Astro Boy (2009)

*Get the film on Amazon here*

Based on a 1960's dubbed Japanese cartoon that I don't remember watching, this misfire had a couple of pretty scenes but little else.

The voice cast is full of recognizable names: Freddie Highmore, Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland, the odious Kristen Bell, Eugene Levy, Nathan Lane and his usual shtick, Bill Nighy, Charlize Theron, Samuel L. Jackson, Ryan Stiles, David Alan Grier. The four or five people who were demanding a big screen adaptation of the manga/cartoon must have been the same people who were demanding the equally bad "Mr. Peabody & Sherman" a few years ago. Both films bombed and didn't spawn any cult followings or franchises. Entire subplots are dangled and never followed through, or don't work. The Robot Revolutionary Front, another boring subplot that no child will get, had me doubled over in cringe. The dialogue sounds like it was written by an ill-equipped fourth grader entering their first rap battle, and the voice work is lazy.

Stats:
(2009) 94 min. (1/2 *) out of five stars
-Directed by David Bowers
-Written by Timothy Harris & David Bowers, Story by David Bowers, Additional Story Material by Colin Brady, Based on the manga by Osamu Tezuka
-Cast: Freddie Highmore, Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Kristen Bell, Eugene Levy, Nathan Lane, Bill Nighy, Charlize Theron, Samuel L. Jackson, Ryan Stiles, David Alan Grier, Alan Tudyk, Elle Fanning
(PG)