Screenhead

Watching Astro Boy, the mostly new remake of the original anime / manga, was a lot like using a new version of Windows for the first time.  It’s got a whole lot of fancy bells and whstles, and it’s downright charming in some senses, but it’s also got a whole lot of serious problems that get in the way of realizing its full capability.

The plotline is where most of these problems crop up.  When young Toby Tenma, an unaccountably brilliant lad who’s so hated by his classmates that they’re throwing things at him when he leaves a room, is accidentally killed by a new military robot, his grieving father (who, just incidentally, happens to be the father of modern robotics as well) decides that he’s going to build a replacement son.

Naturally, it’s not long before what he has a “what hath science wrought??” moment and figures it’s for the best to just shut the boy down.  But after the Toby-robot, later called Astro Boy, escapes and makes his way to the wreckage outside the town (actually BENEATH the town if you want to be specific) he briefly grew up in, he discovers that most everything and most everybody serves some purpose in life…even those things that were formerly unwanted.

Let’s get the problems out of the way first.  The plot has so many holes in it it’s a wonder how it manages to stay in one piece.  Enormous segments of events will be left utterly unexplained.

For instance: if the surface dwellers could just fly up to Metro City in any old hovercar, as they’re shown doing in the end, why didn’t they just pack up a few dozen busloads and take back the town themselves?  And while I’m at it, how did Cora manage to leave Metro City in the first place?  Don’t even get me started on why the Peacemaker robot, which is clearly absorbing EVERYTHING IN SIGHT when we first see it, up to and including the barrier in front of it, suddenly becomes SELECTIVE about his absorption capabilities in the final minutes.  He could’ve absorbed the entire city at the rate he was going.  And where did that ALIEN come from in the last thirty seconds?  Seriously?  Can we get a few BIGGER plotholes?  It’s almost blocking daylight at this point!

But.

But…Astro Boy is, let’s face it, a charming little romp with a hyperkinetic boy robot that features lots of high-speed action and sufficient gunfire to keep any anime or action buff occupied.  The only bad things that happen in the end are to the people who deserve them.  The ending could not be much happier.  They will even SAY as much IN THE FILM ITSELF.  You can’t telegraph a punch any more clearly than this one was.

The Screenhead Ten Scale likes a feel-good movie you can’t help but feel good about, but at the same time realizes that this dog will NOT hunt in terms of plot, and thus hands it a thoroughly mixed-bag five out of ten.

“I got machine guns in my butt?!”

When the world needs saving he’s built for the job! Astro Boy comes to the theaters October 23, 2009.  And truly, it’s about time. I know that during production Astro Boy experienced some hurdles along the way. I can’t recall them all, but it’s all behind us now, anyway.  The movie looks great.

All kidding aside, this trailer tells you what the movie is about. Astro Boy looks like a fun movie for the kids.  I can see them laughing it up in the movie theaters. 

The voice cast alone deserves a ticket buy with Nicolas Cage, Kristen Bell, Bill Nighy and Donald Sutherland.  Freddie Highmore’s voice and personality comes through as Astro even in the trailer.  And, don’t you like his dad’s beard? Cool, huh?

Many Astro Boy posters have surfaced on the Internet. This is the latest one from SDCC.  I rather like it because of the electrical device connected to the inside of his robot body.  His father placed that in there, which generated the life force that gave Astro Boy his unique personality. 

Astro Boy is based on the highly successful Japanese franchise of the same name by Osamu Tezuka. Freddie Highmore provides the voice for the character of Astro Boy in the movie. The film features the voices of Freddie Highmore, Kristen Bell, Nathan Lane, Eugene Levy, Matt Lucas, Bill Nighy, Donald Sutherland and Nicolas Cage.

You are about to find out all about Astro Boy. The studio clip shows you the history of Astro Boy from the moment he was conceived in 1951 to the most recent teaser trailer that was released in March.  

The story of Astro Boy is pretty simple. A scientist’s son dies and he secretly creates a powerful robot to replace him.  The robot uses its powers to become a famous superhero and faces his biggest challenge when an alien threatens Earth.  He’s too young to have a drinking problem or problems with women, so he’s a pretty simple character.  

The animated feature is directed by former Disney animator David Bowers. Astro Boy is set to open everywhere October 23, 2009.

(Source)

At the New York Comic Con, Summit Entertainment presented to the press some images from the movie Astroboy with butt cannons. Summit even included some footage of Astroboy flying through Metro City.  You can head over to io9.com to get the full details.

Thanks to AICN I was able to pick up these images from Imagi Studios for Astro Boy.  Pretty awesome stuff, it looks like the movie is coming together in a grand, techno-colorful, whompin’-umpin’ action way.

Here is another image of Astro Boy concept art from Imagi Studios as I had promised. I wonder what that machine is behind him.

Twitch posted a piece on the concept art of Astro Boy the other day. I will be posting some of the work in the next day or so.  Imagi Studios is forging the work, which I find very interesting. One piece shows Astro Boy running toward a large robot that is slightly familiar to Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky.

Kristen Bell who is known for television shows “Heroes” and “Veronica Mars” and the film Forgetting Sarah Marshall joins the cast of Astro Boy. Matt Lucas starred in Little Britain has also joined the cast.

The cast is looking mighty big with all these stars: Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, Bill Nighy and Eugene Levy with Freddie Highmore in the title role.

Astro boy, an Imagi Studios CG-animated 3-D feature, is set to release in little over a year, October 23, 2009. The movie will hit 3,000 theaters, a sure sign of blockbuster material.

Voice casting includes Freddie Highmore, Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Kristen Bell, Scarlett Johansson and Nathan Lane.

Based on a highly successful Japanese franchise, Astro Boy is a young robot with superpowers created by a scientist in the image of the son he lost.  Because he doesn’t fulfill his grieving father’s expectations, Astro Boy takes off on journey of acceptance. 

Arriving in a decadent world of robot gladiators, being betrayed, Astro Boy returns to his father for reconciliation.