Why you hated the Astro Boy Movie?

[Little Brown Fox]

Something I noticed while watching the movie once: when Tenma activates "Toby", it seems as though the machines are drawing energy FROM him, rather than pouring energy INTO him. Of course, I theorized that it may be drawing the energy from the core, so as to get the energy flowing naturally from the core into his body, much like a beating heart pumping blood. However, there are scenes in the film that contradict this, such as when Tenma puts it back in him, and he wakes up, without the lengthy activation process. Of course, one could write this off as being simply because the core itself only needed activating once, to work the way it needed to for Astro's more complicated body (remember, the Peacekeeper didn't need the red core to be "activated"- of course, there are several other theories I could come up with, to be discussed at a later time).

But then, we run into the problem presented later, when Astro has apparently "died", and the blue core appears to have been "emptied", having relinquished its infinite, presumably self-sustaining power when it was used to destroy the red core by causing the same and equal reaction (because in THIS movie, the idea of "opposites attract" has no effect). Now, Zog comes along, and spares some of the energy that Astro had lent him earlier. Again, this knocks the idea of activation for a loop. Also, one has to wonder, at this point, whether the energy is now finite; because Zog only spared a small portion (of the small portion Astro had given him) of his total energy. The rest was flung every which way in the explosion preceeding these events. And remember, the core was /dead/, so it's not likely to become a source of infinite, self-sustaining pure positive energy any time soon, if ever. (which reminds me, apparently pure positive energy has magical healing powers) I also wonder, now that I think on it, whether the energy is capable of being diluted. Wouldn't being transplanted into a foreign container do just that?

Of course, in the end, none of what I just said really matters, because I'm pretty sure the writers and director weren't thinking about it that logically. So essentially, every theory I've come up with is basically null and void. -___-

[Toshio]

That movie is a failure, it doesn't capt the original concept of the character at all.
I'd preffer the story to focus about ONLY Dr. Tenma personal tragedy.
It was stupid making a plot which Tobio dies vaporized in a military test and making a pointless villain like Stone.
Then again, it's much better watching the real thing than that junk...

[Little Brown Fox]

Moar stuff~

Remember how I said Hamegg was a nice guy? Well, it occurred to me that after the incident at the robot games, his character does a complete 180, as he plans on abandoning the children when it looks like his business has gone down the pipes.

Another thing, in regards to the very beginning of the film: 1) WHY were they watching that little film about robots? It didn't seem to have any pertinence, as Mustachio gave them a pop quiz on physics immediately afterwards. And 2), remember when Toby said "For rocket science, it wasn't really rocket science"? That statement was self-contradictory, for one thing. For another, what exactly counts as "rocket science"? While I'm sure that the study of physics plays a very important part in the design and construction of rockets, it seems odd to refer to "Level 5 Physics" exclusively as "rocket science". Also, why would they be teaching highschool students "rocket science", anyhow? Unless everyone in Metro City is super-smart?

One more thing: when Astro is hanging out with Hamegg and the orphans, I noticed something a little bit... /disturbing/ on one of the television screens, something that I feel I may have noticed the very first time I watched the movie: "Robots Gone Wild", complete with censorship bars. I'm sure that I was quite as disturbed the first time I noticed as I am now. O_O;

Finally, there are lots of Hyotansugis to find, if you know where to look for them. :3

[AprilSeven]

You did a good job lining up the :d oh: moments, LBF . . .

Here's my stab at making sense out of nonsense.

Perhaps the negative and positive energy - when isolated from each other - become self-sustaining. But when brought together, they "cancel each other other out" (or "die")

This could be the reaction of a dying star - and somehow Elefun and his crew pulled the two energies apart, and they were left with two self-sustaining energy sources that would continue indefinitely.

THAT would explain why Astro could "pour" his blue energy into Zog - who was able to regenerate enough for himself . . . and later for allow him to "pour" blue energy into Astro.

I can't explain the big power-boost thing when they were first activating Astro. That made no sense at all to me.

Also the dopey "Robots are Our Friends" video being shown to students who were taking an advanced level physics course?

I have a feeling this movie had more people telling them what to do and how to do it than we can ever imagine. I wish some news about the new Pluto film would show up! I'm starting to wonder if that's going to happen now!

[Little Brown Fox]

I never read Pluto, to be quite honest... the mature depiction of the storyline and the realistic aesthetic are sort of major "turn-offs" for me.

Heh, I didn't list them in any particular order; those ideas have been bugging me for a while, though (except the bit about "Our Friends the Robots", though; I just thought of that). And the Hyotansugi thing was just thrown in as an afterthought. It makes me happy every time I happen to spot a new one. :3

I've never thought of the energy being self-sustaining in and of itself; just the cores, or the "containers", if you will. The way I see it, as long as the core still has energy left, it can regenerate the amount that was lost, and be self-sustaining. However, the red and blue core energies seem incapable of mixing, and effectively "canceled each other out", as you said. So putting energy back into something that was already dead would not work in the same way; it becomes less a "heart", and more something like a "receptacle", to be filled and refilled once it empties.

Dr. Elefun said that the "raw materials" (question mark?) came from "the remains of a star, billions of lightyears away that no longer even exists". Uh, /what?/ Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't "stars" those big, burning balls of gas floating out there in space? A /falling star/, then, maybe; otherwise known as a meteor. So, these materials are more likely to have come from a "meteorite".

