Toby is a boy genius, son of the robotics expert Dr. Tenma. When Toby is tragically killed, his father implants Toby’s memories and personality into a robot copy of his son. But when Tenma and the government of Metro City turn against him, the robot Toby befriends a group of fellow orphans – and ultimately finds his destiny as the super-heroic Astro Boy!

A reimagining of the classic 1960s Japanese cartoon character created by Osamu Tezuka, Astro Boy contains little content to concern parents. The movie is filled with large amounts of fantasy action like fights between robots, ray-guns blasting, explosions and even entire cities being leveled; but as is typical for such fare, no human beings are injured. Toby’s death occurs off-screen and is not seen, merely referred to. Astro’s fellow orphans misbehave, throwing balls about and playing with chainsaws in their junkyard home, under the tolerant eye of their malign guardian Hamegg; but these scenes are no more offensive than the Pleasure Island sequence in the classic Disney movie Pinocchio (a film which – with its story of an artificial being wanting to become a real boy – is more than a little similar to Astro Boy).

Metro City’s president is a warmonger who rants at length against ecology and peace causes, and whose desire for power causes most of the city’s problems. He also makes many sarcastic references to politics and holding office. During his adventures, Astro Boy encounters the Robot Revolutionary Front, a group of comically bumbling robots whose espousal of robot freedom is tinged with verbal and visual references to Marxist heroes like Lenin. Most if not all of these political flourishes will likely go over the heads of children.   

Astro Boy is a simple, sweet and straightforward picture, mixing large dollops of wild science-fiction action with themes of being loved by family and finding oneself and one’s place in the world.  Children and older fans of the original will be delighted by this new version of a classic hero, and will enjoy the chance to once again thrill to the adventures of Astro Boy.