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After being created more than 50 years ago by Osamu Tezuka and becoming one of Japan’s most beloved characters, the popular comic book hero Astro Boy makes his American big-screen debut.
Toby (voice of Freddie Highmore) lives with his workaholic father, Dr. Tenma, (voice of Nicolas Cage) in futuristic Metro City. A laboratory disaster leads to the youngster’s death and, in his grief, the mourning dad builds a robotic son with Toby’s memories and physical appearance — as well as rockets in his shoes and guns in his butt — that becomes Astro Boy.
A blue energy gives the main character his powers, including superspeed and X-ray vision, but he cannot seem to fit into his father’s world. As Astro Boy looks for a place to belong, there is a malevolent red energy out there and it is at the heart of Gen. Stone’s (voice of Donald Sutherland) plans for Metro City. It is only a matter of time before Astro Boy is pulled into the fight.
Director David Bowers’ ("Flushed Away") mix of action, humor and emotion keeps adults and children alike engaged during the film’s 94 minutes. It is easy to empathize with Astro Boy and his quest to fit in — and just as easy to hope the bad guys get what they deserve.
Overall, the voices — including Samuel L. Jackson, Bill Nighy, Nathan Lane and Charlize Theron — fit their respective roles and the CGI work is vibrant and detailed.
Though there are inconsistencies with the original comic, which spawned a TV series in Japan in the 1960s and, more importantly, the art of anime, with a major one being the filmmakers’ invention of Cora (voice of Kristen Bell), a cheeky Earth girl Astro Boy befriends.
Nevertheless, the director gives the much-loved classic "Astro Boy" a fresh approach.
Astro Boy
PG
Three reels out of four
In area theaters tomorrow
Whatever Works
PG-13
Available Tuesday
Respected funnymen Woody Allen and Larry David team up for "Whatever Works," a comedy about going with the flow.
David plays 60-year-old jaded New Yorker Boris Yellnikoff, who becomes romantically involved with naive, 20-year-old Southern belle/runaway Melodie St. Ann Celestine (Evan Rachel Wood). Written and directed by Allen, Boris’ philosophy lives up to the title, but his life becomes more complicated when Melodie’s parents (Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley Jr.) track her down.
Wood is fresh off the Oscar-nominated "The Wrestler," while David, one of the brains behind "Seinfeld," is still at it on TV with HBO’s "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
