When an android replica of a boy is rejected by his aggrieved creator, he goes off to find his own identity in an adventure that would make him the greatest hero of his time.
An alien civilization is invaded by Astronaut Chuck Baker, who believes that the planet was uninhabited. Wanted by the military, Baker must get back to his ship before it goes into orbit without him.
Ten-year-old Arthur, in a bid to save his grandfather's house from being demolished, goes looking for some much-fabled hidden treasure in the land of the Minimoys, tiny people living in harmony with nature.
A local scientist is often regarded as a failure until he invents a machine that can make food fall from the sky. But little does he know, that things are about to take a turn for the worst.
Set in futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy is about a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist in the image of the son he has lost. Unable to fulfill the grieving man's expectations, our hero embarks on a journey in search of acceptance, experiencing betrayal and a netherworld of robot gladiators, before he returns to save Metro City and reconcile with the father who had rejected him.Written by
Anonymous
Billy Crystal were considered for the role of Orrin. See more »
Goofs
Astroboy's hair-spikes change position from left to right and vice versa throughout the whole movie.
But then, this is in keeping with the spirit of the original TV series, so it not quite a mistake. See more »
After the end credits, a card stating "When in Hong Kong, visit Imagi Studios" The art is the same classic style as the opening, with a tram touring a back lot. This is much like what Universal studios did at the end of their films. See more »
Alternate Versions
For television airings, rather than cropping, the film has been reanimated from scratch to 1.75:1. See more »
With its emphasis on recyclable cuteness, reusable cleverness, and regenerated CG wizardry, I would never go so far as to say that I hated Astro Boy - But, then again, I could never, ever say that I loved it, either.
If you were to actually take the time to watch the original, 2-D Astro Boy cartoons from the mid-1960s, I'm sure, like myself, that you'd most likely find them to be much more entertaining and, yes, even more thoughtful then this senseless rehashing of the tale of a wide-eyed, pointy-haired, robot boy who (under the surface of his apparent innocence) was essentially a lethal, all-powerful, one-man, destructo-machine that was not to be challenged or provoked into action.
It really made no sense to me why, after the real Toby Tenma was killed (due partly to his dad's own inability to protect him), Toby's father, the master scientist, Dr. Tenma, in wanting to re-create his now-dead son, decided to add all of the elaborately designed, over-the-top weaponry, and such, to this pint-sized, mechanical boy.
And, after Dr. Tenma got his beloved boy back (thanks to Blue Core radiation), he then wastes no time in rejecting this fabulous creation of his as though it were nothing but a piece of disposable trash.
Amongst all of the many explosions and scenes of mass destruction that took place in this pretentiously innocent, little movie it, pretty much, contained every robot/superhero movie-cliché in the book, and then some.
On top of that, I found Astro Boy's story borrowed heavily from the basic themes of other films such as - Wall-E, The Iron Giant, David & Goliath, Peter Pan, Frankenstein, Transformers, and The Incredibles - to name but a few.
And, so, when you take all of this apparent lifting of ideas into consideration, there was virtually nothing new or original to be found in the entirety of Astro Boy's recycled and predictable story.
This film reached the absolute nadir of its intended humor when, in the middle of battle, Astro Boy bent over, forwards, only to find, to his astonishment (and my puzzlement) two miniature-sized, retracting machine guns projecting from out of his butt.
Ho-Hum! Like, give me a break, already!
Was Toby's crackpot, scientist father really that much of a major moron as to make his replicated son's butt cheeks lethal weapons? I mean, that, to me, was just so unfunny and moronic that it managed to reduce Astro Boy to the level of being nothing but a big cannon for stupid fart jokes.
And, finally - I found it really irksome that the pointy-ness of Astro Boy's hair kept changing sides on his head whenever he appeared in another scene.
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*Possible Spoilers*
With its emphasis on recyclable cuteness, reusable cleverness, and regenerated CG wizardry, I would never go so far as to say that I hated Astro Boy - But, then again, I could never, ever say that I loved it, either.
If you were to actually take the time to watch the original, 2-D Astro Boy cartoons from the mid-1960s, I'm sure, like myself, that you'd most likely find them to be much more entertaining and, yes, even more thoughtful then this senseless rehashing of the tale of a wide-eyed, pointy-haired, robot boy who (under the surface of his apparent innocence) was essentially a lethal, all-powerful, one-man, destructo-machine that was not to be challenged or provoked into action.
It really made no sense to me why, after the real Toby Tenma was killed (due partly to his dad's own inability to protect him), Toby's father, the master scientist, Dr. Tenma, in wanting to re-create his now-dead son, decided to add all of the elaborately designed, over-the-top weaponry, and such, to this pint-sized, mechanical boy.
And, after Dr. Tenma got his beloved boy back (thanks to Blue Core radiation), he then wastes no time in rejecting this fabulous creation of his as though it were nothing but a piece of disposable trash.
Amongst all of the many explosions and scenes of mass destruction that took place in this pretentiously innocent, little movie it, pretty much, contained every robot/superhero movie-cliché in the book, and then some.
On top of that, I found Astro Boy's story borrowed heavily from the basic themes of other films such as - Wall-E, The Iron Giant, David & Goliath, Peter Pan, Frankenstein, Transformers, and The Incredibles - to name but a few.
And, so, when you take all of this apparent lifting of ideas into consideration, there was virtually nothing new or original to be found in the entirety of Astro Boy's recycled and predictable story.
This film reached the absolute nadir of its intended humor when, in the middle of battle, Astro Boy bent over, forwards, only to find, to his astonishment (and my puzzlement) two miniature-sized, retracting machine guns projecting from out of his butt.
Ho-Hum! Like, give me a break, already!
Was Toby's crackpot, scientist father really that much of a major moron as to make his replicated son's butt cheeks lethal weapons? I mean, that, to me, was just so unfunny and moronic that it managed to reduce Astro Boy to the level of being nothing but a big cannon for stupid fart jokes.
And, finally - I found it really irksome that the pointy-ness of Astro Boy's hair kept changing sides on his head whenever he appeared in another scene.