Astroboy Directed by: David Bowers Cast: Kristen Bell, Nicolas Cage, Samuel L. Jackson, Freddy Highmore Running Time: 1hr 15 min Rating: PG Release Date: October 23, 2009

PLOT: The surface of the earth is in polluted ruins, but one advanced society has built a hovering city in the sky called Metro City. When top Metro City scientist, Dr. Tenma (Cage), loses his son in an expirement gone haywire, Tenma builds a robotic replacement with all of his son's feelings and memories.

WHO'S IT FOR? Slightly older children and their families, and fans of the original Astroboy manga.

EXPECTATIONS:I haven't read the manga, so I had no idea. I based my expectations solely on the name Astroboy, which is super inane without any context.

SCORECARD (0-10)

ACTORS: Kristen Bell as Cora: Bell is a nice choice, because she sounds young enough but she's old enough to have the experience to make it work. Bell's voice talent is nice and standard: it doesn't distract you (Nicolas Cage), but it doesn't necessarily inspire any awe, either. Also Cora is a canned character: the tough older girl in charge of the group who hides her sorrow/heart of gold/vulnerabilities under layers of scrappy toughness. It's a bit dull. Score: 6

Freddie Highmore as Astro: Highmore is truly great as Astro/Toby. I didn't care for the character when he was still human, because it was mostly smug and superior shenanigans and no one likes a show off. Once Toby is turned into Astro, his father rejects him horribly because he isn't an exact copy of the son who died. This dichotomy presents all sorts of interesting emotional complexities and Highmore works hard to keep up with it. Score: 8

Nicolas Cage as Tenma: You know when a movie is good but not great, and you can't quite put your finger on why? That's not the case here: Nicolas Cage is the embarrassing drunken uncle at the party. The man can't do voices. It's agony listening to him try. Many times he'll misread the script and put the inflection or emphasis in exactly the wrong place: "What...are you doing...here...Toby? I thought I told you...to stay...in the...house." Score: 1

Samuel L. Jackson as Zog: Zog doesn't have a lot of lines, but he has the most memorable line in the movie ("I'm old school") and he's a terrific character. Plus, it's Sam L. Pre-S.O.A.P, he was cool no matter what he did. Score: 7

TALKING: The dialogue is strong and I didn't expect that. It won't knock your socks off, but it's always good fun. That's all anyone really wants anyway, right? Score: 7

SIGHTS: Rollick in the eyecandy--it's a great looking movie. The humans are fine, but the anthropomorphized robots are the absolute coolest. The action sequences are also just fantastic, which is the main reason why you should think twice before taking younger kids to see this. Some really scary things happen in Astroboy. Score: 8

SOUNDS: The score did its job without standing out. You wouldn't want to listen to the score on its own, but it complements the movie. Score: 7

PLOT SPOILERS

BEST SCENE: Personally, my favorite scene is Cora's gift to Grace. "What would I get for such a sweet little girl?"

ENDING: Wow. Really bad day for Metro City. When it rains it pours, right?

QUESTIONS: Why can't the science whiz turned robotic warrior be a girl just once?

REWATCHABILITY: I would rent it, which is still a compliment. Usually once is enough with most movies.

OVERALL

I didn't expect to like this movie as much as I did. I thought it was entertaining and funny, although dark as all hell and somewhat disturbing on more than one level. That is probably essential for any Astroboy purists out there. I previewed the movie with a handful of serious fans, and they were all very pleased by the movie's adaptation of the original story. One fan in particular was satisfied when the movie included Astro's "butt guns." Apparently there was a running debate before the movie started as to whether or not the butt guns would make it...and they DID! Sigh of relief! No, I kid; I get what it's like to be a fan hoping against all hope that Hollywood will actually respect the foundation characters and story. From what I gathered from the die-hards around me, Astroboy does a decent job of pleasing its fans. Just prepare yourself for the unimaginable pain that is Nicolas Cage trying to believably read from a script.

FINAL SCORE: 7/10