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REVIEW: Astro Boy

Guess I won't be seeing this one. The presence of Kristen Bell had my interest piqued, but it's sad to hear that the movie turned out so mediocre.

After reading this review, here's a question: Why can't Imagi come up with their own characters and allow artists to develop new stories, instead of shoe-horning classic anime icons into generic, passable and overall WEAK versions of ideas that aren't theirs? Up next, watered-down Gatchaman and a kids-safe, non-threatening villain, to be followed by life-affirming Gigantor. No matter how well intentioned the films, they are still a bunch of grave robbers who are exploiting other creators' ideas for money. Sorry, guys. You won't be getting mine.

Ah, so it's in the pile with the (mostly) recent Speed Racer adaptation I guess.

As a fair majority of anime fans, I'm a "purist" of sorts and have avoided most of the "inspired by Tezuka's..." stuff. I just know if he were alive, he would of created a great film to appeal to anyone, I mean he loved Disney and held US family movies in high regard.

It seems to be a sad fate for anime-to-screen translations.

I dunno. When I heard this film was out, I checked the few reviews that were online, and all of them, even the supposed fanboy reviews, showed a lack of familiarity with Astroboy and the work of Osamu Tezuka in general. They would say things like "the story is ripped off from Pinnochio and Frankenstein", "there is a jarring mix of pathos and comedy", and "the film has an overt moral message", and then conclude "If only they had stuck to the spirit of Osamu Tezuka's classic original". But these are the exact features of Osamu Tezuka's original work!

Now, Zac points out some plot holes in the film's climax (plenty of anime movies have problematic plots), but the rest of his criticisms are too vague. He says the film is sanitized, but other reviews complain about the film's violence. Dialogue like "I guess fitting in when you're different from everyone else is harder to do than I thought!" would not have been out of place in the original works, or in the 1980s series at least. And describing a character as "oh-so-spunky-and-independent" is just being snide, especially as there are plenty of characters fitting that description in anime that is critically respected.

Now, from all these negative reactions, I don't doubt there is something sub-standard about this movie. I just can't tell what it is from these reviews. I guess I'll have to watch the movie after all....

Yeah, the whole movie was just rather dull. There is nothing in the film which makes it stand out from the multitude of CG features currently in cinemas here. "Up" is the obvious stand out amongst the current CG stuff. Having seen that film a couple weeks before "Astroboy", the main difference between them is that "Up" has real heart while Astro just seems so empty.

It's like they were on autopilot making this film and just pulled out the most clichéd and dull dialogue and jokes they could find. Despite the fact it's currently the school holidays here (well I saw it on the very last day of the school holidays), including me there were only about nine people in the cinema including me.

I did quite enjoy the film up to the point Astro ends up on the surface. The whole Metro City dumping their trashed robots onto the ground made me think of "Battle Angel Alita". The Tezuka and Hyoutan-Tsugi (Tezuka's pig/mushroom thingie) cameos were a bit too forced and happened too often, like the film makers were saying "Look, look, a Tezuaka reference!". I suppose it's not a bad film as such, it's just really mediocre. What disappoints me the most is that despite the great wealth of material they could have plundered from the manga, they chose instead a really tied and dull plot.

After the horror that was Dragonball: Evolution I actually look very forward to this movie. It looks decent enough that I would not mind seeing it in theaters (I also thought Speed Racer was okay, not remarkable just watchable). American adaptations of anime seem to fall into the category of mediocre and I seriously don't think why we should expect more. The only time we get any respect is if it's Miyazaki and that's because those are backed by Disney. So at least this review indicates this movie will not want me to gouge my eyes out with a hot poker.

O-chan

Then again, this past weekend, I was also underwhelmed by Where the Wild Things Are. Maybe movies based on children's picture books just aren't my thing.

Give them credit: they TRIED. They did way better than Dragonball Evolution. They just made something...average, I guess.

I'm gonna go see it, if only because of Nicholas Cage as Dr. Tenma (for some reason, I find this to be a really good casting). I had convinced myself early on that worrying about how close it was to the source material was a moot point, and that ultimately, most of the people (read: MOST, not all) who would complain probably haven't even touched a Tezuka book in their lives. So, I'm gonna go watch it, and enjoy Nicholas Cage as Dr. Tenma.

Also: Why couldn't they just call the Peacemaker 'Pluto'? I think it would have been a bit cooler to throw in that "The World's Strongest Robots" reference. Otherwise, good job keeping in everyone else's names (Hameg, Elefun, Tenma).

As for Coran...well, a Zoran for the new generation?

I checked out the trailer and was not impressed. When I saw Astro Boy in pants and a shirt I was pretty certain about what to expect. I might still see it but at a matinee only.

I don't think it's worth $11.

B.