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Astro Boy is for kids who like death, abandonment, betrayal
If you're thinking of taking the kids to see Astro Boy this weekend, you might want to know about some of the more intense moments in the film. The biting in Where the Wild Things Are has already caused an uproar, but in Astro Boy, be prepared for the on-screen death of a child. (Spoilers ahead!)
In the movie, the son of Dr. Tenma (voiced by Nicolas Cage), Toby (Freddie Highmore), gets caught in a science experiment when he wanders alone into a military lab. The experiment ends up vaporizing Toby. That prompts Tenma to build Astro Boy, the cool robot in his son's likeness.
The new film's director, David Bowers, thinks kids can handle it. "I think those sort of events are the cornerstones of drama," Bowers told a group of reporters over the weekend in Beverly Hills, Calif. "I think [the fact that] something as terrific as Astro Boy comes out of a such a terrible tragedy is really heartwarming and uplifting. I don't think it's a downer at all."
Producer Maryann Garger adds: "From all indications, kids, I think, don't really register the loss, because Astro Boy comes back so quickly in the movie. I think that's what makes the movie more than just an action-adventure movie, but there's a story, too, that's very engaging and holds your interest throughout the movie."
Tenma soon rejects Astro Boy when he realizes he'll never replace his son, no matter how perfect a robot he is. Astro doesn't just get sent to his room. He gets sent off the floating Metro City, down to the decaying surface of the planet below.
Highmore, who provides Astro's voice, thinks kids are ready to deal with abandonment issues. "It's about him trying to fit in after being rejected by his family," Highmore said in a separate interview. "Hopefully they will definitely relate to Astro Boy in that we've all got something a bit different about us, especially when we're growing up, that makes us stand out a little bit and makes it sometimes difficult to fit into a group of friends or whatever. It's the same for Astro Boy, so hopefully they can identify with that."
Living in a junkyard isn't all bad for Astro. He falls in with a group of abandoned children. So this is a world where parents regularly dump their kids. These street kids fight against robots, so when they find out what Astro's made of, there's more rejection to go around. Kristen Bell, who voices the orphan matriarch Cora, said that this subplot shows how real relationships can survive despite the hiccups of conflicts.
"It's a great way to show a friendship that Astro builds and this sort of betrayal that happens in that friendship, if you can even call it that," Bell said in a separate interview on Oct. 9. "The sort of rocky road eventually leads them to realizing that they're true friends in the end."
The plight of abandoned children may also scare kids straight. If you're mad at your parents, don't resort to biting or running away. You'd regret it if you became one of the surface kids.
"I think that Cora probably ran away as a little girl out of rebellion that most young teenagers would have when you're fighting with your parents and you think they don't want you, and got caught up with the wrong crowd," Bell continued. "But I think she was a good enough person that she realized she missed that sense of community and that sense of family. [That] is why she's sort of the Peter Pan character to all these other little kids and kind of gives them a sense of family and makes them a family in their own right. I think when you're a kid, as much as you hate your parents, you still secretly want approval from them and everyone else. You just want to be loved and accepted."
Aside from all the family issues dredged up by the film, there's also big frigging robots trying to kill Astro Boy. That is, end his existence. Sure, he's a robot too, but it's pretty intense when he has to fight for his life in a gladiator arena, or dodge the military who want to harvest his power source. Yes, taking out his power source would be ending his life.
Astro takes the high ground in all of this action. "[Kids will] see that the way he solves the problem isn't through violence or being nasty to people," Highmore said. "Despite all his powers, he just wants to use them to help other people rather than for himself."
If you've gotten this far, you might also want us to point out that intensity in family films is nothing new. Bowers agreed that the classics of animation test children's thresholds. He thinks Astro Boy is in good company.
"I just think back to classic Disney movies like Pinocchio and Bambi," Bowers said. "I saw Snow White a few weeks ago. It's a really horrific movie. It's much more traumatizing than anything we have in Astro Boy, I really do believe."
Astro Boy opens Friday.
By sinewav at 4:30 PM ON 10/21/09
When done right stories with grim or tragic plotlines can work but I fail to see his logic. Not all children are the same and as commonsensemedia.org will attest young children still can't separate fantasy from reality and are easily traumatized. To simply say "they can handle it" strikes me as arrogant.
By Mandy at 4:43 PM ON 10/21/09
'scare kids straight'/ What the Hell!? Tht's like saying 'If you're bad your parents might abandon you.' No. No parent that truly loves their child would ever truly abandon them. It's that simple. Children shouldn't have to have that fear of abandonment in order to behave and this article is sick for implying that. I say this as someone with some interest in basic psychology.
By datarat at 4:52 PM ON 10/21/09
Oh for heavens sake. Quit coddling the kids. They may not be great on figuring the consequences, but they recognize tension and loss, and have deeper wells of compassion than most adults will ever know.
By Taiso at 4:56 PM ON 10/21/09
@datarat:
Preach on, brutha/sista/whateveryouare
100% gospel truth.
By BruceV at 5:06 PM ON 10/21/09
I clicked on the headline expecting to read a negative movie review, but this is a little more thoughtful for the (sadly) few parents left who care. For those who do, this is good information--they should know their children and what impacts them, and having this information can help them make an appropriate choice. Of course, many parents are morons these days and drag their kids off to Watchmen or My Bloody Valentine. For the children who weren't bored to sleep, if a football-sized blue male member or a 3-D pickaxe through the eye did not phase them, I don't think abandonment issues are a big deal.
