I feel I must preface this review with the following fact. I am a first-generation Astrboy fan. In a decade where one could grow up loving The Amazing Three, Gigantor (which, BTW, had an episode in which they walked into a robot museum and there was Astroboy on display), 8-Man, Kimba, and Speed Racer, Astroboy was the one thyat started it all for me. At four years old I was forever playing the 45 soundtrack (which I still have), acting like I was conducting it. For me Astroboy was the best, so hearing about an actual movie had me feeling two things; first, the trailers looked good and I was really hoping, but on the other hand were the Suits in Hollywood once again pointlessly rape my childhood with another piece of drek? (I give you the travesty that was Underdog- another pillaging of a childhood favorite). So you can see, I go into this really hoping but dreading.

That said, it started out looking pretty good, begining with the origin story. Toby, son of a big genius robotics scientist and a budding genius himself, but mostly ignored a lot by his lovng but busy father. Good so far, but what about the death? We know in the original that Toby gets killed; are they going to whimp out like most americanized cartoons? Go cutsey on us? Or have the guts to go all the way, which would be the way all of those favorite cartoons of the 60s used to do. This would be the tell, the moment that defines what kind of movie this is going to be. Well, when I saw the death and full emotional involvement that resulted, I knew one thing.

THIS is Astroboy!

I may not remember every little detail from the original series, but I know the look, the feel, what emotions I felt watching it. Yes, he looked like Astroboy, and given the basic concept of a robotic boy, any Suit could crank out some stupid little flick about one without any heart at all, just a bunch of cartoony actions scenes. And a slightly better hand could copy the plot and do a passable job, but the true test is in the heart, and THIS Astroboy has that heart. The look, the plot, and the Heart, it's all there. This is the Astroboy of my childhood, the story of a hero, the first one I ever knew. Did I love this movie? I found my face getting moist, then later tears of joy, and not merely because it was an Astroboy flick, but because this movie IS Astroboy, has all the emotion, excitement, and adventure that it should. I left excited, filled with joy, light and energetic all day after that. In short, I felt that very same emotion that I felt at four years of age watching the original. The Astroboy of yesteryear, the Astroboy of this year; Astroboy.

In the words of the original theme song, "Go, go, go Astro boooooy!"