The Green Quote: Kristen Bell On Astro Boy’s Eco Subplot

by Luke Warner October 20, 2009
Categories: People.

“I liked the environmental element and how it dealt with the deterioration of the Earth. The need to protect it is a storyline that’s just in the background, but it does cause you to think because in Astro Boy’s world, no one can really live on the surface of the earth happily anymore. I also liked the idea that even though you’ve been told from day one to dislike something or keep something at arm’s length, you should really question it if your heart tells you the opposite. It’s important for everyone to make their own decisions. Otherwise, we’d all be lemmings.”

- Kristin Bell told Moviefone, when asked what attracted her to lend her voice to the animated feature Astro Boy.

http://www.remyc.com Remy C.

I really feared that the Astro Boy movie would be, well, less than worthy of the original 1960′s black and white cartoon series which older folks like us were all huge fans of… but you know what? I loved the film.

There was a real heart felt quality to it. The look is different. Astro Boy is the Japanese Mickey Mouse, but this movie is made in Hong Kong. It’s not your typical Japanese animation. There’s also a beautiful old fashion Hollywood score from John Ottman.

I know a lot of people who see this film are going to think the story is a rip-off of Spielberg’s AI. Fact is, writer Ian Watson based his screenplay on Brian Aldiss’s Supertoys Last All Summer Long, who in turn probably lifted it from the first Birth of Astro Boy Japanese comic strip!

So it’s the same story, about a robot builder, who loses his son, builds a robot to replace him, then turns his back on his own creation, which the creator of Astro Boy, Osamu Tezuka “clearly” credited to being his own interpretation of Pinocchio.

I don’t know how well Astro Boy is going to do at the box-office in the US. So few people in America remember who Astro Boy is. But it should do quite well in Asia, where Astro is huge.