a5c7b9f00b When a scientist&#39;s young son dies, he secretly creates a powerful robot child to replace him, however the robot uses it&#39;s incredible powers to become a world famous super-hero, and faces his biggest challenge when an alien race threatens Earth… Set in futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy is about a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist in the image of the son he has lost. Unable to fulfill the grieving man&#39;s expectations, our hero embarks on a journey in search of acceptance, experiencing betrayal and a netherworld of robot gladiators, before he returns to save Metro City and reconcile with the father who had rejected him. Based on the Manga by Osamu Tezuka, this film tells the story of how Astro Boy was made and how he saved the residents of his home. I&#39;ll admit I haven&#39;t read the Manga or seen any of the TV series based on it made in the 1960&#39;s. It&#39;s quite a witty and interesting tale with quite a bit of drama thrown in for good measure. But more of my thoughts later, here&#39;s a brief summary first (summary haters and those who don&#39;t wish to know anything about the plot please sort out that pile of robot parts over there while I write the next paragraph).<br/><br/>NOTE: There is what may be a spoiler to some in this summary You have been warned! Toby lives in Metro City which floats in the sky above the Earth, which is polluted and not a great place to be. The people there are waited on hand and foot by robots that are the invention of Toby&#39;s father, Dr. Tenma. He is working alongside his friend Dr. Elefun on a project for President Stone called Peacemaker, a giant fighting robot. Toby, wanting to see the demonstration goes to the Ministry of Science and sneaks into the testing room. When the demonstration goes wrong the robot goes berserk and Toby is killed. Grief stricken, his father builds a robot that looks like Toby and, using his DNA, gives it all of his memories too. It is brought to life by a special power source that is thought to be only for good. Eventually the robot Toby finds himself down on the Earth&#39;s surface where he meets new friends and has some great adventures I&#39;ve probably said too much, but that will do for now.<br/><br/>There are elements of other films in this one; in particular I found many similarities to Steven Spielberg&#39;s 2001 film, A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Having said that, it is quite entertaining and there is a lot of humour both in the dialogue and some great sight gags too. The performances were OK, but it is hard to judge from a voice, so honourable mentions go to the voice talents of; Freddie HighmoreAstro/Toby, Nicolas CageDr. Tenma, Donald SutherlandPresident Stone, Bill NighyDr. Elefun/Robotsky and Kristen BellCora.<br/><br/>I don&#39;t dislike this film; in fact there is a lot to like about it. It asks a lot of its audience andsuch I found it quite strange to watch. On one hand it&#39;s an animated film aimed at kids, with lots of jokes and plenty of adventure. But on the other hand it has a much darker story about a man losing his child and trying to replace him with a robot. But at the end of the day it&#39;s an entertaining watch and so Recommended.<br/><br/>My score: 6.4/10 Well that was probably the idea when Japan created the character back in the 50&#39;s. The character keeps getting brought through the 60&#39;s to the 80&#39;s, and now it&#39;s 2009.<br/><br/>Set in the future, a scientist(voiced by Nicolas Cage) is drowning in sadness, cause he lost his son(voiced by Freddie Highmore) in a laboratory accident, almost a year later he builds a robotic replica of his son(also Freddie Highmore). But when he turns out to smart for his own, The scientists starts to feel guilty for trying to play god, and demands he be taking away. But the boy discovers he is not quite like other boys. He hears what they said, and he quickly runs away. And tries to get used to being a robot, during that he comes some outcast kids at a junk yard, he soon becomes apart of there family, but does not tell them he&#39;s a robot, cause he doesn&#39;t want to feel like a freak. He also gets the name Astro. But what happens when an evil pollition(voiced by Donald Sutherland) slowly closes in on him? <br/><br/>Awesome animation, since The Incredibles and Meet the Robinsons. And such great actors doing awesome voice over. Astro Boy is really a must see for kids and adults. What’s ultimately more impressive than the vigorous madcap action and innocuous humor, however, is Bowers’s willingness to address adult themes–alienation, regret, class tensions–with a directness that shows a surprising respect for his target young-adult audience
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