Story
Metro City is suspended in the sky above the Earth. It is staffed by an army of robots that look after the city’s humans. The Earth below is a dumping ground for Metro City’s discarded robots. Toby (voice of Freddie Highmore) is a child prodigy and the son of Metro City’s head scientist Dr Tenna (Nicolas Cage). Toby follows his father to an experimental weapons test and is accidentally killed.
Unable to cope with the loss of his son, Dr Tenna uses Toby’s DNA to create an android. He programmes the android with his son’s memories and powers it with positive Blue Core energy. At first the android Toby believes he is the real Toby, but then he learns the truth and discovers that he has super powers. Dr Tenna realises that the android can never really replace his son, so he decides to deactivate him. At this point, the movie’s chief villain, President Stone (Donald Sutherland), demands that Tenna hand over the Blue Core energy. Toby manages to escape the clutches of President Stone, but is attacked by robot drones and falls to Earth.
On Earth, Toby is befriended by Cora (Kristen Bell), who is part of a gang of teenage orphans led by a character called Ham Egg (Nathan Lane). Toby doesn’t want them to know he’s an android, so he takes the name Astro and keeps pretending to be human. The gang spends its time rummaging through rubbish dumps for old robot parts. Ham Egg recycles these parts to create gladiator-like robots that are used in the ‘Games’. After using his Blue Core energy to reactivate an old giant robot called Zog (Samuel L Jackson), Astro wins the gang’s admiration and friendship. Ham Egg and the gang take Astro and Zog to the Games, but Astro learns that these involve robots fighting until they destroy each other. He refuses to let Zog be part of them. So Ham Egg betrays Astro, who is captured by President Stone and taken back to Metro city where he faces a struggle to survive.
Themes
Grief for the loss of a son; discrimination and prejudice
Violence
As well as cartoon and slapstick violence, Astro Boy contains several scenes that show more intense violence and danger resulting in large-scale destruction and death. For example:
Sexual references
None of concern
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
This movie contains no use of substances.
Nudity and sexual activity
None of concern
Product placement
None of concern
Coarse language
Astro Boy contains some mild coarse language and insults.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Astro Boy is an animated action adventure. It is tailored to a younger audience (8-13 years), but it contains some dark themes and some images that could scare younger children.
The movie’s main messages include the following:
- Your humanity is not defined by your DNA but by what you can do for other people.
- It can be a challenge to find your purpose or destiny in life.
Values in this movie that you might wish to reinforce with your children include self-sacrifice and the importance of friendship.
This movie could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the following real-life issues:
- Is violence an effective way to solve problems?
- Should one group of people (in this case, the people on Earth) be disadvantaged or not valued because they are less technologically advanced than another group (the inhabitants of Metro City)?