Astro Boy (2009)
Summit Entertainment
Cinema Release
Astro Boy
is a figure which lives on in the memories of millions, he is a child robot
much loved and celebrated in many TV series. Trying to bring him into the 21st
century and satisfy everyone is a very hard ask. The look of Astro Boy is marvellous; it certainly
combines the look and feel of the original series while bringing it up to date.
The most difficult thing about the film is exactly who it is aimed at. Much of
the action is really a bit beyond young kids, yet the twee nature of much of
the dialogue and character development won’t wash with early teens. The
political and social message of the film lack subtly and the characters are
much the same. When you consider just some of the names in the film - Nicolas
Cage, Samuel L. Jackson, Charlize Theron, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane and
Matt Lucas I am surprised it doesn’t have a stronger plot and character
development.
It
is a film which really does not know what it is; it seems to be trying to be
all things to all people and cross markets between a kids, teen and adults
retro film and ultimately this creates a compromise which cannot be breached.
It
is a film which is lots of fun and as an adult watching it with fun memories of
Astro Boy as a child, it is a work of
retro science fiction which pushes the nostalgia button and works well for that
reason. For those not exposed to Astro
Boy as a child I am not sure it will have the same success.
The
film opens with a sort of Blade Runner view of the future, the planet has been
ruined and a new world has been created off planet – in Astro Boy it is in the
clouds. Metro City has been literally moved off-world and is a place where the
rich live serviced by robots. At the same time there is a problem, as the
robots reach their use by date they are thrown off Metro City onto the planet
below which has literally become a giant rubbish dump. Outcasts live amongst
the rubbish and in the decrepit buildings on the surface.
Dr.Tenma
is the father of robotics in Metro City and has developed the many types of
robots which run the city. Dr. Elephant has located a new power source from
space, the problem is that to be utilized it had to be separated into two sorts
of energy blue energy (good) and red energy (bad and unstable). President
Stone, being a nasty political leader, wants to be re-elected at all costs and
demands the scientists put the energy into a military “peace robot”. When they
disagree, he places the red energy into the new machine with disastrous results
against their wishes; the robot runs amuck and Toby, Dr.Tenma’s son is killed.
Tenma,
overwhelmed with grief, uses Toby’s DNA to somehow reprogram a blue energy
robot which becomes “Astro Boy”. Along the way we are treated to all sorts of
sub plots about parent child relationships, the nature of acceptance, atomic
warfare, environmentalism and discrimination. The problem is that many of these
storylines are expressed in a very heavy handed manner and the constant
simplistic good versus evil approach quickly becomes tiresome.
The
big battle between Astro Boy and The Red Energy Robot is really quite amazing
but would certainly terrify any younger kids watching the film. The animation
cannot be faulted and it is lots of fun but again and again I felt that the
film did not know what audience it was aimed at. Astro Boy is a fun, action packed film and while successful, sadly
is not as memorable as it could be and certainly does not give Astro Boy the adaptation he deserves.
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