Astro Boy Movie

[The Tawashi Bus Hat]

Probably no chance for a sequel, but they are making a PLUTO movie adaptation apparently, so I guess that's kinda like a sequel.

[fafner]

I'm convinced more than ever that lousy marketing killed the movie. Curse you, Summit!

That's certain. If I hadn't read here there was a movie, I would probably have never known about it. I even had to buy it online because where I live it simply didn't exist. And no I don't live in the middle of nowhere

[kokoro]

I just watched it an hour ago. I think the thing that bothers me the most is that the robot-discrimination was made into comic relief. The RRF is still my favorite scene, though. "Viva la robotolution!"

[Hikari Tail]

...I have mixed feelings about the movie so I am not even sure if I want to see a part 2 of it. Here are some of the pro and cons, yeah people this is going to be a long one but it needed to be said.. I first really really liked the movie but after watching it two times after I got to say..gave me time to think..


Cons robot-discrimination, one of the biggest themes in the comic that would often be a fiction portrayel of how blacks, jews and homosexuals have to deal and fight with their rights, is turned into a joke into the movie and very downplayed. It also seems Astro doesn't care about the issue as he does in the anime or comics.

Astro is not really Astro he is Tobio Now let me explain. Astro boy is different from Tobio. Not only being a robot but his personality as well. In the movie Astroboy is Tobio in a robot's body. This COM PLENTY ruins the whole point of Tenma not wanting him anymore. Tenma didn't want Astroboy anymore because 1: he could not grow and 2: he is not Tobio. In the movie Astro = Tobio he has all his manners, memories and personality intached. Making Tenma just look like an idiot. Tobio isn't really dead only his body has been torn into pieces. In the manga and anime Tobio really really is dead. His body and his soul/memories. That made the impact so hard and harsh. The robot characters They were not funny, they weren't interesting.


Professor Ochanomizu

you know, the professor that is supposed to be the adopted father/teacher figure for Astroboy. He was Astro's center of logic and restrain? The counter parter to Doctor Tenma? The one who would travel across the world just to find Asto? Yeah in this movie he is as ussefull as a dust cleaner. He doesn't have any impact on Astro, his whole relationship with him is none void. His only usefulness in the movie was being someone Tenma could talk to like a wall not someone who would have impact and effect on Tenma at all. We astro fans like him because we know what and who he really is. But imagine if you never heard of Astro boy before you saw this movie, don't deny that you wouldn't think the character should be scrapped as he has no purpose.


Doctor Tenma

OHHH AS Tenma being one of my favorite characters I can really say he got one big 4Kids make over. Tenma was insane at times, dark and edgy. In Both manga and anime the loss of Tobio drove him to insanity and darkness so far up the point that he wanted Robots to rule over the world and he has suicide tendencies plus he in many forms of relationships is kind of an abuser. DOes any of this things show up in the movie? Nope.
Was most of these things a little to dark for the Movie? Yes.
But could some of his themes and extremes be in the movie? Yes
did they do any of this? No.
Like my Tobio rant, Astro is not really Astroboy in the movie he is Tobio this the whole Tenma wanted Astro to leave is kind of awkward and doesn't really make any sense. I could go more on this but then I would be typing the whole week here.


The Pro's
The Sky citty
Was a really nice concept, it reminds me of Metropoils and Astroboy where the world is divided into two cities, one big and ugly while one modern and rich. Its kind of sad they didn't explore more on this issue. I like to know what possessed the people to live like this separated from the rest of the world.

Cora

Cora was a nice love interest for Astro, the only issue I have with her is that her reasons for running away from home isn't explored or revealed.

The bad guy he is really a typical Tezuka like-bad character, A man who goes power hungry and does everything to get his ways. Only downside is that he didn't die. ( How could he survived that explosion ? )

Cameos The Appearances of Osamu Tezuka himself and his other characters and symbols made me giggly like a fangirl. It did gave me the idea the the creators of the movie did took some time and engry into the world of Astro and Tezuka. ( too bad they didn't add Rock that would be the icing on the cake ) The ending the ending was pretty nice a little emotional as well as leaving us with another wink-wink only Astroboy fans would get.

[The Tawashi Bus Hat]

I agree with Hikari on all the cons of the movie. :/ I watched it again recently and, while it didn't big me before as much, the amount that they downplayed the character of Ochanomizu really irked me. They went in this whole "LOL Lostboys" direction and left him in the dust. Yeah, I know the movie was made for kids and whatever, but was that really necessary?

