Three new TV spots for Astroboy have started circuluating, the first of which focuses on his human girl buddy Kora.
And one that focuses on his “father”
And the last dealing directly with Astroboy’s Pinocchio syndrome.
Looks fun to me.
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Astroboy is good anime as for the manga it more adult theme. I glad they made this movie.
There’s only a couple trailers out, so I don’t know why everyone’s making judgements. Though, I do have fears.. though few in the American audience know much about Astroboy, the original story is, indeed, epic. One thing I fear from the trailer is the role of Dr. Tenma — I’m all for not taking canon too seriously and just making good movies, but I can’t foresee how a movie would be made better by rewriting it to make Dr. Tenma good. The drama in the story, what makes the old Astroboy cartoons good, is the fact that Dr. Tenma rebuilt his son and, even after doing so, still couldn’t accept him… essentially abandoning him. Rising from that and accepting it is where the story gets good…
At the very least, though, this looks like it’ll be a good kids movie. I could take the nieces and nephews.
Yeah, but let’s face it, kids like good stories. I’m sure they would enjoy it more if it was more epic.
There’s nothing like watching a lame kids movie over and again, then growing up and realizing it was actually pretty stupid. The best “kids movies” are the ones you can keep coming back to your whole life.
I am not excited for this movie. The subject matter has been dumbed down for kids audiences like you wouldn’t believe. The original show’s plot was epic, in parts. Almost Shakespearian.
Just watched the videos. Apparently they’re taking out the fact that the scientist built Astroboy in the first place as an attempt to replicate his dead son.
There’s no Atlus, Stroboy’s arch-villain who shorts his own circuits in an attempt to commit suicide because he has no purpose, but is later repaired as a weapon.
Nothing cool about the original story is in this remake. This sucks.
I’m still somewhat excited for this film. But, I’m suprised that its gonna be dumbed down. Pretty much everytime Hollywood takes foreign film or idea, its usually dumbed down. I expect to see the same thing done to Akira.
Dumbed down? Compared to what?
Its a children’s cartoon… and its being marketed to children.
It’s a children’s cartoon for JAPANESE children. There’s a difference.
And the original version of Astroboy is very dramatic. The inciting incident is that the scientist’s son dies, and it’s so traumatizing that, as he begins to build this robot for this corporation, he starts to model it after his son.
If they’re stripping all of that subtext completely bare(which, it looks like they are), I’d call that dumbing down, wouldn’t you?
No, I wouldn’t call that dumbing down.
That they are removing some of the emotionally mature parts of the film to adapt it more to a kid’s audience is not DUMB.
Its just making it lighter.
Taking out dramatic elements may make it less appealing to YOU, a presumable adult. But I remember watching this show as a kid, and not once did I care about Astro being this man’s emotional substitute for his deceased son.
And neither will the droves of children who go to see it.
I disagree with that statement. Any kid can be emotionally engaged in a story due to a person’s death, or a father wanting his son back.
Just like I was emotionally engaged in A Land Before Time. In both a conscious and subconscious way, I rooted for Littlefoot. I wanted him to find his mom. A Land Before Time isn’t a masterpiece, but it is a good movie. It’s the kind you enjoy as a kid and still like when you’re older.
Kids shouldn’t be subjected
“But I remember watching this show as a kid, and not once did I care about Astro being this man’s emotional substitute for his deceased son.”
Not surprising, as you almost undoubtedly watched the english tv edit, which didn’t stress those subplots nearly as much. They cut up the first two episodes and compiled them into one, but the concepts are still there. As they were in the 80’s manga.
Besides, are you implying that because it wasn’t important to you, personally, that they shouldn’t be faithful to the material they are adapting? The contradiction of Astro being both a robot and a kid is the essence of the show, and the emotional backstory and plot is a good part of what makes that tick like Tetsuwan Atomu.
This isn’t about me getting picky over little details. This is me being perplexed because I was told that this would be a remake of the old Astroboy show, but so far the only similarities I see are:
a) Astro is in it.
b) Astro’s father is in it.
And a couple other key characters. But a lot of the cool characters, and the entire plot in general, is just gone. Isn’t that a little weird? And certainly not as cool and interesting as it otherwise would have been.
When I cut off at, “Kids shouldn’t be subjected…”
I was going to say(I forgot to type the rest in) that:
Kids shouldn’t be subjected to stupid movies that they are only going to hate when they get older. All the great cartoons have enough complexity and appeal in a broad enough way that the whole family enjoys them, and younger kids only enjoy it more when they get older.
You defeated any hope of a point with: “Not surprising, as you almost undoubtedly watched the english tv edit, which didn’t stress those subplots nearly as much. ”
So if the North American dub didnt focus much at all on those things, why should the adaptation aimed at the broad market staring North American voice actors be any different.
Sorry. Still not “dumbed down” regardless of how much you wanted the kids cartoon adaptation to be more adult.
I don’t want it to be “adult”. Who even said that? Where are you getting that? I’m a kid. What would I want with something, “adult”?
I already stressed that I want this to be something kids can genuinely enjoy. I just didn’t know that were was apparently a rule stating that if you’re making a CG film targeted toward kids it needs to be as stripped and shallow as possible.
What you’re missing completely is that this has nothing to do with marketing. So what if the American network wanted to jump into a series and break down the first two episodes, cutting out a few key. That was a lame thing to do, because it castrated that part of the story. They took out some integral stuff. That’s hardly commendable, even though it was only done to the first two episodes.
I think the problem here is that we’re arguing about two separate things. You’re talking about marketing and I’m talking about what makes a better story.
On that note, you’re right: not only did it not take too long to write the script, but the vibrant graphics are sure to draw the crowds in. So yeah, logically and in those terms, why shouldn’t they strip things down and not have to hassle with the original story’s subtext and subplots. They don’t even have to bring in new subtext to make up for it, because things will run smoother this way(even if the storyline is less enjoyable) and because, well, it’s their movie now and they can do whatever they want with it. That makes sense if all you’re interested in is marketing.
But writers aren’t supposed to be all about marketing. They’re supposed to be about writing. Slacking off just because you’re writing a story for kids is both dishonorable and demeaning, and if they’re going to completely dismiss the original story in this film(along with any kind of depth or meaning), I sure as hope they pick it up in the next, because there are plenty of good, complex, and deep “kids” movies. They’re all over the place.
But what you are saying has EVERYTHING to do with marketing. At some point, I am sure someone weighed out the options in the script and said “does his kid have to die for there to be a story here” and the end result doesn’t change one bit.
So they wont be referencing the inventor creating this child as a replacement. That will have no affect on the overall story. Its not “castrating” the film, or harming it as seriously as you imply.
You are over reacting.