Your thoughts on the movie? (SPOILERS of course)

[CommanderEVE]

Wait? Has the CGI moive already come out in some parts of the world?

[Dragonrider1227]

It's out in Japan, China, USA, Australia, and I think Canada. Where do you live?

[dannavy85]

saw it today. If it's purpose was to make me cry? done.

I was very pleased.

[Astro Forever]

I believe Sparx lives in the UK.

[AstroRex]

I saw the movie TWICE already. LOVED IT. I might go see it again this week with my co-author of my book. I grew up watching the TV series on TV in Spanish and in black and white so I love the fact that it's in English and in color now.

I even wrote a movie review for AstroBoy for MSN, here:
http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie-user-reviews/astro-boy/

It is posted under the name Rextorres.

Check it out.

[AstroRex]

This is my movie review as I posted it on MSN:

http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie-user-reviews/astro-boy/

Great super hero movie for kids

Posted: 10/25/2009

A review of Astro Boy by Rextorres


I grew up watching the original Japanese cartoons on TV when they were shown in black and white and they were all dubbed in the Spanish language, and it was great seeing Astro in color and in English. Astroboy is a true hero in this movie and shows heart, compassion and heroism in this movie. Furthermore, he puts his friends first and above all else, even above himself, especially when they're in mortal danger. This isn't just a movie about a robot who looks like a boy, who also has super powers and super strength, but about trust, loyalty, and character. It's a classic super-hero origin story, where the boy-hero searches for his purpose and seeks to discover why he was made, and tries to find out what his destiny is. I think that just makes for a wonderful story, with unforgettable characters which come together at a crucial time in their lives. The chase scenes are breath-taking and the fight scenes are amazing. Astroboy is a true hero in everything he does, just like in the original cartoon. Truly, this is one I will buy when it comes out on DVD. I love the characters and I just loves seeing an old favorite hero back on the big screen. I hope today's kids will appreciate it as much as those of us, who watched Astro over twenty years ago on TV. Go see Astroboy!

--Rex

[ASTROBUDDY]

I saw the movie in a special advance screening a week before its official release date! At this screening was the director, David Bowers who took questions from the younger members of the audience! (The screening was sponsored by the New York Children's Film Festival which has shown many Tezuka films in the past as part of their programs!) Over all I liked it, rating it 7 out of 10; (10 being excellent to one being very bad!) First to me at least Toby or "Astro" appeared as a prepubescent boy! (I grew up with the older looking Astro Boy as opposed to the "babified" Astro of the eighties and later series! Yes I know there are those who like the younger "Astro", to those I say, "to each his own" which is what is great about the multiverse of "TetsuWan Atom"!) As I had gone in with an open mind, knowing that there would probably be a lot of revisionism, I was willing to accept a lot! First I think Freddie Highmore was perfect as the voice of our hero! When Toby was killed I kind of winced, but I guess the filmmakers thought it would be more dramatic visually if he were disintegrated rather than the traditional car crash victim! Or maybe they were being sensitive to parents who may have lost a child in a car accident! Any way to show only his cap as all that was left of him was a major faus pax! (After the screening I could not resist teasing the director with the "technical" question of "how did his cap survive when he was totally obliterated?", to which I got from the director, first something like a silent "homina, homina"! Then he stated that the cap was shown for visual impact "as they needed to show something" to the audience to illustrate his demise and as he then realized I was pulling his leg, he said that those "Ministry of Science" caps are made of some super strong material! As I watched the rest of the film I was picking it apart to see where each scene was lifted from! To me the scenes on Earth outside of Metro City reminded me of the 2004 episode, "Lost in Outland" and the scene where they find Zog to me was reminiscent of "Reviving Jumbo"! I thought the action scenes were very good, especially those of "Astro" flying and where he saves "HamEgg" from being crushed! (As for the depiction of HamEgg in this movie it was obvious that they wanted him to resemble the actor voicing him, Mr. Nathan Lane!) I was glad to see Hige Oyaji & Tezuka Osamushi as they watched "Astro" flying! The business about red & blue energy was described by the director as a way of showing positve and negative energy! Unfortunately here in the states many critics thought he was being coyly political! (Red & Blue states, get it?) But as he is British I don't think he really thought about the political implications when he chose the colors! Although I did question his choice of colors in my mind! Why blue & red? Why not green and red? But I guess it really does not matter! My favorite parts of the film aside from seeing "Astro Boy" in flight, were when he saves HamEgg from being chrushed and the ending when he goes after the "alien threat" (Mr. Bowers in the Q & A after the screening said he chose that ending because he wanted the film to end on an action note! Over all the audience loved the film applauding it at its end. (The 16 year old daughter of my friend, who was one of the people I went to this screening with loved the movie giving it a rating of 10 out of 10!) It 's unfortunate that the timing of the premiere of the film was not better! Its competition being all those horror flicks released in time for Halloween and a better received children's film in "Where the Wild Things Are"! But as the director kept telling the audience, they should seek out Tezuka's original manga, which he claims was his sole source material, as they are great and he did his best to stay true to the original! To bad he did not stick closer to the source material! I think it would have been interesting to see an adaptation of "Captain Atom"! But all in all it was a decent version and update of "Astro Boy"!

