SINGAPORE : Astro Boy, the beloved creation of Osamu Tezuka, the grandfather of Japanese anime, fancied-up for an animated introduction to a whole new CGI-spoilt generation. Sounds like sacrilege - but it's surprisingly not.

Aimed directly at children (and their nostalgic parents), "Astro Boy" introduces us to a floating megalopolis that hovers above an over-polluted Earth populated by humans and robots.

The brilliant Dr Tenma (Nicolas Cage) is so heartbroken over the death of his young son Toby (Freddie Highmore), that he decides to revive him a la Frankenstein and Pinocchio.

After injecting memories in an advanced robot, the scientist ends up with a bot who thinks he's a real boy.

Of course, things go bad quickly thanks to a politician (Donald Sutherland) who is desperate to start a war in time to win re-elected into office.

It may have started as a manga series in 1952 but, in the hands of writer/director David Bowers (Flushed Away) and writer Timothy Harris (Space Jam), the zippy "Astro Boy" seems anything but dated.

It may look a step below Pixar but it is ahead of most other second-rate computer-generated family fare.

Crisp and colourful, there is an innocent, sincere freshness that emanates from the film-maker's keeping of the traditional flavour of the Japanese characters and its accompanying morals.

Some fans will quibble about the alterations to the original story, as well as its over-reliance on occasional cuteness, but with action-packed robot gladiator death matches and slapstick laugh-out-loud humour, this is a solid, kid-centric story with enough humour, high-tech gizmos and heart, not to mention an earnest hero, for kids and parents alike.

- TODAY/rs