Great Film overall

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I did not see "Astroboy" old animated TV series. So, I had no idea before seeing this film together with my 5 years old son. Although he liked it, I was really disappointed. In "Astroboy", a father first raises his son as a robot, but at that time he is never present (see scene with the dialog between the child and a hologram of his father within the car). Later, once the child dies, the father raises a robot trying to get a child instead. A detestable idea. But he persists in raising something not as a child, giving him books totally inadequate for a child. The story is plagued of scenes of torture on a child: Toby confined in a jail with no windows; Toby suffering explosions of missiles on him; Toby rejected by Dr. Tenma, his father, with rude, direct words; Toby have to fight with an iron monster... and so on. What about the children on the surface? (the third world?)(SPOILER) When Cora finally find her parents, they just say "where were you?" That's all? What is the concept of family or parenthood for the director/writer? In some part, the "revolutionary" robots from the surface tease on the Asimov's laws on robotics. It was very offensive for a talented author as Asimov and their readers as me. Even the pathetic characters of these robots (what they say and how they look) seems a contempt for any revolution. For me, reconciliation between Astroboy and Dr. Temna was a sad ending, not a happy ending. But I could find a positive point in the story: only other children were able to find a human being in a robot seeming a child, not the adults. At less something with hope! (SPOILER) Finally, there are a lot of things too similar to other films: mountains of discharged items from civilization as in "WallE", the very ending with an unexpected alien as in "The Incredibles", the entire process of creation of Astro as in "Frankenstein", the design of the army as in "Star Wars", many resemblances with "The Iron Giant"… Too many coincidences. Good animation technique in fact. But digital animation is not enough to make a good film.

Like many anime this film, which is loosely based on the Astro Boy manga, has dark themes but it's still a good entertaining release by director David Bowers. The computer animation has a polished vibrant look which fits the science-fiction story well. Astro Boy is a story about finding oneself and doing good. Its message is that if you do good you will be rewarded for it. And it's a good message, especially for children. This, along with other lessons, makes Astro Boy an excellent film for children. It features the voices of Freddie Highmore, Kristen Bell, Eugene Levy, Bill Nighy, Donald Sutherland, Charlize Theron and Nicolas Cage. Some adults may find the film simple but it doesn't cease to entertain so sitting through it is definitely not a chore. Just don't expect a great animated film. The animation here is often gorgeous and the action, which features fights between robots, is exciting. There's also a fair amount of comedy. When Astro Boy was released in 2009 I didn't go to see it in a movie theater. But I should have. This film has heart, or rather a glowing blue core of positive energy. I recommend seeing it.

Before Astro Boy was ever released in theatres, it used to be a television show that aired in Japan. And just like any other television show, sooner or later it turned into a movie. Thankfully, Astro Boy wasn't filmed in live-action. Who knows how that could've turned out. What we do know from past experiences, is that live-action cartoon adaptations have high failure probability. This is not always true, but for the majority, it is.Astro Boy is the story of an ordinary child who is turned into a cybernetic organism from his science-whiz father. Freddie Highmore plays the character of Astro Boy and his voice doesn't sound out of place so that's a plus. Dr. Tenma is Astro Boy's father and he is voiced by Nicolas Cage. It's an interesting choice actually because it's believable. But if listened to close enough, one can imagine Cage talking into the microphone. Same goes for the villain, President Stone, who is voiced by Donald Sutherland. In general, the cast is great but it's funny how practically none of them changed how they spoke.The animation in this film is also a treat to look at. Much of the objects are round and have lots of curves and swoops. Even some of the characters are funny looking. Dr. Tenma's assistant has a clown nose! What's also good looking are the colors and the architecture of the buildings and machines. Because this is a futuristic world, there are all sorts of sparkly new gadgets. Not to mention, Astro Boy's gadgets will add to the spectacle of the film.As for the plot goes, it's a mix of ideas. The are two movies I can make a clear connection to. The first is I, Robot (2004), because whenever a robot was not needed, it would be banished from the land, where it would rust with all its other counterparts before it. The other movie that's similar to this is Demolition Man (1993). There are two places to live, paradise and poverty. Both films share these ideas. And this is the component that I found unoriginal. Also at the beginning of the film was depressing because Dr. Tenma didn't pay attention to his son and later on abandoned him (temporarily). This can make the audience wonder, "Is this really for children". But as the film approaches its finale, it brings back its jolly nature.The plot is unoriginal and it may seem upsetting for the beginning of the film but in the end, it will please its fans. Making Astro Boy even more enjoyable is the voice cast and colorful visuals.

(www.plasticpals.com) As a fan of the '80s animated TV series from my childhood, I was wary of the new Astro Boy movie by Imagi Studios, so I didn't go see it right away. Besides Astro himself there are only a small handful of recognizable characters, while the rest of the cast is new and generic. The world has been divided into the affluent floating Metro City and the Surface dwellers below. As a fan of Tezuka's character designs, I was disappointed to see that his distinctive style was not replicated in the film as it was in the latest TV series and video games. And that, despite volumes of source material available, little (if any) was mined when scripting and designing the film. All of these needless changes to Astro Boy's origin and setting hurt the movie's chances of a favorable review.In the original story, Dr. Tenma's son Tobio is killed in a car crash. In the movie, Toby is incinerated by a military robot gone haywire, infused with the negative power of the film's version of unobtanium. Dr. Tenma then creates the robot we all know and love in Toby's likeness. This kind of change in the back story doesn't matter so much, and it lays the groundwork for the film's predictable plot of a power hungry military general's descent into madness. I'm not an Astro Boy purist by any means, so this kind of thing is entirely excusable, but the next change is less superficial.Astro gets blown off Metro City to the scrap heap below. The Robot Circus and its abusive manager have been replaced by a gladiatorial robot tournament and a tinkering roboticist, and he's nowhere near as evil. We don't see Astro suffering under the whip of his human master. We see robots being destroyed for the humans' entertainment, but they are mostly complicit fighting machines, so the message is blurry. And Astro doesn't earn his name from his daring circus tricks – but by one of a ragtag band of revolutionary robots. One of which is literally a talking fridge. Along with a talking spray bottle robot, these designs are terribly unimaginative and don't belong in Astro Boy.In what is perhaps the film's boldest alteration, Astro's heart and sense of justice no longer comes from the heart built by Dr. Tenma, but from the positive power of the film's unobtanium, giving it an unwanted tinge of spirituality (it gives Astro the God-like power to resurrect broken robots). In the TV series Astro often ran into trouble when his batteries ran out, but thanks to the unobtanium he now has an infinite power supply. In effect, Astro appears invincible, which kills any suspense that the film's final confrontation may have had. Unfortunately, the enemy robot is not based on any particular design from Tezuka's canon.It's sad that most of Tezuka's unique characters, the often bitter-sweet messages underlying his stories, and his damning portrayal of human intolerance of robots wasn't faithfully reproduced on the big screen. These changes will no doubt leave fans feeling disappointed, but the film still manages to be entertaining in its own right. Those completely unfamiliar with Astro Boy will likely enjoy the film on its own merits. Despite my gut feeling, it turned out better than I would have thought, and the visuals look great. I felt it was just a little bit too long. As it is, I can still give it a recommendation, though fans looking for a faithful big screen adaptation should be prepared for something different.