‘Astro Boy’ Character Primer Gets You Ready For Brand New Film

“Finding Entertainment Appropriate for Kids,” or FEAK, runs every Friday and discusses places – mainly the movie theaters – where parents can look to find things for their kids to watch over the weekend.

Astro Boy first appeared back in 1951 in one of Osamu Tezuka’s manga comic books and instantly became a classic.  He thrilled fans in comic books until 1980 when an animated television series was released and soon became a staple of kid’s Saturday Morning Cartoons.  Then again, in 2003, a cartoon series was released worldwide and once again Astro Boy was enjoyed by millions.

Now Astro evolves to the next level with his own star packed movie released this weekend by Summit Entertainment/Imagi Studios and directed by David Bowers.  It looks great, using cutting edge computers to create an animation style that looks very smooth and colorful and the voice talents of major Hollywood actors always helps.

Read this over before you take the kids on the 23rd because I know they will want to see it and you should too but you may need a little information before going just to clear things up for ya.  Enjoy and also check out a clip from the film here, photos here and our review of “Astro Boy” here.

Metro City -The home of Astro Boy is a giant floating metropolis with an advanced technological civilization.  The city hovers above the Surface, a wasteland of discarded robots.

Astro Boy/Toby (Freddie Highmore)- Our hero for this adventure is created by Dr. Tenma using the all powerful Blue Core and programed with the best of human characteristics and values.  He is powered with super strength, x-ray vision, unbelievable speed, arm cannons and rocket boots to fly.  Astro strives to be human in a world of people looking to cast him aside as a robot.  He only uses his powers for good and will have to use them all o save the good people of Metro City.

Dr. Tenma (Nicolas Cage)- A brilliant doctor who experiences great tragedy when his son is killed and in his grief he creates a robot using the all powerful Blue Core and programming it with all the good human traits and values.  Dr. Tenmas is responsible for most of the technology that has made Metro City a thriving utopia.

The Peacekeeper- Astro Boy’s greatest and most powerful enemy is basically Astro but evil and powered with the malevolent Red Core, making him truly evil and state of the art at the same time.  Using adaptive technology to absorb and control anything, he threatens Metro City and only Astro Boy will be able to stop him.

President Stone (Donald Sutherland) – The leader of Metro City is power hungry and wants a powerful military to take control of the world.  He prematurely activates the Peacekeeper and puts the entire city in peril.

Cora (Kristen Bell)- A very smart 17-year-old girl who serves as mother to a ragtag gang of children on Earth’s surface.  She must team with Astro Boy to save the city.

Zog (Samuel L. Jackson)- A broken robot scrapped on the surface that Astro fixes and reactivates.  Creating a huge, powerful friend that will be an ally in his fight for Metro City.

Hamegg (Nathan Lane) – A father figure for the entire gang on the surface.  A sneaky man who runs a repair shop to bring old robots back to life.

Dr. Elefun (Bill Nighy)- The idealistic colleague of Dr. Tenma who invented the Blue Core Technology and acts as uncle for Astro Boy.