Tezuka In English Discussion Forums

I thought that it would be nice to create a post for all Astrboy Movie News as it comes up, instead of what I've been doing by creating separate posts for each topic.

To start things off I want to share some pictures of the movie that I've found on the internet (I'm sorry if I already posted one or two of these i just want to create a base for a new topic).

First here is a screen shot from the movie (I did already post this in another post but as I stated I just wanted to start this post with something new as well as old as a base subject).

Astro's head, I think really brings the piece together since it makes him look more human. I can't wait to see the other robot's compared to him (after all he is the most advance and human like robot).

The next couple of images are the teaser poster we already seen, or if not this will be the first time.



The final image is of Imagi's other CGI project, that I thought would be interesting to mention. Seeing how it also is a classic anime with a big fanbase.


I'll end with an excerpt from a recent article about imagi and the recent adaptations of anime to the big screen:
"[b]High hopes ride on the Speed Racer adaptation by the Wachowski brothers (the movie opened last Thursday in Malaysian cinemas nationwide), and on Hollywood versions of Dragon Ball Z, Robotech and Akira, with Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio attached to the last two. Astro Boy is well on its way for a CGI release by Imagi Studios next year; folks in their Los Angeles office told me that they are now focusing on highlighting the original character

Newbie American fans? I thought that "newbie American fans" liked stuff like Naruto.

But still, he looks so adorable in the first picture. I wonder who his voice is?

Nice. But I think...... Our little robotic child looks better as a cartoon.

I miss that kid.

I think it would be hard to emulate his cartoon proportions in CGI (I might be worng). That would explain the update to his features, especially to people who might have had to work with very little models of the figure to begin with. This could probably be the reason for him looking more human like and (if anyone saw this movie they'd agree) someone out of Disney's Meet The Robinsons. After all this isn't Mushi Productions making the film, so you have to expect the model to be a little off.

Though they probably could have gotten the models from the 2003 Astroboy since it was made in CG. Who knows what they used as a source.

Freddie Highmore.

Oh, dear god.

Does Makoto Tezuka have anything to do with this? I wonder.

I think Freddie Highmore is a good choice. At least Astro isn't going to sound like some 40 year old trying to sound eight. Those get on my nerves half the time. Though Astro with a British accent may take some geting used to

Although the film is yet to be released, I agree with Potato. Moreover, I am pessimistic about the film as a whole. I expect that it will disappoint the baby boomers and others who remember the Tezuka-made versions from childhood.

Can anyone name even one film that was based upon a TV show, much less a cartoon that actually was true to the cartoon? I expect to see Speed Racer next week, but as I undrestand it, it is chock full of politcal content, perhaps at the expense of plot.

Who said it had political content? I mean, whomever said that needs a kick in the rear. The thing about the content for Speed Racer is they play up the bad guy fixing the races kind of thing a little bit more, add some real explanation to it other than just "so and so wants to win the race" (the reason being a connection to the stock market - which is a sound reason). But there's nothing political to it.


I think Clifford's Big Red Movie was very true to the cartoon.

Although I have yet to see Speed Racer, I have seen a few trailers. But this is off-topic & I prefer not to kindle the mods wrath, so I will return to topic.

Although I rarely watch those remakes, I do hear & read discussions about them. Astroboy will not likely be an exception; its creators will more likely than not use it to make subtle political statements, will almost certainly fail to make it resonate with us old farts' memories of the cartoons we loved as children. For that matter, the 2003 series also failed. I just cannot see any but a PC reason for cutting mama & papa from the cast. I think they wanted to show so-called alternative families rather than traditional. I readily admit, it could have been $ rather than PC, but I wonder.

Do not misunderstand me, I would be releived to see that my apprehensions were unjustified, but only seeing the film will confirm that.

Think about it this way, the company making this movie also made the greatest TMNT movie (better and darker than the trilogy that used Jim Henson's puppet's and makeup artists). In fact the TMNT movie was far closer to the actual comics than that trilogy or even the Fred Wolf animated series came.

I have high hopes for this company's production of Astroboy. We might even see a closer relationship to the manga and 60's anime than the 2003 series which Tezuka Productions made (along with Sony).

I saw Speed Racer and uh..I didn't like it very much. I mean, I suppose the anime was for kids but..it...was too...stupid.