I was really looking forward to this movie. I grew up watching Astro Boy on TV. I hadn't seen it in a few decades, so I was eager to see an updated version. In addition, I now have a young son who had never seen anything Astro Boy related. Here are my thoughts on the movie.
The Good: Visually, the movie is great. There's a lot of good action. I liked the story (well, at least 1/3 of it). My kid liked it and I think most kids will like it too. The main character is very likable. They incorporated some elements from the TV show, including some shots from the opening.
The Bad: After a particular point (there's a big fade to black), the story goes south and the movie becomes ordinary (hence you see a lot of people comparing it to many other movies). The villain is very one-dimensional. Every movie has a "shape shifter" (a character that is perceived by the audience as being bad and then turns out to be good, or vice versa). In this movie, the "shape shifter" is extremely obvious, no surprise there!
The Ugly: This movie is used as blatant propaganda for the left. I don't know if it's as obvious for people outside America. I had to check the credits to see if Michael Moore was involved with the movie. Before you label me as over reacting or even "paranoid", hear me out. At the center of the story, there's a conflict between good and evil, represented by red (negative) energy versus blue (positive) energy. In American Presidential elections, the color red represents conservatives and the color blue represents liberals. As it so happens, there's a Presidential election going on this movie. The villain of the movie is the sitting President, named Stone; he's running for re-election. Through out the movie, liberal causes and the candidate running against the President (named Logan) are connected to the color blue. The President mocks the blue energy as being all about "save the dolphins, give peace a chance". The audience is told blue energy is going to restore the forests and undo the damage caused by years of pollution. We see a billboard for Logan showing him holding a white dove and he happens to be wearing a large blue pin on his lapel. It says nothing on it, just solid blue color (strange, isn't it?). Tell me if this reminds you of anyone, the President, who is very adamant about using the red energy instead of the blue one, says "how can my approval ratings be so low", "I've cut taxes for a lot of very influential friends" and goes to refer to Logan as a "darn dirty hippie". In addition, in two separate occasions, the President states that he wants to start a war because "That's bound to get me re-elected". Gee, who could they be trying to make Stone represent? (LOL). Still not convinced? What is Logan's campaign slogan? "Prosperity and Peace". What is Stone's slogan? Well wait for it wait for it "It's not time for change". If you are still in denial, I think you just lost your credibility. And, I haven't even said anything about the Lenin worshipping robots in this movie (they help the good guy of course). The political bias was even worst than Wall-E. I should have known as soon as I saw Nicholas Cage on the credits. He's also in the cast for a movie that uses an ant colony to represent a Communist utopia, called "The Ant Bullie".
Maybe you are OK with your kids being indoctrinated at an early age, but some of us, regardless of our own political views, we rather keep political messages out of kid's movies.
The Good: Visually, the movie is great. There's a lot of good action. I liked the story (well, at least 1/3 of it). My kid liked it and I think most kids will like it too. The main character is very likable. They incorporated some elements from the TV show, including some shots from the opening.
The Bad: After a particular point (there's a big fade to black), the story goes south and the movie becomes ordinary (hence you see a lot of people comparing it to many other movies). The villain is very one-dimensional. Every movie has a "shape shifter" (a character that is perceived by the audience as being bad and then turns out to be good, or vice versa). In this movie, the "shape shifter" is extremely obvious, no surprise there!
The Ugly: This movie is used as blatant propaganda for the left. I don't know if it's as obvious for people outside America. I had to check the credits to see if Michael Moore was involved with the movie. Before you label me as over reacting or even "paranoid", hear me out. At the center of the story, there's a conflict between good and evil, represented by red (negative) energy versus blue (positive) energy. In American Presidential elections, the color red represents conservatives and the color blue represents liberals. As it so happens, there's a Presidential election going on this movie. The villain of the movie is the sitting President, named Stone; he's running for re-election. Through out the movie, liberal causes and the candidate running against the President (named Logan) are connected to the color blue. The President mocks the blue energy as being all about "save the dolphins, give peace a chance". The audience is told blue energy is going to restore the forests and undo the damage caused by years of pollution. We see a billboard for Logan showing him holding a white dove and he happens to be wearing a large blue pin on his lapel. It says nothing on it, just solid blue color (strange, isn't it?). Tell me if this reminds you of anyone, the President, who is very adamant about using the red energy instead of the blue one, says "how can my approval ratings be so low", "I've cut taxes for a lot of very influential friends" and goes to refer to Logan as a "darn dirty hippie". In addition, in two separate occasions, the President states that he wants to start a war because "That's bound to get me re-elected". Gee, who could they be trying to make Stone represent? (LOL). Still not convinced? What is Logan's campaign slogan? "Prosperity and Peace". What is Stone's slogan? Well wait for it wait for it "It's not time for change". If you are still in denial, I think you just lost your credibility. And, I haven't even said anything about the Lenin worshipping robots in this movie (they help the good guy of course). The political bias was even worst than Wall-E. I should have known as soon as I saw Nicholas Cage on the credits. He's also in the cast for a movie that uses an ant colony to represent a Communist utopia, called "The Ant Bullie".
Maybe you are OK with your kids being indoctrinated at an early age, but some of us, regardless of our own political views, we rather keep political messages out of kid's movies.