Review for Astro Boy (Review)
Saturday, 22nd May 2010, 15:40

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Introduction
Much as I love anime, I've become quite wary of Hollywood taking it on, apt as they are to remake foreign properties to turn a quick buck without expending any brain cells. I've also seen the emptiness of grand promises wasted again and again. James Cameron's Battle Angel Alita, Spielberg's Ghost In The Shell, DiCaprio's Akira, and Keanu doing Cowboy Bebop, all announcements designed to make anime fans go 'Woo!', but projects that remain in development hell, until they are lost from memory. Instead we have to make do with travesties like The Guyver, Streetfighter: The Movie and Dragonball Z. My retinas have refused to even let me watch the Speed Racer trailer, let alone the whole movie. So when the Hollywood adaptation of Astro Boy was announced, I approached it with no little scepticism.

After all, this is the original anime, the first post-war production that really put Japanese anime on the map, created by the godfather of anime himself, Osamu Tezuka. Astro Boy truly was a global phenomenon, as recognisable as Mickey Mouse, and just as ubiquitous. The manga was created in 1952, the first anime was made in 1963, and since then further series have been made on a regular basis. The most recent one, made in 2003 has even been shown on British television in the Saturday morning slot, so the market for a feature length Astro Boy movie is certainly ripe. But, it is a Hollywood CGI animation, and Hollywood CGI animations from companies like Pixar and Dreamworks all tend to follow a set formula, they tend to blur into one morass, a cute story for the kids, and plenty of pop culture references and quick fire gags for the grown ups. For Astro Boy's unique outlook to be subsumed into that gestalt would be worse than tragic. So, with my heart in my mouth, I placed the disc into the player…

The world of the future is a mess, polluted, barren, harsh and ugly. Fortunately for the residents of the futuristic Metro City, that isn't a concern, as their paradise has been lifted up from the ruins of Earth, and now floats aloof in the sky, its residents living perfect, idyllic lives in peace and tranquillity. That's all down to the miracle of robots, as machines now serve Man's every need, and it's all down to the best robotics engineer of them all, Dr Tenma. But the world isn't perfect yet, there still exists war, there still exists power, and the lust for it, and there still exists grief and loss. In his grief and loss, and perhaps a moment of insanity, Dr Tenma created a robot to take the place of his son Toby, who had died in an industrial accident. But it didn't take long for Tenma to realise that Astro was no true replacement for his son, even if he had his memories and his likeness, and Astro was left to fend for himself on the surface of the Earth, now a barren junk heap full of discarded robots from Metro City, where the underclass of the world, both humans and robots now live. Abandoned and alone, Astro has to find his place in the world.

There's still that lust for power, which is where President Stone of Metro City comes in. He's up for re-election, and he needs something to boost his approval ratings. He needs some sort of military triumph, and has with Tenma's help created a 'Peacekeeper' robot to win the next war, as soon as he can find someone left to declare war upon. But the peacekeeper needs an ultimate power source, and it's Doctor Elefun, one of Tenma's associates, that has discovered positive Blue Core Energy, extracted from a fragment of a star. That power is practically infinite, and can be used for the ultimate good. Stone wants this power for the peacekeeper, but the problem is that it's currently powering Astro on the surface below. And the last thing that anyone wants is for Stone to use the negative Red Core Energy in his robot.

Picture
Astro Boy gets a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer. At this point in the DVD cycle, it's a hard slog even coming up with a nitpick about a film transfer onto DVD, especially if it's a CGI animation like Astro Boy. I can really only point at the minor aliasing issues that indicate the limit of the DVD format as a possible niggle. Fortunately, the Blu-ray is released on the same day (in a Blu-ray DVD combo for the best of both worlds), and you can have an even better image if you choose. Astro Boy's animation is a little quirky, a shade removed from the intricate detail of the Pixar films, with smoother textures and somewhat caricatured character designs, not quite faithful to the Tezuka originals, but not altogether blending into the Hollywood CGI way of doing things. If I could hazard a comparison, it reminds me of the Aardman animations, with a sculpted feel to the characters and the world, that wouldn't be out of place in a Wallace and Gromit movie. It's no surprise then that director David Bowers also helmed Flushed Away.

Sound
The DD 5.1 English track is pleasant enough, bringing across all the action and excitement, as the film requires. The music is nice, but hardly memorable, which is surprising given that the main theme is played to death over the main menu. The dialogue is clear throughout, and English Hard of Hearing subtitles are supplied if you need them, although only for the main feature.

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