Astro Boy (2009)
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A grieving scientist creates a robot boy with his deceased son's memories, only to be forced to abandon his creation.
The story
Set in the 22nd century in Metro City—a floating futuristic city-state where robots serve humankind—Dr. Tenma creates Astro, a teenage robot implanted with the likeness and memories of his son after the latter is killed in an accident. After Tenma disowns his creation, Astro inadvertently ends up on Earth's dirty surface, where he finds companionship with the residents. Meanwhile, Stone, the president of Metro City who is running for re-election, seeks Astro's unique power source to fuel his defense robot.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In the 22nd century, Toby Tenma's father, Dr. Tenma, creates a robot powered by a positive blue core to replace their son Toby, who was killed by a hostile defensive robot called the Peacekeeper. Although the robot has Toby's memories, Tenma rejects it. Stone, the President of Metro City, pursues the robot for its core, causing it to fall to the polluted Earth's surface. There, the robot is renamed 'Astro' by a group of orphans and the Robot Revolutionary Front. Astro befriends a girl named Cora and reactivates an old construction robot named Zog. After being captured by Hamegg for a robot arena, Astro eventually surrenders to Stone's forces. Tenma later steals the core back to free Astro. However, Stone powers the Peacekeeper with a negative red core, causing it to grow to a gargantuan size and go on a rampage. Astro returns to Metro City to battle the Peacekeeper. To save the city from falling, Astro uses his strength to land it safely. Knowing the cores will destroy each other on contact, Astro sacrifices himself by flying into the Peacekeeper's core. He is eventually revived by Zog and reunited with his father and friends.
- First release year
- 2009
- Runtime (minutes)
- 90
- Production countries
- Hong Kong; United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- David Bowers
- Writers
- Timothy Hyde Harris · co-writer; David Bowers · co-writer
- Cast and characters
- Freddie Highmore · Toby Tenma/Astro Boy; Kristen Bell · Cora; Nicolas Cage · Dr. Bill Tenma; Samuel L. Jackson · Zog; Matt Lucas · Sparx; Eugene Levy · Orrin; Bill Nighy · Dr. Elefun; Donald Sutherland · President Stone
- Genres
- animated; superhero; science fiction; comedy; adventure
- Themes
- father-son relationships; heroism; sacrifice; technology vs. humanity
- Tone and mood
- dark; optimistic; action-packed
- Premise and plot tags
- robot; android; superhero; sci-fi; future; orphan
- Source material / true-story basis
- manga series by Osamu Tezuka
- Franchise connections
- Astro Boy
- Reception
- The film received generally mixed reviews from film critics and was a financial failure, though it was very successful in China.
- Awards and nominations
- Annie Awards · Outstanding Achievement for Storyboarding in a Feature Production · 37th · nomination; Annie Awards · Outstanding Achievement for Writing in a Feature Production · 37th · nomination; Artios Awards · Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Animation Feature · 2010 · nomination
- Production trivia
- The film was a box office bomb in the U.S. but broke a box-office record for a CGI-animated film in China.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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