Knockabout fun

Astro Kid (PG, 90 mins) Directed by Eric Tosti Reviewed by James Croot ★★★

Willy just wanted to help with the mission. It was the last day of their expedition and while hewas looking forward to seeing all his friends on

Earth again, he wanted to be able to say he did something more than just play video games.

Withmumhaving something urgent in the lab to attend to,

Willy agreed to go to the warehousewith dad.

Given the job of photographing all the planetary detritus they’ve collected, Willy eagerly sets to work.

But then comes a chain of events that changes the 10-year-old’s life forever. Just as dad is called away to another part of the ship, it unexpectedly runs into an asteroid field. As its exterior takes more hits, internal protocols kick in, isolating Willy from his parents.

With rocks continuing to smash against the hull, there’s only one option – board the escape pod. Jettisoned into space, Willy watches in horror as his floating home is destroyed, fortunately just after his ma and pa managed to fly clear. However, their pods are on different trajectories, so as Willy braces himself for landing on the nearest planet, he knows he could be on his own for some time.

Known in some other countries by the potentially difficult to market name of Terra Willy, this French animated feature from the creators of The Jungle Bunch offers undemanding, knockabout fun for primary school-age viewers.

Bright colours and peril under every rock cover predictable action, weird segues (there’s a jaunty musical number and a hip-hop tune) and lessthan-inspiring dialogue (perhaps a result of the English dub being a secondary concern) in this outer-space boy-and-his-dog adventure.

Survival robot Buck and eightlegged alien Flash fill the adventurous-pal roles, but really most of the incident in this Croodsmeets-trolls- in-space tale involves scatological gags (poo and pee jokes), alien flora and fauna emitting sticky substances, and encounters with creatures of varying shapes, sizes and demeanours.

File under fun, but almost instantly forgettable.