Ninjatron Reviews the Astro Boy Movie

Ok, here we go! This will be my attempt at an all inclusive review of Imagi's Astro Boy movie. Be warned, it contains spoilers!

It's been a very unique feeling having followed this film for several years, to work hard in documenting and share all the information with the rest of the world, to see the film released, and to have to try and sum it all up. It's like this is a new chapter: Life after the release of The Astro Boy movie. It's a lot to chew on when thinking about it that way, but I will do my best to condense my thoughts into something coherent.

That all said, I really liked it!

Clearly, I was quite emotionally invested in this movie before seeing it, both as the keeper of this website and as an Anime fan who understands the importance of this character. So I knew that I wanted to like it, but this could mean that it would either make me really enjoy it or make me like it less because of my expectations and how much I already knew from following the film for long. However, it didn't take long for the film to cast its spell on me and make any preconceived notions go away.

Here is what I liked about it.

- The story itself worked well. It was quite faithful to the original manga. Yes, there were differences, but I'd say that it was as faithful to its source as a movie like Spider-man was to the comics. Even though I knew the story, there were still enough twists and turns to keep things interesting. The bit at the end with Zog using the blue energy to revive Astro was a great surprise and a nice touch.

- The animation is, of course, really beautiful. I can't wait to see it again and dig through all of the details I missed the first time around. The scene of Astro flying through the clouds was breathtaking. I'd go on but it all sort of goes without saying in a movie like this. However, what really stood out to me was the opening "Our Friends The Robots" animation, with it's flat, graphic style. Did this not remind anyone else of the imagery found in Tezuka's "Tales of a Street Corner"? That can't be a coincidence!

- Nicolas Cage as Dr. Tenma worked well for me. I know his performance has gotten some flack, but I thought it was fine. When Tenma brings Astro back to their home and does his overcompensating father routine, that slightly creepy/crazy twist to the performance was just perfect. That moment is exactly why I think Nic Cage was the right choice for the role.

- President Stone was so evil! I was totally blown away by this character. I admit that in the previews, I didn't buy it. I had thought Donald Sutherland's voice just was just too warm and friendly, not nearly villainous enough. I was wrong. Everything he said just made him into a bigger scumbag, and he saw it all as positive qualities. He was so bad, and proud of it!

- Nathan Lane was great as Hamegg, both as a friendly character and as his usual dastardly self. I was disappointed at first that he was depicted as being rather plump instead of his traditional skinny appearance, but now that I think about it, he looked more jolly and friendly in the movie, which makes his turn against Astro more surprising and effective. I don't think it would have worked with a skinny Hamegg. He might have appeared too sinister right away.

- Cora and the other kids were actually pretty cool. I know Cora was meant to be a new character, but I see her as the movie's interpretation of the character Kathy, who met Astro at a similar point in the story. One thing I really liked about the kids was that they had very unique faces.

- The music was amazing. I can still hear it in my mind as I type this. I miss the old Astro Boy theme but what we have here is pure gold.

- The Robot Revolutionary Front. These guys were hilarious. They quickly became my favorite characters... and then they mentioned about ninjas. I got a personal kick out of that for obvious reasons. Wonder if I had something to do with it being in there?

- And of course, we have Astro himself. I think they found the perfect balance between the traditional goody-two shoes Astro and the expectations of modern audiences. The part when he says goodbye to Dr. Elefun really stuck with me. Such a beautifully sad moment.

I could go on. There are a lot of little moments and touches and details that I enjoyed.

But, that all said, it wasn't perfect, and there was one thing that really bothered me about the film. It was very fast paced. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but in a movie with so many emotional components, I feel that it would have really helped to just take a breather at some key scenes and let the emotions gestate for a beat before moving on.

- Early in the film there is a scene where Toby and Tenma's holographic projection share a perfectly awkward moment in the car. It was just a second or two, but it worked well and helped to say everything we needed to know about how those characters felt at that time. There could have been a few more moments like that throughout the film.

- We don't really get to see Tenma's transition from losing his son to deciding to build a robot. It just abruptly goes to unrolling the blueprints. I would have liked to have seen more of his state of mind at that juncture in the film, and for the actually building of the robot to have been a longer, more laborious looking procedure. It could have been a montage or something, but still, it would have been great to see more of this as I feel the film just jumped to the completed Astro too fast. All we really get of that is when it's said that Tenma hasn't slept for days.

- The alien invasion at the end was pretty random! I have no problem with that as such, since aliens are awesome, but I still feel that there was a beat missing, especially since this happens directly after the climax with the Peacekeeper. Perhaps the film could jumped to an in-session press conference happening a few days later, featuring new president Logan talking about what the future holds for the now-grounded Metro City, acknowledging Astro for saving the day, and ushering in a new era for robot civil rights. And then this could have been interrupted by the alien invasion. Not to say that I could have done a better job, but still, there was a missed opportunity to flesh out the story, add some closure, and give the movie-going audience a chance to gain some emotional resonance before throwing the space-tentacle monster at us.

That all said, this is a long movie already. Especially considering it's a kids' movie. Where would you fit any of this stuff in? I don't know. There's a lot of content in there already, so maybe what I suggested isn't possible. But I just like movies that pace themselves and let the events unfold over a what seems like significant amount of time.

Aside from that, there are some silly things I have to wonder about.

- When Toby gets vaporized, all that's left is his hat. But the rest of his clothes are gone. How did his hat remain unscathed? I guess it was a thicker material.

- And if Toby's clothes got destroyed, then I guess Dr. Tenma must have rushed out and bought exactly the same clothes all over again, because when I was 13 I most certainly did not own two sets of the exact same outfit. That's kind of weird.

- It's made into a big deal that Astro can hear the window washing robots, but everyone could communicate with Orrin just fine. I don't remember the movie presenting any distinction between the robots who can talk to humans and robots who only speak robot language.

But none of these things detract from the movie in a major way. It is what it is, and I enjoyed it very much. It's a wonderful film for kids and fans alike. No matter what the critics say, and no matter what the box office numbers wind up as, the cast and crew of this movie should be very proud of themselves for pulling it off.

So, that's my review. Please use the comments feature to tell me what you think about what I had to say, or have any questions. And stay tuned, I'll be giving everyone a chance to post their own reviews very soon!

Sayonara.