On a side note, Shunsaku Ban had...like four lines! WTF!? He's one of Tezuka's most canon characters! COME ON!

And Tenma was a pale stereotype of his former self. I mean, yeah he went a little nuts, but the way it was portrayed was on the verge of being corny. The emotional segments with him were done well, what few there were for a guy who's kid got vaporized (SPOILERS), but compared to the Tenma in the comics...he's practically jolly.

I liked the bad guy...forgot his name...crap... :d oh: But, I felt they played up the humor a bit much on him. If they cut some of that and made him a tad more serious, he would have been a great Tezuka villain. But anyway...


I still hate Cora...

[Prettywitchiusaka]

Ah, so you're Tawashi Bus Hat; it's nice to meet you.

But yeah, I have REALLY agree with you both on OChanimizu/O'Shay. Now to be fair, I do feel that the protrayal of Ochanimizu is fairly accurate. Heck, I don't even really have any complaints with his voice. BUt teh fact that's reduced to a mere minor role realy confuses me? Ochanimizu is a REALLY likeable character; a kind and compassionate soul willing to stand up for his beliefs and defend them to the end, and all while he's probably in his sixties. Yes, they keep that, but he's not as proactive as he should be. If anything, he should have gone to Earth to look for Astro, they should have bonded and so forth. But, I guess they just didn't think of that.

As for Tenma...well...yeah...Now admittedly, Tenma is very different in every version of Astro Boy. So making him more mellow is okay. But even so, he still needs to have that dark side that's constantly looming in teh background. This is a guy who despite his intelligence and sophistication, is ruled by his emotions and his desire to control EVERYTHING he touches. He needs to at least be somewhat uncontrolled in his passion is he's going to be Tenma. As for his voice, well...I wasn't exactly fond of Cage just phoning in his lines, though I've heard from April that he has played a much more Tenma-like character in another movie, so this could be more of the script's fault than his.

Oh yes, THANK YOU! I don't see any point of Tobio being vaporized. First of all, it's much more traumatizing than seeing a child die in a car accident. Second, Tenma's insanity takes hold once he learns of his child's early demise. Wouldn't seeing his son killed RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM drive him completely off the deep end as opposed to slightly off the deep end?

And speaking of Shunsaku Ban, how come they also didn't have Tawashi in this movie? Or Skunk for that matter? OKay, admittedly Skunk is sequel material, but how coem no Tawashi?

As for teh robot rights issue...well...I don't mind it as much, but it still bothers me. I appreciate that it's there, but I just wish that more had been done with it. Though to be fair, I defenitely think they could have touched on it more in a sequel.

[The Tawashi Bus Hat]

Ah, so you're Tawashi Bus Hat; it's nice to meet you.

What have they told you?!

And speaking of Shunsaku Ban, how come they also didn't have Tawashi in this movie? Or Skunk for that matter? OKay, admittedly Skunk is sequel material, but how come no Tawashi?

THANK YOU! They threw in all these throw-away characters and didn't even put in the ones that made Astroboy as strong a franchise as it is. Some of the decisions they made with this movie are very puzzling - if they DO make a part two, they better make some appearances.

[Prettywitchiusaka]

[QUOTE=Prettywitchiusaka;194584]Ah, so you're Tawashi Bus Hat; it's nice to meet you.

What have they told you?!

And speaking of Shunsaku Ban, how come they also didn't have Tawashi in this movie? Or Skunk for that matter? OKay, admittedly Skunk is sequel material, but how come no Tawashi?

THANK YOU! They threw in all these throw-away characters and didn't even put in the ones that made Astroboy as strong a franchise as it is. Some of the decisions they made with this movie are very puzzling - if they DO make a part two, they better make some appearances.[/QUOTE]

(laughs) Not much, I've just heard a few people say they've missed you around here these last few days is all.

Yeah, I know what you mean. While Tawashi may not be one of favorite characters in Astro Boy, I do still enjoy him and I feel that not having him in the movie makes no sense. After all, he's a proactive cheif police, and weaving him throughout teh film would provide for a great character arc. Suppose he didn't like president Stone (I can only imaginene why), but wasn't fond of robots either like he usually is and is merely following orders to get Astro back? Suppose he started to question if wether or not his actions were right or not? Suppose he finally caved in and looked into teh president's records, and decided to arrest him instead? In my opinion, that would be a nice character arc for Tawashi now wouldn't it?

And come one; you seriously can't tell me there wouldn't have been some potential in seeing him argue with Ochanimizu/O'Shay, now wouldn't it?

On a side note, I could actually see Gary Oldman playing Tawashi for a film version.