So I saw a commercial for this on TV. I never ever watched Astroboy before and I can already tell that the story line has changed. He seems to be older.
But hey, at least he’s wearing a shirt!
Your thoughts?
I don’t know about you guys, but I saw an ad for this movie and it said something along the lines that Astro Boy “Wanted to be a real boy” and I immediatly thought of Pinnochio and said “There’s no way I’m seeing that”.
I saw a trailer whilst looking around but it didn’t really interest me. I loved the anime as a kid but this looks too Americanised for my taste.
Looks like a disgrace to the series. They gave it a “modernized” treatment. Unfortunately the same studio plans to adapt Gatchaman next.
I’m amused by the second trailer. Loved the bit where [spoil]no one was driving but the dog[/spoil], but I was unimpressed by [spoil]the remark about ‘butt cannons’ (enough with the bum jokes, it’s immature)[/spoil]. I read somewhere they promised to keep to the original anime’s roots and all that, but we were promised the same thing by the Wachowski brothers… 
I’m gonna give them the BOD, the most it’s got going for now is that it has the Iron Man feel of high-concept adventure and humour. Who knows, this could be another Cloudy with a chance of meatballs or GI Joe.
We’ll see, we’ll see… less than a month to go for any fans! 
When I heard about this, the concept of bringing Astro-Boy to 3D ticked me off. Watching the trailer made me think otherwise, I think it looks stunning. However, Astro-Boy’s voice acting sounds AWFUL (just the character himself), which is easily apparent in the trailer. I think the movie looks okay, but I’m with you guys on the humor, they better not fill it with TF2 junk, humor just to make the movie more appealing to western youth, enough with destroying a perfectly good series. Come on,…
I havent seen to much on this movie, id like to see a full length trailer so i can depict whether id like to see this movie or not.
Well the original Astro-Boy did have a ‘butt-cannon’ so they’re probably jsut referencing that. But it is a reference that will fly over most peoples heads…
That’s exactly what I thought when I saw the trailer. I will NOT be seeing it, because Pinnochio is one of my childhood favorites, and anything that’s a Sci-Fi Ripooff of that movie will never get my support.
Didn’t Hollywood learn anything about Pinnochio ripoffs when Stephan Speilberg"s A.I. : ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE bombed at the box office and was not accepted by any critics or audiences ? 
Astro Boy to me looks like it will mostly be a movie for kids.
Well, I can’t say I speak for everyone, but to me the movie just doesn’t look the least bit appealing – and I’ve noticed at the theaters only the little kids point at the poster and no one else.
Unless you’re very sentimental to the old franchise, I can’t imagine very many adults without kids wanting to see this one.
I read the Empire Australia review in my Sunday paper last weekend, and the reviewer gave a surprising 4 stars! Was a bit skeptical too, but I hope they pull a ‘Cloudy’ or ‘GI Joe’.
The official site has just been revamped with new sections (Characters, Games) and new clips under Videos.
Soundtrack is nice to listen to, and the animation looks great so far. Personally, I’m intrigued to see what they do with the ‘Robot Revolutionary Front’ and the other ragtag machines (brings to mind the Reject Bots). Also interesting to see if they cover the great sci-fi themes (“what does it mean to be human” etc.) Blade Runner/Wall-E style, or if they will settle for the cliched ‘Believe in Yourself’ Robots route.
Astro Boy opens in Australian cinemas today. You’ll never believe it… it got a 75% rating on Rotten Tomatoes! That means a “Fresh”. Interesting, as this is the debut feature film for newbie Imagi Studios from Hong Kong, so it’s cool to see small-timers doing well than the usual big 5 (Pixar, Dreamworks, Blue Sky, Sony, Disney).
After seeing commercial after commercial, I’m still not convinced about going to see it. 
OFF TOPIC: phew! It’s great to be back! It’s been a while since my last post. My mom put this dictation; “no computer during the week except for homework!” >: (
Astro Boy is a fine update of the original anime series, for which fond memories remain of glorious black and white viewings back in the 60s. The thematic scope is not especially amibitious but is appropriate to the spirit of the character. There’s not a thing wrong with the film, but it’s understandable how it might have gotten lost in the shuffle of “bigger” films. Also, at least in the States, it’s possible that Donald Sutherland’s reading of the presidential character was uncomfortably close to G. W. Bush in a far-from-flattering way, which could have alienated U.S. moviegoers and accounted for the film’s poor box-office performance in North America. Even so, the “political” elements are treated no more heavily than the uberclass/underdog theme that pops up often enough in other films. So it’s a bit of a head-scratcher why this film wasn’t better received. Too bad for Imagi Studios, which suffered financial woes as a result of the film’s underperformance.