Astro Boy (2009)
Directed by David Bowers
Set in the futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy (Atom) is a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist in the image of the son he had lost. Unable to fulfill his creator's expectations, Astro embarks on a journey in search of acceptance, experiencing betrayal and a netherworld of robot gladiators, before returning to save Metro City and reconcile with the father who rejected him.
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What critics compared Astro Boy to
He’s like a sad Professor Elefun (or Geppetto for those who aren’t Astro Boy fans).
The base premise of the original, recreated with admirable faithfulness here, was essentially an extra edgy grim and gritty riff on Astro Boy.
Best friends Joe (Nick Robinson) and Patrick (Gabriel Basso: Super 8 ) retreat to the woods inexplicably joined by the deeply odd Biaggio (Moises Arias: Astro Boy ) build a ramshackle little house, and run away from civilization, like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, only with Monopoly, and fast food, because this is suburbia and civilization is only just on the other side of the creek.
But the big-screen Greg has grown on me, even more so after this second film, directed by David Bowers (Astro Boy).
We'd hoped that with new director David Bowers helming his first live action feature (he'd previously directed the disappointing animated films Astro Boy and Flushed Away), this sequel might have come up with some fresh, dare-we-say funny, middle school humor.
There are diverting moments, to be sure, but director David Bowers (2009's " Astro Boy ") and returning screenwriters Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah simultaneously try too hard and not hard enough, going for slapstick scenes of humiliation more mean than funny and forgetting to add up to any sort of gratifying catharsis.
But when it comes to structure, pacing and even comic timing, Rodrick Rules — directed by David Bowers (Astro Boy, Flushed Away) and adapted by Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah — doesn’t let its audience down.
The idea seems to be that all of his years in animation have prepared director David Bowers ("Flushed Away," "Astro Boy") to be able to appease a similar audience in his live-action debut.
Director David Bowers (Astro Boy, Flushed Away) injects his first live-action feature with snappy pacing and a few amusing fantasy bits that offset the plot's more obnoxious devices.