Astro Boy

Astro Boy began life as a Japanese manga in 1951, was spun off into a long-running animated television series, and has appeared in various other incarnations since, including this new outing directed by David Bowers, which is ultimately disappointing, despite snazzy computer-generated animation and a high-caliber voice cast. The story begins when little Toby (voiced by Freddie Highmore)—son of Dr. Tenma (Nicolas Cage), a robotics genius in airborne Metro City—is killed by one of his father's own machines. The distraught Tenma installs Toby's consciousness into a robot—built in the dead boy's image—that is able to wield amazing powers. When the experiment doesn't pan out, however, Tenma abandons Astro Boy, sending him down to Earth, where he's adopted by a gang of orphans and their greedy surrogate father (Nathan Lane), who forces the tyke to compete in gladiatorial combat. After Astro Boy wins, Metro City's evil president (Donald Sutherland) takes him captive in order to extract his powers for nefarious purposes. Fortunately, Tenma sees the light and rushes to save his son, setting off a final confrontation with the evil prexy during which the pint-sized hero saves the day. Astro Boy is one weird tale—part Pinocchio and E.T. with Oliver Twist and Transformers thrown in—that sports a decidedly dark tone. While some slapstick characters are added to lighten the mood, even the preteen male target audience may find this too depressing. Optional. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “Designing a Hero” character featurette (11 min.), an “Inside the Recording Booth” featurette with voice actors including Kristen Bell, Nicolas Cage, and Donald Sutherland (10 min.), a “Building a Metro City” production featurette (8 min.), a “Creating a Global Icon” image gallery (5 min.), a “Getting the Astro Boy Look” hairstyle segment (3 min.), and two new animated sequences: “Astro vs. The Junkyard Pirates” and “The RRF In: The New Recruit” (5 min. total). Bottom line: a solid extras package for an unexceptional animated film.] (F. Swietek)