Tuesday, June 17, 2008

50s Astro Boy getting a 21st century remake


Who remembers "Astro Boy"? I remember seeing Japan’s Osamu Tezuka's creation back in the late 50s early 60s on Saturday morning cartoons. Astro Boy, with his odd eyes and enviable abilities, captivated me like no other animation until I discovered anime. I recognized it immediately as an early form of anime. So you can understand my bemusement when I hear that AstroBoy is up for Anime treatment? Huh? True, it has been announced that Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, Bill Nighy and Eugene Levy would be joining Freddie Highmore for the 2009 feature adaptation of Astro Boy. The new version (according to the article in 1 IO9) going to be a dark Pinocchio story - Astro Boy takes place in futuristic Metro City. A robotics scientist creates Astro Boy to replace his recently passed little boy, but Astro Boy's cold robot love isn't enough for the scientist. A.B. leaves to find a love of his own and ends up in a seedy robot underworld and back where he started, a little older and a lot wiser.

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