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Astro Boy - Movie Review |
| By: Tushar Joshi | | Date:
2010-05-01 | | Place: Mumbai | |
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Astro Boy
u; animation
Dir: David Bowers
Cast: Freddie Highmore, Nicolas Cage, Kristen Bell, Nathan Lane, Bill Nighy
***
What's it about: Robots have been a part of movie culture for a while now. The 1999 animated film The Iron Giant was engaging and told a story from a different perspective.
Similarly, Astro Boy set in the futuristic Metro City is the story of Toby (Highmore) who dies in a freak accident at a scientific lab only to be reborn as a robot.
His father (Cage), unable to cope with the loss of his son, tries to do everything possible to treat the new Toby the same way as the old.
After finding out the truth about his origins, Toby decides to wander out and be friends with other robots. However, that plan doesn't work out well as the evil General Stone (Donald Sutherland) has other plans.
What's hot: The colours, animation and landscaping of the futuristic city is brilliant. Perhaps a bit inspired from the Japanese anime features, the characters (and particularly Astro Boy) have an edge to them.
They aren't merely pencil-sketched characters brought to life using latest technology but are full of life and emotion.
Despite the action sequences, what mostly works here is the interaction between Astro and his dad.
Effort has been taken to work on the connection between the characters before showing off their wizardy. Astro Boy will work for both kids and their parents who've been dragged to the theatres.
What's not: Despite the colorful visuals, the story could have had more dimensions. After Toby's realisation that he's just a robot, the plot gets a bit predictable.
Of course, parallels will be drawn between the classic tale of Pinocchio, which definitely had more charm and less predictability. The fight between the war loving red and the peace keeping blues is one-dimensional and linear.
What to do: Those following the adventures of Astro Boy on the small screen will queue up anyways. Others will be in for a visual treat. |
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