Astro Boy
Astro Boy has remained an endearing and enduring character since his inception in 1951 as a Japanese comic book character that spawned cartoons which became the touchstone of today’s anime. Freddie Highmore is the voice of the robot boy with super hero powers caught between the worlds of humans and androids. With doe eyes and Ronald Reagan hair he’s the exact replica of the tragically killed Tobio the son of his creator, the brilliant robot scientist Dr Tenma (Nicolas Cage). He comes from Metro City a place that holds itself aloof – literally. As the earth became less pleasant the city fathers arranged to levitate their metropolis into the sky and over time the rest of the world became a dumping ground for their discarded robot parts. Despite his super powers and capacity for love Tenma finds the robot boy an unbearable reminder of the son whose death he was responsible for. Meantime the mean (all the time) General Stone (Donald Sutherland) lusts after Astro Boy’s power source as a source of power for his new weapons of mass destruction. The boy escapes Stone’s clutches to the world below where robots are held in contempt and where a group of orphans sheltered by Ham Egg (Nathan Lane) accept him as a human but attitudes change when his secret is found out. This latest rendering from director David Bowers who gave us Flushed Away in 2006 features Stunning and exciting CGI animation along with the voices of Kristen Bell, Samuel L. Jackson, Charlize Theron, Bill Nighy and Eugene Levy but unlike his ’06 offering Astro Boy is not as much fun for adults as it is for kids.