After a nice “Pinocchio”-like start, this new film adaptation of “Astro Boy” goes depressingly to the dogs.

A subpar companion piece to “WallE,” this American-Hong Kong co-production resurrects an iconic Japanese manga set in a future in which “floating paradise” Metro City sails above burned-out, rubbish-strewn, “Mad Max”-like Earth, where citizens scratch out meager lives while Metro City-zens party.