Laws of Robotics

[secondlina]

Long time no see, heh guys? I had trouble with my computer. Well, one of my computers. The one attached to my scanner that is so old that they don't make drivers for it. In any case, my computer keeps freezing for no reason and freaking out. I think it may be dying. If my motherboard coughs up blood, I may just have to give my computer a mercy killing. I think it's about time I upgraded. But that will have to wait until I find a job and you know... collect money.

In other news...



ASTRO BOY!!!!!!

Yes. I went to see that movie. Because it's Astro Boy dammit. Osamu Tezuka, his creator, aka the god of manga, is a man I truly admire. I was lucky - more of his works and more of the anime adaptations of his works were available in french when I was a kid. So I got influenced by his narrative style a lot. Of course, in this case, this is the american 3d adaptation of Astro Boy. I dunno if you guys saw, but it got a lot of pretty negative to fair reviews online. I saw it and thought it was great. It's not a breathtaking movie for the ages (though the animation is very, very pretty) but it's got a good saturday matinee feeling and a some good action. A lot of people said the movie was 'dumbed down for kids' and 'glossed over'... But dammit, you can't compare it to the original series. The original series had something like 10 seasons to expand on the characters and their internal debates. The movie had 2 hours. I think for a two hour movie pulling on a mythic series, it gave a fun product. It's not a jewel on the crown of cinema, but it's the kind of movie I would put on my shelf next to Happy Feet or Finding Nemo.

My only complaint-ish thing is the character designs. The three main characters (Astro, his dad and Dr. Elephun) had the original manga-ish design but the rest of the characters seemed to have the more classic american almond eyes and smaller features that you find a lot in 3d animation these days. It made the first three seem kinda cartoony at times.

So there you have it. Astro Boy. Not awesome, but definitly a good popcorn movie. But it's hard to please people when the original (and the embellished memory people have of the original) is so ground-breakingly amazing. I think the internet nerd herd was expecting too much. They wanted something mythical, when you know that one way or another, most people who are going to see this movie are going to be kids that don't even know what manga is.

Also, robots are awesome.

And yes, they kept his butt machine guns in.

-Isa

 

Comments

Am totally gonna go see this.

[ickaimp.livejournal.com]

My complaint with the previews is that Tenma and Ochanomizu's noses aren't big enough. They look too Western to me.

But the fact that Astro Boy has his butt-guns back?

AWESOME.

... m'just wondering if they kept his refuel port?

Re: Am totally gonna go see this.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Naw, in the american version, he works on a super weird cosmic energy comet heart (AKA MAGIC)

Re: Am totally gonna go see this.

[ickaimp.livejournal.com]

*Laughs* They did that in the 2003 version as well. Check out the first five minutes for glowly chest brightness. <3
Wish more of that was subbed, the official DVD releases for the 2003 Astro Boy anime has audio in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, but not Japanese. >P

-Just a random amusing note, got the first review in almost a year for my Astro Boy fic right after you posted this. ^__^

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

I never actually read the manga (I never came across it), but I've seen Astro Boy around me since...forever ago. And I think people would have complained regardless. Like when the CGI TMNT came out, I remember hearing a lot of complaints! I always loved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so I saw the movie. It wasn't perfect, but I really enjoyed it and the animation was pretty nice. I did decide to own it. ^_-

I'll be sure to check out Astro Boy one of these days.

[spankingfemme.livejournal.com]

Nice Astro Boy pic! ;) It does look like a cute movie to see :)

Hope your computer lasts long enough for you to afford to replace it! :P

[earthstar-moon.livejournal.com]

I'll put it on my list of movies to see (I may have to wait for a DVD rental since Stu doesn't want to see it as much as I do). I think people's expectations were too high. I'll be curious to see what will happen if they ever try to tackle Black Jack. ^_~

I did managed to get an Astro Boy toy at MacDonald's the other day to add to my figurine collection.

[snapdragon76.livejournal.com]

Awesome. I kinda wanna see it now...


Sorry to hear of sucky computer troubles. That totally bites... DDD:

[izo-chan.livejournal.com]

I know next to nothing about Astro Boy, but I've read a few reviews and I agree that some of the fans are expecting way too much out of this. It sounds to me like this was just meant to be a fun movie and it sounds like it is, so it sounds like the creators achieved exactly what they were hoping for lol, so what's the problem? :3

[kokumi009.livejournal.com]

if you'll upgrade to a new computre, avoid Vista and get Windows 7! (this is assuming that your OS is Windows, if not, then ignore me lol)
I SOOO WANT TO WATCH IT TOO. even though i have not seen a single episode of this anime. butt machine guns rock. 8D