Astro Boy review

Y'know, not so long ago in the introductory post that kickstarted this little blog, I mentioned that I was a big animation buff and that when a release came out, I'd more often than not be inclined to see/talk about it more than most other releases, especially in the event of a low crop. And while-- getting as close to the winter Academy Awards push as we are-- things are certainly not slow, it's still that time. So gird your loins and get ready kiddies: Today we're going to talk about "Astro Boy."

Admittedly, my interest in this film stems less from any sort of fandom associated with the original manga or the animated series that remains fondly remembered even today-- I never saw the cartoon, and I'm only marginally familiar with the original comic-- as much as an anthropolgical/cultural one. This was confirmed for me after doing a little digging into the film's production and finding that my suspicions were confirmed-- it was being created by an AMERICAN company, specifically by David Bowers, who previously associated with Claymation-Gods-On-Earth Aardman on the not-bad-but-not-particularly-memorable "Flushed Away" a few years back.

(Truth be told, I figured this was the case since, well, the CGI actually looked pretty good, and for all that anime can do on paper with the admitted exception of Square Enix most anime-CGI ends up looking like... well, this. Yeeeaaaaahhh.)

But seriously, by having the "Astro Boy" movie made by Americans during a sort of revival of the character, we're essentially watching him return to his distant cultural roots-- a Western vision of a beloved anime series based on a beloved manga series written itself by a man who shamelessly adored Western animation (in particular Walt Disney) along with its science-fiction, and fashioned his characters in a decidedly similar style. You don't need to look TOO hard to see the resemblance between Astro Boy and, say, classic Mickey Mouse if you think about it.

But ehh, enough rambling, onto the film itself. The only problem there is... ehh, there isn't really a lot to SAY about "Astro Boy," because LIKE "Flushed Away" it's really... just not that great. Not bad, not painful and certainly not offensively stupid like 'kiddie' cartoons can often be nowadays, but there's just something about the production that feels... not rushed, but kind of disjointed.

The biggest problem with "Astro Boy" is that it suffers from a case of Trying Too Hard. The original "Astro Boy" was, for all its inherent weirdness and mayhem, essentially a lighthearted superhero yarn in the thread of the original "Superman" comics-- never too dark, always with a happy ending, you get the idea. Bowers, clearly making an effort to deepen his endeavor, opted to add more depth and a bit of cynicism to the story, along with hints of just about every other classic Animated Film of the last decade, from "The Iron Giant" to "WALL-E."

Now I'm not saying that Bowers SHOULDN'T have attempted this-- it certainly worked for the underrated "Metropolis" from waaaayy back in 2004 (itself a prettified update of a classic Osamu Tezuka work), taking an already decidedly grim take on Tezuka's theme of robots as a metaphor for segregation/racism/ethnic disparity and transforming it into a brilliant noir-ish detective-story-cum-mysterious-girl narrative complete with-- I kid you not-- THE GREATEST AND MOST INVENTIVE USE OF A RAY CHARLES SONG EVER PUT TO THE SCREEN-- but bear in mind that "Metropolis" borrowed from a wide array of seemingly unlike

parts to craft something wholly unique and original, whereas "Astro Boy" just feels a bit... derivative. Oh sure, there are bits where this approach works-- Astro's status as a robot in a society that largely denegrates them works well to illustrate the unshakable feeling of 'difference' that most of us (especially kids) feel most (all) of the time, but often it just comes off as a bit overbearing.

The rest of the film is a mixed bag, essentially. The action sequences are often fun and inventive, but the humor falls flat on its face more often than not (even a potentially clever running gag involving a robot guerilla resistance and their underwhelming efforts to free their 'brothers' comes off less funny than filler). The writing never feels like it's really TRYING to shove a moral down your throat (something more manga/anime creators need to get a handle on) and is surprisingly understated, but the voice acting runs the gamut from good to Freddie-Highmore-faking-a-Zac-Efron-esque-American-Accent obnoxious (with an against-all-odds-dare-I-say-it almost slightly lucid Nicolas Cage running somewhere in between).

In the end is something ultimately average and not exactly memorable, but even so I'd say that you could certainly do far worse. Sure, it's rather cluttered as a movie, but it's at least TRYING to bring some deeper themes to a kids' movie, not to mention that there's definitely been some effort put into this production, something which is ultimately too rare in this genre and ultimately makes me confident that this is as good as anime adaptations are ever going to get (at least until Guilliermo Del Toro greenlights a "Claymore" movie).

It's certainly not the best children's movie of the year (the correct answer is "Where the Wild Things Are") and as far as smart animated sci-fi goes "Coraline" and "9" have nothing to worry about, but it's a decent diversion and certainly won't leave you calling for the Suicide Hotline.

That's what "The Spy Next Door" is for.