Astro Boy Review

Astro Boy is based on the critically acclaimed manga series by Ozamu Tezuka and starring Freddie Highmore as Toby, the son of scientist Dr Tenma (Nicholas Cage) who after a horrifying accident is reborn as Astro Boy. However when Tenma rejects his robotic son, Astro soon finds himself on the run from the leader of the floating Metro City, President Stone (Donald Sutherland) who is after the blue energy core which powers Astro, forcing him down to the junk filled surface of earth where he meets an array of colourful characters.

I was somewhat sceptical about this film, I had concerns that this would be some diluted Hollywood version of Astro Boy with little of the original story remaining intact (much like Dragonball Evolution). However Astro Boy's journey through the film is quite faithful to the manga series without being a straight adaptation. The concepts that Tezuka had for Astro Boy (someone who would fight for both humans and robots) is still an integral part of the film though it isn't until later on in the film that the human/robot equality themes become an apparent theme for the film.

There is a great sense of awe when Astro Boy discovers that he has the ability to fly, it's a moment of joy and confusion for him, mainly joy and those scenes are quite upbeat. The tone becomes more humorous when he discovers that he has weapons including an extremely strange place to place machine guns.

There are some clever homage's in this film, from Frankenstein to even Lassie the final battle between Astro and President Stone's Peacemaker felt similar to the final battle between Iron Man and Iron Monger in the Iron Man film. The Pinocchio vibe this film could have had (Astro trying to be a real boy for Dr Tenma) was surprisingly played down , instead it was more of a case of hiding who he was from his earth friends which included inventor/repairer Haemegg (Nathan Lane) and Cora (Kristen Bell).

Beautifully rendered to look almost like Ozamu Tezuka's style, Astro Boy is a fun film for everyone. There are some moments which may gloss over young cinema-goers but with characters that are fun and varied there isn't a moment in the film where you feel lost or that the film is too childish.