For its second CGI animated film, Hong Kong upstarts Imagi Studios decided to tread on sacred ground by adapting Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy for the silver screen.
Created by Tezuka – known as "the god of manga" – in 1951, the little boy robot has become an iconic figure in Asia, its popularity even rivaling Disney's Mickey Mouse. Imagi had a rough time making the film, having to temporarily lay off their animators when the 2008 economic downturn hurt the studio's funding.
Unlike Imagi's previous effort, 2007's TMNT, Astro Boy actually features a plot: too bad it's cobbled from everything from A.I. to Pinocchio or WALL-E.
Freddie Highmore, Nicolas Cage, Kristen Bell, Eugene Levy, Donald Sutherland Star in Imagi Studios' Astro Boy
In Metro City, floating high above the polluted earth, humans live in a paradise with robots to cater to their every whim. When those robots start to get old or malfunction, the residents simply toss them over the side and fuggedabout the potential consequences.
However, when the brilliant Dr. Tenma (Nicolas Cage) loses his only child Toby (Freddie Highmore) in a laboratory accident, the grief-stricken scientist responds in the only way he knows how: he builds a robot in Toby's image, loaded with all the latest in self-defense technology. But Toby 2.0 (AKA Astro Boy) isn't quite what Tenma hoped, which is just fine for Metro City's devious mayor (Donald Sutherland). He wants a war with the surface dwellers, to avoid a possible trouncing in the next election, and Astro will be his secret weapon.
Add some surface-dwelling teens who befriend Astro, a Fagin-esque robot-fighting promoter, and Astro's quest to reconcile with his estranged father, and you've got yourself a movie.
Imagi has had no problems crafting great visuals on tight budgets; Astro Boy looks awesome. The characters are well-updated and there are some beautiful moments, especially one where a cherry tree sheds its leaves. The fight sequences are well-executed, and they manage to successfully toss in some comic bits involving soldiers whose emotions show up as symbols on their faceplates. Even the inevitable "I have machine guns . . . in my butt?" line works well in context.
However, the plot around those sequences is lacking: it shamelessly steals from other movies without establishing its own voice. Sharp viewers will catch references to Asimov, Kant and Trotsky, plus a nice Transformers spoof, but they're dropped when the next fight scene rolls around. The film also brings up thorny issues like parental grief and robot exploitation, and then doesn't do much with them.
The cast is mixed: Highmore does well as the titular character, but Kristen Bell is unremarkable as the obligatory platonic love interest. Nicloas Cage's distinctive tones are perhaps too recognizable – is this guy descending into Pacino-style self-parody, or what? – while Bill Nighy is wasted as Dr. Elefun, a character who generally gets more play in the Astro Boy universe.
Most annoying are the comic-relief Robot Liberation group that's about as funny as Chris Kattan's turn in Delgo . . . which is to say, not at all.
The Final Analysis
Although Astro Boy's story still lags behind the visuals, it shows Imagi is slowly improving their craft. Although traditional Astro Boy fans will bemoan how Imagi has removed the depth from their favourite anime, it still has its moments, especially during the action sequences.
It gets a 6/10.
