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Astro Boy | 2009 | PG | - 1.4.1

A brilliant scientist, who has developed a robot technology that he envisions being used to help humanity, is convinced to share his creation with a power-hungry politician who wants to use robots as a weapon. When the scientist's young son is killed during the testing, he is determined to build a new robotic boy in his likeness. But he realizes that seeing the boy robot only makes his grief deeper, and the boy robot ends up abandoned in a junkyard where he befriends humans left behind when almost everyone abandoned the planet surface for a spiffy new home hovering in the sky. With the voices of Freddie Highmore, Nicolas Cage, Charlize Theron, Donald Sutherland, Kristen Bell, Nathan Lane, Bill Nighy, Eugene Levy, Matt Lucas and Samuel L. Jackson. Directed by David Bowers. [1:34]

SEX/NUDITY 1 - A teen girl and a robot boy hug in a friendly manner. A teen girl and a robot boy lie on the hood of a car and talk.
 We see an illustration of a person bending over a medical table and being injected with a hypodermic needle in the buttock (no physical details are shown). A woman wears a tight-fitting dress that accentuates her sizable bosom.

VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - During a weapon test, a robot fires at drones (we see them with faces and they talk to each other): many explode, some stick to the robot's metal covering, the robot blasts a hole through a protective shield around it, and a boy who was trapped inside the shield with the robot disappears (we see his baseball cap on the floor and it is understood that the boy is dead).
 A man lays a robot boy back on a lab table, he opens the robot's chest hatch and removes a power orb (we see the robot close his eyes and go pale). A robot boy lies motionless and pale on the ground with one arm dislocated (wires can be seen), and people gather around him and grieve.
 A man is absorbed into the metal outer shell of a huge robot (we hear the robot's voice change to sound similar to the man's voice).
 A robot fires at a robot boy, who shoots back at it; the robot grows and absorbs many objects in its path, the robot boy shoots the robot in the eye (we see the eye go dark), he punches the robot in the face repeatedly, and he grabs the robot and the robot begins to absorb his power; the robot boy then slams into the robot's chest causing it to break up (rubble rains down).
 A huge robot with spinning blades approaches a robot boy, he jumps up toward it and crashes into a force field, and he falls to the ground, pushes the huge robot toward the force field and it is disabled.
 A robot boy is shot by a huge flying robot vessel: he is struck twice and falls off a floating mountain and onto a pile of refuse on the planet below .A robot boy fights with a robot that features the voice of a young girl that says, "I have a boo boo," as it is destroyed. A man shoots a robot boy with a power beam and he falls to the floor. Many robot security vessels surround a robot boy, they fire long sticky strands at him which adhere to him, he struggles to get free, and several other things are also grabbed (a woman, a dog, etc.); the robot boy pulls the vessels in the opposite direction, they get stuck between skyscrapers, the windshield of one vessel breaks and the robot inside falls out and toward the ground, while its communication screen reads: "Sudden discharge of bodily fluids."
 A huge robot raises its foot over a man who has fallen on the ground and prepares to crush him (it is stopped). A robot grabs a boy and shoves him into a small closet; the boy complains of being afraid of small spaces, but the robot is not moved and closes the door.
 A huge flying robot with tentacles flies over a city and opens fire (people run and scream). A robot roars loudly and causes people to run in fear and scream. A truck strikes a robot and its pieces are scattered on the street. A robot drives a car, we hear a crash (not shown) and we see robot pieces bounce on the ground and fly through the air.
 A robot boy opens a hatch in his chest, he removes a glowing power source and places it inside another robot. Three robots grab a robot boy, run away and hide in a shack with him.
 A robot boy is startled when he wakes up in a pile of robot parts, and sees a disheveled robot head and others missing limbs walking toward him in zombie-like fashion. A man is struck in the head by a can. A teen girl holding a wrench tackles a robot and threatens it.
 A robot boy reaches out an open window, and he falls out and toward the ground below (he does not hit the ground). A teen girl slips and falls off a tall robot (she is caught before hitting the ground). While getting used to his ability to fly, a robot boy sails through the air, nearly slamming into a speeding train, running into a wall, flies out of control, slams into the ground and tunnels through dirt (he's OK). A robot slams its head against a wall repeatedly (no damage is done).
 A man slaps another man on the back. A teen girl kicks a man in the leg. A robot dog bites the leg of another robot, it is kicked off and we hear it yip and see it quiver.
 A robot boy is forced to enter an arena where he is supposed to fight many robots (similar to a Roman gladiator), but he says he won't fight. A man is held at gunpoint by many security robots.
 We see explosions and hear thundering booms coming from a floating mountain as it sinks out of the sky and toward a planet's surface. A robot boy flies through a roof and rubble falls to the floor inside. A teen girl hits her head on a car door jam and then trips on garbage (she's OK).
 A man builds a robot boy: we see its skeletal structure, it is covered with "flesh," a hatch is opened in his chest, a glowing orb is placed inside to act as the power supply, it is attached to cables, lifted into the air, flashes swirl around it, there is a bright flash and the robot falls to the floor. A man teaches a robot how to fight.
 A man falls to his knees and weeps when he realizes that his young son is dead. A man tells a robot boy, "I don't want you anymore." We hear about children left behind when families left their planet. Robots talk about organizing a revolution and wanting to capture a man to tickle him with a feather. A robot boy exclaims when he realizes he can shoot rockets "from his butt" (the position of his pants pockets). We hear that a human population left its planet's surface to live in the sky above it. A remark is made about "how fat people feel about donuts and how women feel about shoes."
 Part of a mountain floats high over a planet's surface and we see garbage being dumped from the mountain onto the planet several times. Many roaches skitter off the top of a pizza and a man proceeds to eat a piece of the pie.

LANGUAGE 1 - 2 mild anatomical terms, 1 mild obscenity, name-calling (smarty pants, idiot, hot shot, sweetheart, creepy, dummy, stupid, hippy, losers, wild pigs, sissies, trailer park trash), several exclamations (holy cow).

SUBSTANCE USE - An illustration shows a person bending over a medical table and being injected with a hypodermic needle in the buttock.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Robot technology, oases, paradise, complacency, disappointment, weapon development, political aspirations, positive energy, negative energy, destiny, politics, greed, self-sustaining power source, pollution, humanity, heroism, grief, death of a child, secrets, trust, friends, fitting in, being different, mistakes, guilt, slavery, orphans, national security

MESSAGE - Robots are not objects to be taken for granted or to be treated like slaves.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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