“Astro Boy” an animated film based on a 1960′s Japanese cartoon, is a surprisingly deep and emotionally mature superhero tale. Despite a fairly pedestrian and action-heavy third act, I found myself thoroughly invested in Astro’s search for a home and sense of belonging.

Astro (Freddie Highmore) is created by the brilliant Dr. Tenma (Nicolas Cage) to replace Toby, his son who died in a tragic lab accident. Tenma desperately clings to Astro at first, but callously discards him when he realizes that despite the physical resemblance and the fact that he has given Astro his son’s memories, Toby is truly gone.

The scenes between Astro and Tenma are handled with real intelligence and emotional depth. Tenma’s reactions to Astro feel motivated by a father’s grief at the loss of his son and not due to the necessity of the plot. And Astro’s realization of an identity separate from Toby’s is simple but effective.

It is when Astro goes in search of a new home that the film is at its best visually. The setting of the film changes from the surprisingly visually dull Metro City, a floating metropolis, to the Earth’s surface, long-abandoned by humanity due to pollution and a huge buildup of garbage.

Once there, Astro makes friends with a group of children who have been living on the surface. Cora (Kristen Bell), the spunky leader of the group, is the standout. She spends clear nights trying to contact her parents in Metro City using old cell phones she finds in the massive junk piles that cover much of the Earth’s surface. The shots of Cora sitting on the hood of an old car and staring up at Metro City, framed by the moon and the city floating above her, are the films loveliest.

While the action-heavy third act is nothing particularly special, I was involved enough in Astro’s journey that it did not bother me all that much. The fight scenes are exciting but unoriginal.

The fact that Metro City is poorly rendered does not help the film. Metro City is never portrayed as a bustling metropolis. It seems the animators spent most of their time working on the much more colorful and visually interesting surface of Earth, which robs Astro’s desperate fight to save the city of much of its emotional weight. Why should I care about a city that doesn’t feel real?

The voice acting is solid, with Freddie Highmore being the real standout. Highmore invests Astro with the same intelligent sensitivity that has marked all of his live-action performances.

The film falls into the trap of casting actors with name value instead of finding voices that match the characters. The best example of this is Bill Nighy, who voiced a character that does not suit him physically. Nighy does very nice work. I just didn’t buy his voice coming from the diminutive and fat Dr. Elefun.

“Astro Boy” is far from perfect, but it hooked me anyway. By the end I genuinely cared what happened to Astro. Was the ending all that surprising? No not at all, but it was fun watching Astro get there.

“Astro Boy” is in theaters this Friday.

“Couples Retreat,” a painfully unfunny comedy, is a lazy and slapped-together movie. It is constructed around scenes of wasted opportunity and characters with no vitality or humor.

Vince Vaughn, who wrote the script along with co-star Jon Favreau, has to shoulder a lot of the blame. Vaughn, so lively and uninhibited in movies like “The Wedding Crashers” and “Old School”, seems stifled here as a leading man. I can’t help but think that maybe Vaughn would be better served by going back to playing sidekick to actors like Owen Wilson. Vaughn drowns here trying to support the plot and worst of all, does not seem capable of setting others up for laughs.

What is even more frustrating is that instead of at least taking the opportunity to try something new, Vaughn’s Dave fits directly into his increasingly unfunny comfort zone. Dave is a self-involved workingman who meets anyone who suggests that his priorities are out of whack with incredulity. Sounds kind of familiar right?

While there are a couple of moments where Vaughn shows off the rapid-fire, stream-of-consciousness delivery that seemed so fresh a few years ago, it is all rather joyless. Vaughn is just giving the audience what he thinks they want.

The only time the film clicks, is when it puts the whole cast together – something it doesn’t do very often. The film’s best scene has the four couples responding to an overly amorous and inappropriate yoga instructor. It is one of the few moments where the entire cast is given an opportunity to play off of each other, which I found ridiculous, considering the fact the movie is being sold as a gathering of really cool actors.

There are far too many scenes of couples therapy that aren’t funny and don’t take advantage of the gorgeous island location- for a movie set in one of the most beautiful places on Earth, too much of the action takes place indoors. I can’t help but think that the movie was written that way so the actors could enjoy as much beach time as possible- hardly the thinking you want screenwriters basing script decisions on.

Favreau and Vaughn have some nice moments together, but it is more due to their natural chemistry than anything that is in the script and there work here is light years away from their classic pairings in “Swingers” and “Made”.

Jason Bateman and Kristen Bell do solid work as Jason and Cynthia, the uptight and uber-organized couple that plans the retreat to help their marriage. Bell in particular adds some genuine emotion to the more serious scenes, which almost made me believe her marriage to Jason – she definitely deserves better material.
First-time director Peter Billingsley (yes the guy who played Ralphie in “A Christmas Story”) does a decent job keeping the film moving but misses a few chances for some big laughs, particularly a scene involving a guitar hero battle between Vaughn and an employee at the resort. Billingsley’s direction robs Vaughn of any chance to cut loose and have fun. Like a lot of the film, the scene is all set up and no punch line.

I would love to think that “Couples Retreat” will serve as a wake-up call for Vince Vaughn and that next year we will get something funny and daring from an actor who used to be both. Then again, I said the same thing last year after seeing the horrendously wretched “Four Christmases”. I shudder when I think about what we might be subjected to next.

Yesterday we reported that Kristen Bell would be reprising her role as Lucy Stillman in Assassin’s Creed II, but now we have these glorious high-res shots to prove it!

Ahh, Kristen. From “Heroes” to “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” oh how we love you! But Assassin’s Creed II, well now that’s just icing on an already smokin’ hot cake.

Click each image to make larger, and much more gorgeous.

Ubisoft today announced that Kristen Bell, the Hollywood actress, will reprise her role as Lucy Stillman in Assassin’s Creed II.

She won the “Hottest Newcomer” award at the Video Game Awards for her role in the original and is promised to again play a major role in the intricate and emotional storyline of Assassin’s Creed II.

“Kristen Bell is a talented actress that brought the depth and emotion necessary for the mysterious role of Lucy for the first Assassin’s Creed video game. She breathed life into her character in a way that deepened the gaming experience” said Patrice Desilets, creative director for Assassin’s Creed II. “She did such a fantastic job for this character that, for me, Kristen Bell is Lucy Stillman and no one else can play that role.”

Now, you may only know Kristen Bell from “Heroes” and the hilarious Judd Apatow film “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” in which she played none other than the Sarah Marshall, but she also enjoys video games and participating in their creation.

“Being a part of the first Assassin’s Creed video game was an amazing experience. Video games is such a creative entertainment medium, and to be able to see and play myself as a video game character was surreal” said Kristen Bell. “As an actress, it’s both challenging and rewarding to play a complex character with this great mysterious background. I’m very happy to be Lucy once more, and I look forward to fans discovering more about her – they will be pleasantly surprised.”

Look for Assassin’s Creed II on Xbox 360 and PS3 November 17, or a week after Modern Warfare 2 releases, for those who count like that.

Check out these new stills of Summit Entertainment’s “Astro Boy,” featuring the voice talents of Freddie Highmore and Kristen Bell.

“Astro Boy” hits theaters October 23, 2009.