Movie Review - Astro Boy

Movie Title

Astro Boy

Year

2009

Genre

Animation

Story

In the far future, Metro City, a floating city that is generally run by robots with humans merely enjoying life, brilliant scientist (who is also Metro City’s Minister of Science working under the selfish & power-hungry President Stone played by Donald Sutherland) Dr Tenma with the help of his trusted friend, Dr. Elefun (Bill Nighy), created an incredible sentient robot to replace hi s young only son, Toby, after he was accidentally killed in a military exercise gone awry in their attempt to harness a powerful alien and unlimited "blue" energy (which was eventually used to power Astro Boy himself). The robot was programmed with Toby’s memories & personality but it failed to fill the void that was left by Dr Tenma’s dead child and was asked to leave.

In search of acceptance, the robot, broken-hearted, leaves Metro City and heads to the surface world where he meets & befriends a group of colorful characters who gives him the name - Astro Boy (Freddie Highmore). Upon learning that his friends and family up in Metro City are in mortal danger, Astro Boy returns to his father’s side in a valiant effort to save the city & everything he cares about. Of course, he ends up being the super-powerful robot hero defender of Metro City that we all know and still love today.

Acting

The voice acting from the cast is very believable and I’m especially impressed by Freddie Highmore. However, knowing in advance that Nicholas Cage was the voice behind Dr Tenma did take a little toll on my enjoyment of the movie as Cage had not really made a good impressing portraying characters other than the bitterly hopeless tragic remorseful dad/hero/victim. On the other hand, Eugene Levy, Nathan Lane & Kristen Bell provide an appealing supporting cast of colorful characters that are quirky and lovable.

Overall

Astro Boy is based on a Japanese comic book/ Manga created by Ozamu Tezuka (who many consider to be the Grand-father of Manga) dating back to circa 1950s. He was also the star of several popular TV series. The original (Japanese version) Astro Boy wears very little clothes and this being a Hollywood production, has been made more acceptable to international audiences. Another point to note is also that Astro Boy looks very much like Marvel's Namor, who also wears a green speedo and has black hair.

I'm sure he was as big as, perhaps today’s Ben 10 or Spongebob. Just go ask your dad or uncle and they would have something nostalgic to say. =)

Rating: 5.5/10

Comic Review - Fantastic Four 544-546

Title/Storyline
Fantastic Four
Publish Date/Year
2008
Creative Team
Dwayne McDuffie & Paul Pelletier
Publisher
Marvel

Story
In the wake of Civil War where Reed and Sue’s marriage suffered seriously due to the different sides they each took during the War, the decide to take a “second” honeymoon (but they didn’t really have their first honeymoon as it was crashed by some dastardly super-villains) to work on their marriage on Saturn's moon Titan. Meanwhile, the Wakandian Embassy was destroyed in the Civil War when Storm was fought the Thor clone (co-created by Reed), the recently married King of Wakanda – the Black Panther (T'Challa) and his Queen, Storm (of the X-Men) take up temporary residence at the FF’s HQ and stand in for the as FF members in Reed & Sue’s absence. Hence – the New FF.

Former cyborg-killing machine Deathlok, Michael Collins, seeks help from the FF with a desecration of the gravesite of young hero – Gravity. The FF go to the Moon to seek out Uatu, the Watcher of our Galaxy for information on the perpetrator(s). With Watcher Uatu’s help, the FF soon learn that Gravity's body had been taken by the cosmic entity Epoch (a really ugly Cosmic Guide to Quasar, Protector of the Universe) to the far side of the universe. However, before the FF can retrieve Gravity’s body from Epoch, the Silver Surfer arrives to deliver the death warrant for Epoch. The Silver Surfer agrees to give the FF a little time to complete their mission before summoning Galactus to feed on Epoch. However, the FF then decides to protect Epoch from Galactus’ hunger. The dire situation causes Epoch to revive Gravity, reborn as the new protector of the universe! Stardust, the other Herald of Galactus, joins the fray! But then the FF has the Black Panther on the team! He, like Reed, always has a plan for almost every situation and he has the Galactus Contingency Plan – which includes King Solomon's Frogs (don’t ask, you have to read it) and an armor based on the technology Dr. Doom used to steal the Surfer's Power Cosmic years ago. The FF save the day by actually feeding Galactus back to full strength.

Art
Paul Pelletier, who may be better known for his work on War of Kings delivers solid work on the FF but the embellishment sometimes make his art seem like Mark Bagley’s. I say this because altho’ Bagley is a favorite of many comic readers, I have not liked his work much. However, knowing that Bryan Hitch is going to take over the art chores within the next few issues made it OK so see Pelletier do only a handful of issues.

Additional Comments
With just 3 issues, there are enough characters in the arc to really amp up the excitement & let fans sink their teeth into, especially with characters like Uatu, Black Panther and the Silver Surfer. These 3 characters are among the BEST (and my personal favorites along with the Inhumans) ever characters created from the Stan Lee-Jack Kirby Era, plus they all made their debut into the Marvel Universe in the very same book – Fantastic Four! This is a great arc for both new readers and seasoned readers to jump back on board the FF fan-wagon!

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Comic Review - Dark Reign:The List - Wolverine

Title/Storyline
Dark Reign: The List – Wolverine
Publish Date/Year
2009
Creative Team
Jason Aaron & Esad Ribic
Publisher
Marvel

Story
This issue is basically a team-up story spotlighting Marvel Boy (Noh-Varr) and Wolverine (Logan).

However, before long, it becomes a Marvel Boy (or the New Captain Marvel, a title given to him by Norman Osborn as a member of his dark Avengers Team) and Fantomex (aka weapon Xiii, making him logan’s fellow alum) team-up story instead as Wolverine gets mind-wiped and becomes a zombie as soon as Noh-Varr & Logan infiltrate a facility (known as “The World”) that had somehow become sentient. Predictably, the very same facility Norman Osborn wants to get his grubby hands on.

The heroes try to shut down the sentient facility before Norman Osborn can gain control of it with a legion of zombie shock troops.

Art
I love Esad Ribic’s work. You will be familiar with his painted covers than his interior artwork. However, his pencil work is no less impressive and exuding a distinctly European flavor. N complaints. You can see from his work here that he is another one of the artistic young guns to watch!

Additional Comments
The issue didn’t seem to fit the theme of Norman Osborn’s list but as a stand-along story, it’s didn’t have any epic level impact to the rest of the Marvel Universe BUT it was great to see:
1 – Marvel Boy in action as a Hero (instead of as Osborn’s lackey in dark Avengers)
2 – Fantomex after quite a few years since his last appearance in Morrison’s run of X-Men

Good art and fun read. Great Standalone book but didn’t seem to fit the title theme.

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