CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Well, everyone, I finally saw the Astroboy movie. What a disappointment. My biggest gripes:
1. I thought Dr. Tenma was supposed to be a sympathetic villain, not a terrible dad.
2. Why was Tenma's partner given such a small part?
3. Why didn't they make it more like the REAL story?
In short, do not rent this movie. It is not faithful to the Astroboy manga at all. You're better off sticking to the three versions of the Astroboy anime, all of which are available on DVD. The original is distributed by Right Stuf, the 80's version by Manga Entertainment (and available to watch online through Youtube and ANN!), and the most recent reboot (made in 2003) is available from Columbia. Watch those instead or read Dark Horse's version of the manga. This was just bad.

If you haven't read the original, the movie wasn't bad, except for the "good energy" and "evil energy" thing.

rocklobster wrote:1. I thought Dr. Tenma was supposed to be a sympathetic villain, not a terrible dad.

Um no. You should read the manga. In the original manga, Dr. Tenma sold him to an evil circus owner. He in fact hated Astro Boy and regretted creating him. So that's actually completely 100%]2. Why was Tenma's partner given such a small part?[/QUOTE]
Because the character wasn't important, and since Tenma didn't even have a partner in the original manga, it'd be difficult to make a character that didn't exist in the original storyline have a large part.

3. Why didn't they make it more like the REAL story?

I haven't seen this movie but from the two things you've said, it sounds exactly like the REAL story, completely faithful at least as far as the origin is concerned (barring the nonexistent partner in the original).

This was just bad.

You haven't said how it was bad. You said three things that don't count as being terrible. For example, all the things you've said I could apply to Lord of the Rings. "They took out Tom Bombadil! And they made Merry and Pippin act dumb instead of being smart but naive! And Aragon didn't carry around his broken sword! They changed so much from the book so it sucks!" But Lord of the Rings was a great set of movies even though they changed things from the books. Just saying "It's different from the book" doesn't make a movie bad.

So what made it bad? Was the pacing poor? Were the fight scenes uninspired? Was the voice acting bad? Was the plot nonsensical?

I'm not arguing with you that the movie isn't bad. It may very well be bad. You just haven't given any statements to support this conclusion.

To be honest, Nate, I've only seen the anime, not the manga. I had no idea they were so dissimilar. Actually, if you don't know all my gripes, the movie is good. Freddie Highmore played Astro well and Nicholas Cage is still as good as he usually is IMO. (he's become one of my faves) And it was a real surprise to hear Nathan Lane again. That guy needs more movies. It just wasn't what I expected. Thanks for the corrections, though.

I only have a passing knowledge of the anime/manga, but as far as a stand alone movie goes it is pretty terrible. The plot is thin and really telegraphs everything that is to come.

All the characters are pretty weak and really bland. The jokes are very childish and unfunny. Pixar has nothing to fear from this one.

You know when you watch a pilot on tv you have been waiting for. Then you get that feeling that the commercial for said pilot was misleading and had the best parts in it? Well, I got that feeling and wanted to change the channel.

Honestly, I have heard otherwise about this movie. I heard it was amazing... XD But whatevs. I still want to rent this movie sometime. I want to make my opinion about it.