By Nathan at 8:24 PM ON 10/21/09
At least they're sticking with the source material.
I mean com' on. Any kid age appropriate for the violence in Astroboy can handle 'sad' parts.
By Mandy at 11:04 PM ON 10/21/09
I don't mind sad parts but I don't think kids should be 'scared straight' by the prospect of parents abandoning them. A parent's love should be unconditional and this is important for children to know.
By Jon at 3:21 AM ON 10/22/09
There's always been death in classic children's stories and fairytales. Look at the Brothers Grim and Hans Christian Andersen. Sure, we've sanitised some of these stories now so maybe the wolf doesn't eat Grandma, maybe she just gets stuffed in a cupboard, but the reality is that we've been writing kid's stories dealing with death for centuries - and continue to do so. Harry Potter deals with it and, one of the best kids books for many a year, the Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman does too. Let's not try to con our children that life is eternal. They should be allowed to understand.
By Sparrownightmare at 10:31 AM ON 10/22/09
LMFAO.. My Daughter is 12 now, but when she was 8 we went in her room to find her laughing her head off as the chest burster popped out for the first time in Alien. Nothing scares her... Not even Jaws when the head comes out of the boat. Dawn of the Dead, Halloween... Nothing... So I wish these so called "research Institutes" would stop trying to justify their existence by claiming kids are these fragile little egg shells. They are more like flubber..
As for this movie... I watched it's cartoon counterpart when I was a kid and thought it was hilarious.. We coddle our kids too much I think. You need to give them a little room. Either that or hide all of your horror DVDs.
By Star at 5:26 PM ON 10/22/09
It's true that children do sometimes have trouble separating fantasy as reality -- but fiction is also a big part of how children learn to understand the world and the things in it. These sorts of things can be hard for parents to explain to children on their own -- when I was small, I understood it fairly well independent of any of their coaching and still handle things differently than my siblings, but that's greatly because my parents couldn't seem to describe what death, loss, and betrayal really do to a person. They themselves led fairly happy lives in small towns; they are still friends with elementary school buddies. It was beyond them.
I think if you take your children to the movie, watch it with them, and then on the way home or over dinner ask if they have any questions, ask how it made -them- feel, what they thought about this or that -- it can be a great tool to help them understand that "this doesn't happen to everyone. But it could, and that's a part of life that is very important to understand".
By teena at 4:25 AM ON 10/23/09
I am not thinking Astro Boy (2009) is good movie. For me it is a really goofy story and of course it will best suit for little cute kids. Because children always like fantasy sweet plots. My children want to watch it
Source
http://blog.80millionmoviesfree.com/in-theaters/astro-boy-trailer-i-love-my-astro-boy
By Ciphergiest at 1:14 PM ON 10/25/09
I've wanted to see this movie since the first time I heard of it. Now this review has really changed my mind...I'm definitely going to see and I'll be taking my daughter with me.
I'm guessing no one here watched the original series? When you get down to it, it's a very dark story that deals with a lot of issues.
I agree with Sparrownightmare, we coddle our children entirely too much. Too many walk into the "real world" completely unprepared for what's to come.
By EricZ28 at 4:54 PM ON 10/27/09
after reading these comments i now know why the rest of the world hates us (americans) nothing can just be what it is, a movie can't just be a movie, a crime isn't just a crime if color is involved (sex or race for that matter) stupid people with nothing better to do than ruin society for the rest of us have to get a stick in their @$$es and whine and complain to everyone that things need to change instead of just letting things go. this is why there is such needless "controversy" over things like gay marriage, politicians see a few people flip out over something and make a platform out of it to gain some kind of "edge" or what have you. (present administration NOT excluded) so all you over protective "modern" parents and people need to just shut up and let things just be what they are. i'm willing to bet that the parents who are crying wolf over this movie are the very same people who say that video games like halo turn kids into killers or that metalcore is the music of devil worshipers.(70 some % of metalcore bands are christian BTW)
By EricZ28 at 4:55 PM ON 10/27/09
also i think i just set the record for the longest run-on sentence ever, lol.
By BetterMomThanYou at 12:44 PM ON 11/02/09
Some of you people are all are the reason the world has gone to hell! You brag about your kids being okay with death and gore, then are surprised when your non-coddled little demons go shooting up schools and universities. Or your shocked when you see 20 spectators sat idlely by while a 15 year-old girl was gang-raped. You're raising those insensitive little spectators. You're raising monsters, and are too proud of it, as you brag about how callus they are. Do your really want your children to be callus to suffering and death? Congratulations you got what you want. Me, I'll be raising my kids to be empathetic and sensitive to live and their fellow humankind. You think because you were exposed to violence and death that it's harmless? Well look what you've become...members of a violent, murderous, sadistic society. So maybe some damage was done! And you're kids will grow up to say the same thing "if it was okay for me, it's okay for my kids", as they suffer their own sad lives and fail to make the world a safe place for future generations. I don't expect you to care that your little ghouls will pose a threat to my kids. That's okay, because my kids are tough enough to take care of themselves. Just don't whine when you watch CNN and see kids like yours go to a dark place and kill their siblings, friends, and perhaps even their parents who are so proud of their darkness. And if if they don't go to that extreme, are you proud that your kids turn out to be just plain rude, annoying, and intolerable to the general public? Great job, parents!
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BetterMomThanYou:
Some of you people are all are the reason the world has gone to hell! You brag about your kids being okay with deat...More »