Review 8: Astro Boy (2009 movie)

When it comes to adaptations, it's usually hit-or-miss when it goes to film.... ESPECIALLY when the United States does it. This time, the US tried it again with the 2009 film Astro Boy. Bear with me, because this will be my first review in a good long while...

To those needing a history recap, Astro Boy, also known as Mighty Atom, was conceived as a manga in the year 1952, with the anime debuting on New Years Day: January 1st, 1963 (roughly 11 years later) as the first anime ever in Japan. This android boy was created by Osamu Tezuka, a legendary illustrator and author that only had a few works, but is widely revered as the "God of Manga", "Father of Anime", and Japanese equivalent to Walt Disney. He would inspire other manga artists in the trade, among which being Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball fame. In chronology, Astro Boy would be the first robotic super boy, predating Keiji Inafune's Mega Man by 35 years, with the anime being as old as Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Tetsujin 28-go, the first mecha anime to ever exist, though to us in the states, we would know it as Gigantor. That tidbit is a little funny, considering Tezuka inspired Yokoyama, with Gigantor's manga being made in 1956, 4 years after Astro Boy's. The manga would see 5 different adaptations after the original 1963 title, consisting of a 1987 American comic, 3 anime series, and today's topic: the 2009 film.

In the movie, Toby Tenma is a 13 year old prodigy after his dad, scientist Bill Tenma. But while testing the Peacekeeper robot with one of 2 experimental energies, Toby is locked on the opposing side of a barrier that has the Peacekeeper, gone AWOL, inside. With a disappearance that pretty much

Astro and Dr. Bill Tenma

equates death, as Toby is never found again, a distraught Tenma works to fill that hole with a robot in his son's likeness, hoping to make thins up to him as a father. But when this new "Toby" proves to not be the same as his old self, Bill grows distant, whereas Dr. O'Shay, his colleague, tries to bridge things, yet ultimately fails as he runs off. Now "Toby" or as one would call him Astro Boy, must come to terms with what he is, and for Bill to somehow accept that Toby can never be replicated thoroughly... but the robot he made is still like family to him... of course, there would be troubles from the outside, part of which involving his core...

The film takes some licenses from the original work, as Dr. Tenma outright abandons him ans sells him off, with Professor Ochiamizu, known as Elefun in a few adaptations and as Dr. O'Shay in the movie, being the parental figure in Tenma's stead. While I can accept the robotic family never appearing, the mother is also omitted from the film as well, though there are a few unique characters that come into play. In addition, the setting of the film takes liberty from the 2003 anime, although different in appearance. Where as the anime had it based off of Modern Day Tokyo as a part of Earth, albeit advanced, the 2009 film went further with it. Almost like taking cues from other futuristic works, Metro City is more isolated ans separated from the Earth. There is also a bit of elitism going on, as while Metro City aims for the result of human kind and robots cooperating in tandem, the fact that the rich and wealthy are allowed there while the rest remain on Earth implies some Class segregation was incorporated. It's fully animated in CGI, like other films I may have touched on like Tekken: Blood Vengeance. The studio responsible was Imagi Animation Studio, a Hong Kong-based animation company that closed its doors a year later. It featured the voices of Nicholas Cage, Samuel L. Jackson Kristen Bell, and Freddie Highmore as Toby/Astro. Unfortunately, Astro Boy was a hefty bust in the box office; of the worldwide budget of $65 Million, it only garnered $44.1 million in film gross. Only in China was the film received very positively, breaking their CGI box office record. It also cost Imagi $23 million, as some could credit the failure of the movie as the end of Imagi Animation Studio, taking out with it a few planned movies also adapted from anime legends.

While not completely faithful to the source, I like how they retained the character designs, even if we Alita: Battle Angel (2019), which grossed out at $404.1 million in the first weekend overall.

Cora, one of the original characters in the film

don't really see the iconic outfit (or lack thereof) as much in the film. And it kept some elements in tact concerning Astro's development, including the robot circus, albeit the change to how he got there. My dislike comes in where they had him run away as opposed to full on abandonment like in the manga, but give a nod as the attempt of redemption late in the film from Dr. Tenma, but the plot overall was just too... campy and generic in theme. I won't lie to you: seeing it the first time, I liked it... but not enough to look past its flaws, and looking at it again recently, they were elephants in the room from a geek standpoint. in terms of visuals, the film was impressive enough, but would pale in comparison to Alita: Battle Angel (2019).

The film was a failure in revenue, certainly... but in terms of content... I have a slightly better outlook of it, putting this in the 6 out of 10 bracket. A pity that Astro Boy, being the first and the origin of the anime genre, had such an abysmal grossing film... but knowing this place, I HAVE seen worse...