By SYDNEY RIEL
My first thought when I walked into the theater was that it’s going to be packed with five year old boys laughing and screaming at every scene that’s supposed to be really immature and dim-witted, but I was wrong.  I’m not saying this is the most divine movie of all time, but it did keep me entertained.
A young boy named Toby is a gifted kid with a famous scientist father known as Dr. Tenma. They both reside in Metro City.  Dr. Tenma leaves with President Stone to present the Peacemaker (a robot).  Toby secretly follows, but gets killed by the Peacemaker!  Dr. Tenma is devastated, so he makes a robot named Toby with the same memory and looks but is powered by blue core (a positive energy).  Toby realizes he’s a robot, and after a while Dr. Tenma thinks that the new Toby is too different than original. Every time he sees the robot it reminds him that Toby’s gone, so Toby runs away.
This is where the movie starts becoming interesting for me.  The rising action segment of the plot allowed me to relate to this character.  Toby dying… c’mon, there are kids in the theater his age watching this movie.  The previews did not prepare me for that emotional setback. What a bummer!
Toby falls off the edge of Metro City and lands on the earth.  He meets many kids who grow to be his friends.  Then, President Stone kidnaps Toby to extract the blue core from him for the Peacemaker.  Dr. Tenma doesn’t let him, so he uses the red core (negative energy) which makes the Peacemaker evil.  While Toby’s friends attempt to save him, the Peacemaker apprehends them.  This leaves Toby with a decision to make: does he choose to save himself or does he risk his life to rescue his friends?
This movie reminded me of “Monsters vs. Aliens” because both main characters were turned into something they were not used to being, but after a while accepted their new selves.  Susan and Toby both went through a learning phase in dealing with their new gifts.
This movie had its ups and downs.  The introduction was mind-numbing because it didn’t present the characters in a meaningful way.  The conclusion could have been improved because there wasn’t a sense of closure.  It did have its moments that made me feel warm inside like steaming hot chocolate on a cold winter’s day or like hot tomato soup running down your sore throat.  “Astro Boy” demonstrates character traits that are dignified like loyalty, courage and intelligence.  I guess I wouldn’t mind watching this movie one or two more times.  I would recommend this for father/son bonding times because that’s the main idea - Dr. Tenma loved Toby even if he was a robot.