Astro boy

Film: Astro boy
Cast: Voice of Freddie Highmore, Nicholas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Kristen Bell
Genre: Animation
Direction: David Bowers
Duration: 1 hour 34 minutes
Critic's Rating: 3 stars


Story: Toby, an inquisitive little scientist's son dies in a lab accident and is re-created by his dad as a smart little robot that carries the memories of Toby. But dad begins to feel the robot is no substitute for his son and rejects him. Enter, Astro Boy, the lonely machine who tries to prove he actually belongs to the human world, and ends up a hero.

Movie Review: Don't underestimate the importance of Astro Boy. Firstly because it's an animated feature that manages to work despite steering clear of the demands of 3D: dark glasses and all that fuss. And secondly, it tells a story of courage, friendship and family-bonding simply, sweetly, even as it creates a boy-hero who is bound to curry favour with all those little boy-heroes in your family.

Based on the iconic manga created in the 1950s by Osamu Tezuka, the Japanese boy wonder dons a stylish big screen avatar. Rejected by the human world, he creates a poignant picture, primarily because he has the memories and the mindset of Toby, a human boy who was loved and protected by his scientist dad (Nicholas Cage), before his untimely death in a robotic experiment. Naturally then, he feels an outsider in the heartless mecha world too and is unable to connect with the mean machines on Earth, after his fall from Metropolis, the glitzy, hi-tech city in the sky. He does manage to find a few friends amongst the vagabond kids who scavenge for scrap robots for their Fagin-like Godfather, but that doesn't stop him from longing for his dad. Can he hope for a reunion? Maybe he can, if he uses his special powers and saves Metropolis from the megalomania of the evil President (Donald Sutherland).

Astro Boy, with its colourful animation and its dramatic voice-overs is perfect weekend fare for kids who need a break from the violent games on play station.