Now, it seems that they refined these materials somehow, perhaps resulting in the blue core, as well as its byproduct, the red core; or they used the refined materials more like components or ingredients to create the core, refining the mixture itself to obtain the end result. Either way, these "materials" can be considered the "crude" for the usable product, the blue core; and the red core was the waste left over from the process.

I am aware that we are picking apart a childrens' movie, which will, as such, have childrens' movie logic. But this is also science fiction, and there is only so much you can get away with, without the inclusion of supernatural powers. And Astro Boy usually does not dwell in the realm of magic or radioactive superpowers, if at all.

[F-Man]

I have a feeling this movie had more people telling them what to do and how to do it than we can ever imagine. I wish some news about the new Pluto film would show up! I'm starting to wonder if that's going to happen now!

It's too early to even think about the movie I think. These are the movies that Illumination Entertainment has in plan, in no particular order:

• Despicable Me 2
• Untitled Despicable Me "Minion" spinoff
• Flanimals
• The Addams Family
• Curious George
• Untitled Cryptozoology Project
• Pluto
• Uglydolls
• Gospel for Teens
• Dr. Seuss' biopic
• Emily the Strange
• Woody Woodpecker
• Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat
• Clifford the Big Red Dog
• Lockwood & Co.: The Screaming Staircase

And they're only producing one or two per year. That's why I've said since the beginning that we shouldn't expect anything until at least 2018.

I never read Pluto, to be quite honest... the mature depiction of the storyline and the realistic aesthetic are sort of major "turn-offs" for me.

As someone who also appreciates more childish designs (and the potential of stories that can appeal to any age groups), I really think you should give Pluto a chance. It's an expertly constructed emotional roller-coaster. Urasawa isn't called the new Tezuka for nothing.

[Little Brown Fox]

I dunno... Atom just looks "wrong" to me. He's always looked a little bit too "human", but that's not even the problem here. It... just doesn't appeal to my sense of aesthetics. And I tend to shy away from anything to do with murder, or graphic violence (except for certain television shows; I love Criminal Minds and CSI- I used to like Law and Order: SVU, but not as much anymore). At least, in anything where I think it doesn't belong. Granted, death on a massive scale is a very real possibility within Atom's universe; I think that there actually /was/ death in the war between robots and humans in the 2003 series; or at least, it was implied.

[Prettywitchiusaka]

[QUOTE=AprilSeven;205569]I have a feeling this movie had more people telling them what to do and how to do it than we can ever imagine. I wish some news about the new Pluto film would show up! I'm starting to wonder if that's going to happen now!

It's too early to even think about the movie I think. These are the movies that Illumination Entertainment has in plan, in no particular order:

• Despicable Me 2
• Untitled Despicable Me "Minion" spinoff
• Flanimals
• The Addams Family
• Curious George
• Untitled Cryptozoology Project
• Pluto
• Uglydolls
• Gospel for Teens
• Dr. Seuss' biopic
• Emily the Strange
• Woody Woodpecker
• Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat
• Clifford the Big Red Dog
• Lockwood & Co.: The Screaming Staircase

And they're only producing one or two per year. That's why I've said since the beginning that we shouldn't expect anything until at least 2018.

I never read Pluto, to be quite honest... the mature depiction of the storyline and the realistic aesthetic are sort of major "turn-offs" for me.

As someone who also appreciates more childish designs (and the potential of stories that can appeal to any age groups), I really think you should give Pluto a chance. It's an expertly constructed emotional roller-coaster. Urasawa isn't called the new Tezuka for nothing.[/QUOTE]

They're making a Dr. Seuss bio-pic? That might be interesting, depending on how much of the story is actual fact.

Anyway, I see your point, but I'd like to at least hope we'll get something in the next few years. Especially since that proposed OVA series may never get off the ground.

Hopefully when we do get it though, we can get a four film series, with two volumes per film. Though that might be impossible given what happens to Astro in volume 4.

[GreenDarthVader]

I never read Pluto, to be quite honest... the mature depiction of the storyline and the realistic aesthetic are sort of major "turn-offs" for me.

Honestly, I was in the same boat as you. Half the reason I loved 80s astro boy was the humor of this happy little robot facing a ton of dark depressing stuff in a kids cartoon. Also, I hate the trend of "If we take something and make it darker and edgier, it will make it better."

However, when I actually read it, I felt it was darker and edgier done right. (I will try to be as spoiler free as possible) First off, for the most part, it isn't really an astro boy story. Astro is not the main protagonist (Heck, he doesn't even appear until the last page of vol 1 if I remember correctly). Despite this, the author does take themes Tezuka has brought up and plays with them in a modern light. He also looks at the implications of an astro boy world. For example, why do robots in astro boy eat if they don't need the nutrients? In Pluto, it's them trying to fit in with humans so they can be accepted despite the prejudice against them.

At the very least, pick up the first volume for one reason alone: there is a self contained story around the middle to the end about an old musician being forced to live with North # 2 (The second robot Pluto kills in the story) and their complex relationship. It is really well done, especially when North's past collides with the old musician's.

Is it different then Tezuka's Astro Boy? Yes. But it's different in a good way I did not expect. Not perfect, but good.

[Windswept Cloak]

(Revives thread)

The movie was too Americanized, Atomu was pretty out of character, and I disliked most of the plot changes. Besides, they should have used more characters from Tezuka's Star System instead of President Stone and Cora and all those new characters.