Astro Boy Movie Review
Ingrid got a pair of preview passes to the new Astro Boy movie (thanks to Golden Village), so we caught the movie earlier tonight and I have to say, I quite enjoyed it!
Before I start, let me preface this by saying I’ve never read about Astro Boy before and I didn’t know a thing about the Astro Boy comic before going in, including the casting. That means that stuff I was surprised or impressed by may be different if you already know the backstory or you’re expecting it to be similar (or different) from the future incarnations of the character. Needless to say there are spoilers, if you don’t want to know any specifics about the movie, stop here and just know that it’s worth watching.
First of all, the animation is pretty amazing. I don’t think I can recall another show that has had such vibrant colours, seamless animation and stunning visuals quite like this. The contrasts between Metro City and the Surface are clear and you always have a pretty good sense of the environment as well as what’s going on. The fights are pretty cool as well and every single one of the characters is pretty well animated too.
The story is really the best part for me. It’s a pretty dark story as I didn’t expect the original Toby to actually die. As I mentioned I hadn’t read Astro Boy before so I’d assumed it was like a Japanese Pinocchio story where a boy is just ‘made’. But the tragedy made it even more poignant, and made worse when Doctor Tenma wants nothing to do with him. In yet another dark turn we see Hamegg turn on Astro Boy (which I suspected would happen) but you do sorta feel like poor Astro can’t get a break in the film. Sorta like how Spider-Man is when he’s Peter Parker – nothing goes well.
The voice acting is great as well. I paid specific attention to Donald Sutherland (the president) and Bill Nighy (Dr Elefun) and Kristen Bell (Cora) just because I knew who they were, and I thought Donald Sutherland and Bill Nighy in particular outshone Nicholas Cage (Dr Tenma). Freddie Highmore as Astro was pretty decent and I loved that Samuel L Jackson had like three lines as Zog.
Speaking of Zog, the characters in the show really shine. From the silly Robot Revolutionary Front (I want an action figure of the Fridge) to the kids from the Surface to the squirt bottle and wiper to Trashcan the robot dog, they all have really fun bits in the show which come together without overdoing it, which is a nod to the great pacing of the show as well.
I’m sure some will point to the over the top president as an analogy to some modern politics and going to war, but it didn’t disturb me quite as much. What I did find out of the ordinary was Dr Tenma’s suddenly switch of mind to revive Astro, despite previously wanting nothing to do with him and agreeing to de-activate him for the president.
Overall I thought this was a great show with a tight script, great voice talent and top notch animation and something fans of the super-hero, animation or action genre would definitely enjoy.
vibrant colours?? you must have forgotten our speed racer experience… haha
Haha as I was typing that I wanted to say the only other movie that had more striking, colourful visuals would be Speed Racer, but then it’s not really an animation so hard to compare!