Astro Boy (2009)

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1. 

   Monstera Deliciosa

   Nic Cage kinda ruined it for me. 9 years ago
2. 

   Marasmusine

   How to misinform your children about science. There were a lot of funny little jokes in it, though. 13 years ago
3. 

   Siskoid

   The Astro Boy show was on TV when I was growing up, but I wasn't into it. In French, the title would be more properly translated as Astro the Little Robot, and it just seemed like kiddy fare to me, perhaps, and too cute compared to my Grandizer and Harlock favorites. Right or wrong, decades later I'm sitting in front of the CG animated adaptation, ostensibly because Charlize Theron does like 30 seconds of narration (though it has a cast that generally makes me wish it had been live action), and I can't tell you what they got right, inserted sly references to the canon, or what. In some ways, it's got too much going on, with Astro's origin, the entire mythology of disposable robots/people, fascism on the rise, a side-villain who pits robots against one another in the arena, scavenger orphans, a comic relief robot liberation front, and a giant monster battle. In others, too little, as the social messaging flounders as Astro destroys robots otherwise painted as having some sentience, or as the whole thing ends on a facile resolution that makes a poor coda to all the destruction porn. The animation is dynamic and about right for 2009, with the sore point being Astro himself. They tried to make him look like the anime character so much, he lacks some of the dimension the other characters have and doesn't seem as well integrated and textured as the rest of his world (which is more shades of The Iron Giant than the original show). And yet, when Charlize narrates the history, the retro 2D animation there (which I do like) goes for a 60s American style, not anime. That seems like a bad choice. You could do worse, it's more watchable than a lot of animated bombs, but a bit of a jumble. 4 years 2 months ago

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