Review: Astro Boy Movie

Image via Wikipedia

I felt [after the war] that existing comics were limiting. Most were drawn as if seated in an audience viewing from a stage, where the actors emerge from the wings and interact. This made it impossible to create dramatic or psychological effects, so I began to use cinematic techniques. - Osamu Tezuka

This quote is almost ironic in view of the new Astro Boy movie where Tezuka's cinematic drawings are turned into a slightly disappointing, limited movie.

I don't mean the movie is bad -- it has many good points. The computer animation does a valiant effort to capture Tezuka's style. I also liked the archaeology of robots, described both in a movie-within-a-movie at the beginning, and further illustrated by example with the robot circus, and cast-offs such as the aging Zog. And Tezuka himself appears in an animated cameo as one of Dr. Tenma's lab assistants. Best of all, I could sense the spirit and philosophy of Tezuka in the story, although it had problems emerging. The Astro Boy manga have a consistent theme of exploring class and racial equality, and what it means to be human. This movie touches on that, but not in an overt way.


Tezuka in his trademark beret, and as he drew himself in Astro Boy.

Here's the weakness of the movie: it tries to be all things to all kids, and loses focus in the process. For example, what's with the "floating city" story line? That went nowhere. In the story there's a girl who used to live in the city, but ran away. Later they're reunited without any explanation of why she left, or why her parents couldn't find her.

Another problem is the so-called star actors hired for the voices. If I ever make any animated movie remind me to strike Donald Sutherland and Nicholas Cage from the casting call. They plod through their lines like two mush mouths. Cage has the same hairdo as Dr. Tenma, but I picture the scientist as more fiery and passionate. Cage limps where he should leap.

Long-time Astro Boy fans might have problems with the blue core/red core MacGuffin, it's definitely not canon, but it helps "explain" to the uninitiated how and why Astro was different, something that's never touched on in the books (it's assumed that Tenma's genius made Astro special). And other than the armed guards, there aren't a lot of robots that show up in the city. I would have liked to have more variety in robots in the city.

Of course there are other missed opportunities, like barely showing Mr. Mustachio (aka Shunsuke Ban), but my main disappointment is reflected in Tezuka's quote: the movie was too limiting. Why do comic-book adaptations have to always focus on the origin story? I'd like to see some comic books made into movies where we start with a life-changing problem that isn't the birth of the hero, but is still an interesting arc. True, most comics don't offer too much in terms of character arc: Wolverine is still an Adamantium-laced killing machine at the end of nearly every issue of X-Men. But that doesn't preclude a movie where the character can change -- even if it's a moment of self-realization. That's what's what I wanted Astro Boy to be: a movie with Astro that takes me on a 90 minute trip where I forget myself, and learn something about the character. I don't need another origin -- I want a story I haven't heard before. And that's what Tezuka brought to the table in his manga.


Post script: I thought it was interesting they renamed Professor Ochanomizu to Dr. Albert Elefun (voiced by Bill Nighy). In Japanese "Ochanamizu" translates as "tea water", but it's also a neighborhood of Tokyo. Quite a few Astro Boy characters are named after Tokyo neighborhoods. But, I looked on Wikipedia, and apparently Elefun is also a common translation of his name, I guess because he's got a big nose like an elephant. "In various English translations of Astro Boy, he is also known as Dr. Packadermus Elefun, Professor Peabody, and Dr. O'Shay." So, I guess I learned something after all from the Astro Boy movie.

Now, looking forward to the Tintin movie.