans or not.

Bad thing is that the movie could of been a whole lot more if the writers made the movie feel more close to the anime with the addition of more characters or have Dr. Elefun & Daddy Walrus have either bigger parts or have at least have the same feel as their anime counterparts. I also think this movie tried too hard in Americanizing it by adding certain human characters that look like they belong in a different movie or the fact that they were trying to make it look more American by having the characters eat pizza instead of tempura.

The die hard fans of Astro Boy will likely to still enjoy this movie. It's not a mirror copy of it's anime counterpart but doesn't fail in being entertaining. To me it's something that will make popcorn taste better while watching it.