It's based on the original manga series by Osamu Tezuka, who's regarded in Japan as the "God of Manga". In fact, in the trailer, you can SEE Tezuka (in CGI form); cute of the animators to include him. He's in the scene where Astro is flying down the city street and passes overhead; below him is a little man wearing a beret - that's Tezuka. (Tezuka passed away in 1989.)
Not long ago, Adult Swim ran the original 1960's
Astro Boy anime, usually at around 1 in the morning. The series was done on the cheap, and, like a lot of anime, doesn't translate too well sometimes for American audiences, but it was still pretty fun. Especially the theme song. BTW, Tezuka also created scores of other manga, like Kimba the White Lion and Princess Knight. The one manga I liked when I used to read Shojo Beat magazine was the fragment of Princess Knight it ran in one issue. I'd love to read the whole thing, but just TRY to find translated Tezuka comics here in America!

Dark Horse comics did reissue Astro Boy comics a few years ago, but they're all out of print; I was able to track down only ONE issue of them, and that was at my library. Well, maybe if this film is a success, the series will be re-released again. I hope so. The Astro boy book I did manage to read rocked out loud. Beautiful lively flowing art and a solid story. Sorry to gush on like this, but I'm a major Tezuka fan. Does it show?
