Little Britain's Matt Lucas has joined the voice cast of the CG animated film Astro Boy, based on the none-more-successful anime series. He joins (deep breath) Nicolas Cage, Kristen Bell, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, Bill Nighy and Eugene Levy. The always-reliable Freddie Highmore takes the title role.
The story follows Astro Boy, a robot with incredible powers in a future world. He goes on an "adventure-filled journey" trying to find his "identity and destiny", getting involved in an underground robot gladiatorial scene before returning to save his native Metro City. There's no word yet on what character Lucas will play.
Astro Boy was created by manga legend Osamu Tezuka in the 1950s and has become massively popular since, already appearing in three animated TV series. This film is being directed by Flushed Away's David Bowers, and is due out on October 23 2009.