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Updated Friday, October 23, 2009 9:25 am TWN, By Susannah Rosenblatt, Special to The China Post

Astro Boy 原子小金剛

That's the problem with the high-energy “Astro Boy.” The film's visuals are dazzling, with eye-popping colors, cinematic angles and edits and vertiginous action sequences that look phenomenal on a large IMAX screen. It moves quickly, and we feel Astro's exuberance as he discovers the rockets in his boots for the first time, zooming and swooping through the clouds, his big brown eyes alight. But for the most part, the uninspired script weighs the movie down. “Zany” minor characters' attempts to inject humor into the overly literal proceedings — including a jittery robot valet patterned after “Star Wars'”C-3PO — are lame at best.

Produced by Hong Kong-based Imagi Animation Studios, Pixar this ain't.

The movie also makes sure no moral is lost on audiences, smacking viewers over the head with preachy dialogue. One sampling: “That robot had more humanity than most of us.” Phew, glad that was spelled out for me, avoiding any pesky interpretation. There's also a clumsy Christian parable thrown in for good measure.

“Astro Boy” is the newest, flashiest interpretation of the 50-something Tetsuwan Atomu, or Mighty Atom, in Japanese. The comic spawned a 1960s black and white cartoon that aired in Japan and the U.S., in addition to a live-action series, video games, and reinventions in the 1980s and 2003. Tezuka, credited with creating the big-eyed anime aesthetic, and Walt Disney were admirers' of the other's work; Tezuka was reportedly invited by Stanley Kubrick to work as an art director for “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

There's even a brief visual homage to the celebrated artist early in the film, with a cartoon scientist clad in Tezuka's signature beret and dark-framed glasses.

While this tricked-out take on the boy robot is eye candy that's sure to impress in 3-D, “Astro Boy” attempts at exhilaration remain disappointingly earthbound.

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	Toby, longing Pinocchio-style to be a real boy, embarks on a lonely search for his place in the world. “Astro Boy” introduces the big ideas that made Tezuka's work timeless, verging on profound — identity, humanity, tolerance and love — but doesn't get very far. (Courtesy of VieVision Pictures) Enlarge Photo


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