[dannavy85]

The opening music, though brief, was heroic and inspiring. Though I wish the orriginal theme made it into the movie somewhere.

[sgupta]

Hi all! Just joined here! Hope nobody minds that I'm pasting this from another forum I posted it on (and as such it doesn't have spoilers per se, but it doesn't really need 'em lol). ^.^

Just wanted to comment here as a Tezuka/Astro Boy newbie.

I sincerely loved this movie! I hope to see it a second time and also buy it on DVD or possibly Blu-Ray when it's released. ^.^

Going in, I knew of Astro Boy (as I'm a casual anime fan - mostly via Adult Swim at least at first ^.^), but at the same time knew very little about the character. I've always loved robots, etc., though, and actually all the buzz about an Astro Boy movie actually made me learn a lot more about the character. I'd always enjoyed characters growing up like say, Mega Man (love those characters), and also had some more limited exposure to Cyborg 009 and Big Guy and Rusty, and even Star Trek's Data, all of which it's clear now were *heavily* influenced by Astro Boy. I never realized just how important Tezuka or Astro Boy were to so many of the things I love in today's anime and sci-fi in general.

At any rate, onto the movie. I should say going in, based on some of the reviews I read, I was a bit hesitant - they weren't bad but not stellar either and seemed widely mixed, but I was still really excited to see it. (I'm from a small town and literally ended up as the *only* person in the whole movie...quite possibly the whole theater that night actually, which was a bit disconcerting).

My worst fear going in was that it would be too "Americanized" (as sad as it is to have to use the term as I am American, but it's the truth I feel, especially when it comes to TV geared towards a younger audience) - that is, all the depth and real heart and hard ideas removed and replaced with fluff. For some reason, we seem to be in a culture where we're afraid to expose kids to mature ideas, which is a huge mistake IMO, but I digress. I was very, very relieved as for me, the heart and depth were kept intact. No, probably not akin to the manga, but that would be dreaming - for a Hollywood movie, I was pretty pleased. No spoilers allowed yet I see, so I won't go into detail, and I suppose if I had my way a few scenes would be a bit more visceral, drawn out, and darker, but I at least understand the choices they made and am impressed they kept some of the core story and depth as they could have conceivably very easily written around it or changed it to something fluffier. Some of it may be brief, but at least it's *there*.

Now I do know some of the core story changed, but that happened from the 60's to 80's to 2003 version as well, so I'm not all that troubled by this personally. I realized as an adaptation that would happen up front, so I decided to just focus on what it was, and then learn about the previous versions and how they play out differently and enjoy those versions for what they are.

I'm happy to say for me, there's real emotion in this movie, and I felt myself caring about the characters. That's very important for me as I've watched movies that technically seemed good, but I just couldn't care about the characters. I do here - they have some depth to them. I especially liked the performances of Astro, Dr. Elfyun, and Dr. Tenma. I think the voicework is actually very good here.

I also want to mention the score. I think the music is one of the most beautiful aspects of the whole movie and deserves its own mention. Bravo to Mr. John Ottman on that - it had me really soaring with Astro, and I highly recommend the soundtrack (wish it had the original Astro Boy theme on it, but that's my only nitpick).

Visuals were great. I see a lot of complaints from people saying this character doesn't look like Astro to them, and I just *can't* see it. To me he looks perfect. I just think he looks great to me, so whatever the unhappy people are seeing, I just don't. Extrapolating 3D from 2D is always tricky, but I can't really imagine them getting it more right personally - different strokes for different folks.

I was also thrilled by was the action. Again, not to go into any detail, but you really got a sense of speed and power during them that's appropriate.

A lot of the more negative reviews criticize the movie for being derivative and using ideas from other works, but I don't think they realize that Astro *was* the original for most of these things. I respect that it's a retelling and reworking of the origin story - all I wanted was a fun and touching rebirth of the character; it didn't HAVE to remake the wheel for me; it just had to be good. =)

I left the movie smiling, having enjoyed for me the most *fun* movie of the summer. I've seen several good and bad movies this year, but this one had me beaming more than any of them, and I still am days later, and that's something.

I also haven't stopped researching Astro since I saw it as I'm just in love with the character. I'm starting with the 2003 series and working backwards series wise and already starting to collect the 1980's and 1960's sets. I may have never found this character had it not been for the movie, so I know it *is* attracting new fans of Tezuka's work. Sadly it's not doing well in the US, but I'm still greatly hoping with DVD/Blu-Ray sales later on and how it's doing in China, we have hope for a sequel. With the origin story out of the way, I think they could really flesh things out and make a good thing even better.

I enjoy a lot of anime and also sci-fi in general, but the only character who I've ever really felt this passionate about or enjoyed as much (even this early on) I think is The Doctor (from Doctor Who), and a funny fact - they both began airing the same year - 1963. Must've been a bloody good year! ^.^ (And I started with the "new" iteration for him as well before progressing back in time to check out the old stuff!)

[Ninjatron]

I wrote an article about the apparent political themes in the movie and what I perceive to be the overreaction to them. Please give it a read and leave comments there if you would like to discuss it further.

http://astroboyworld.blogspot.com/2009/11/red-and-blue-politics-of-astro-boy.html

Sayonara.