As far as anime adaptations go I haven't seen the original series and have no idea how it corresponds to the original story, but after enjoying Speed Racer and Transformers this just isn't the same. The story at best is a fun retelling of the Pinocchio story. Boy is created, learns he isn't a real boy, makes friends with group of misfits and once again finds his way home to be with his creator. Sure there wasn't any blue fairy, but for there to be a "blue ball" of positive energy is an obvious reference. The cliché of using an evil politician who uses evil red energy to power "The Peacekeeper" was almost painful to watch, but it was fun seeing a robot with personality albeit cliché. Although Donald Sutherland was a great choice for a character voice actor and will be as easily recognizable as he was in Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, his portray of evil bad guy was more lighthearted than James Woods evil bad guy in Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Freddie Highmore once again captures the youthful energy as he did with Arthur and the Invisibles It was a fun movie and worth the matinée price. Better than most Pinocchio re-tellings. Softer than A.I. Artificial Intelligence in terms of robot gore and it even manages to poke fun at I, Robot with its small trio of RRF: Robot Revolution Force in that they can't breaks the laws of robotics and plans on tickling to death one of the other bad guys with a feather. A boy is created, learns he isn't a real boy, becomes friends with band of misfits and finds his way back home where he is accepted for what he is by his creator. The obvious reference to the blue fairy in the form of a fallen star with blue positive energy was just another give away reference to the classic Disney take.