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While the youth of America was watching Thundercats and Care Bears, our neighbors to the north were tuned into Astro Boy. This is based off my very scientific research of talking to two of three Canadians I know and checking Astro Boy's Wikipedia page, which says the show was also a smash hit in Asia and Australia. This soccer of Saturday morning cartoons may not have taken off in the states, but you've no doubt seen the spiky-haired, nearly nude robo-boy at some point. 

Astro Boy takes place in Metro City, a pristine floating city in the sky, and tells the story of scientist/world's worst dad Dr. Tenma (Nicolas Cage), who loses his son, Toby, in an accident and attempts to bring him back as a robot equipped with his boy's memories. Tenma quickly decides this robotic reincarnation of his son can't replace the real thing and Astro Boy is left on his own to find a place in the world.


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The first Astro Boy cartoon from the '60s — based off the Astro Boy manga before it — practically gave birth to anime as we know it today. But unlike it's source, Astro Boy isn't slowed down by using fewer frames to cut down on animation costs. In this Astro Boy, the action is furious and the animation is fluid and eye-popping.

On the negative side, Astro Boy is about as unoriginal as it gets. The story seems patch-worked together from sci-fi clichés and even borrows heavily from recent films like WALL-E. 

In addition, for a movie where a child dies less than 10 minutes in, the film lacks much of an emotional punch. The absence of tearjerker moments may be perfectly fine considering the young audience it's made for, but with such potential for emotional stuff, it seems odd to not even briefly explore the tragedy of a father losing his son before jumping into the superhero bits. Then again, Cage remains my least favorite part of any movie he's in, and one more scene of his poorly read boo-hooing might have left me feeling the deceased Toby was better off dead than living with Cage as daddy.

Those well-versed in all things Astro Boy may be disappointed in some changes to the tale, but for the uninitiated or those under 12 years of age, Astro Boy is a fun — but forgettable — animated flick that feels like Pinocchio meets Iron Man with some seriously stunning visuals. For PG-rated family fare, you could do a lot worse.


--Eric Pulsifer
 


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