Reel Critics:

Hollywood keeps coming up with ways to make animated movies that don’t really work for younger kids. Mixed reviews abound for films with great CGI graphics and plot elements too dark or violent for toddlers. Into this genre rockets a new update of the old “Astro Boy” franchise from Japan.

In a future world, the elites live in Metro City, a giant island floating in the sky. Robots of every kind serve the wealthy populace. The political leader is a caricature of right-wing politicians patterned on Richard Nixon. The humans left on the surface are the poor slum-dwelling remnants of a bygone era.

Government scientists develop powerful energy cores to drive more advanced robots. The evil president wants to use the negative energy red cores to drive military robots. Others want to use the positive energy blue cores to power the reincarnated Astro Boy, a robot combined with the DNA of a child killed in an experiment gone wrong.

There’s a lot of fine craft involved in the production. The stylized animation will remind you of “The Incredibles.” But the violent demolition derby fight scenes make this a noisy “Transformers” for tots. And the heavy handed Red State, Blue State political satire seems out of place in a movie targeting children.

In passion, ‘Amelia’ biopic doesn’t board it

Amelia Earhart was a plucky aviatrix whose disappearance in 1937 while attempting to fly around “the waistline of the world” remains a mystery. This Kansas native captured the world’s attention as the first woman to fly across the Atlantic (even though she was merely a passenger). It’s a real American success story, at least on the surface.

But “Amelia” the movie doesn’t go very deep — there’s a curious detachment in Hillary Swank’s portrayal, though her resemblance to the real Earhart is uncanny. Director Mira Nair (“The Namesake”) has given us a beautiful vision that’s meant to be inspiring, and the flying scenes are certainly that. It’s when everybody’s on the ground that it’s a dud.

We are told that, since childhood, Earhart was enthralled by the idea of flight. But where’s the passion? Where’s the burning energy, the drive to take risks, to do whatever necessary to soar above those clouds? Sadly, the movie stalls and never really takes off. Even the love triangle with husband, George Putnam (Richard Gere), and Gene Vidal (Ewan MacGregor) has all the sizzle of an airplane meal.

JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office. SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a financial services company.