Astro Boy now has a voice. Tonight Imagi Studios announced that they’ve hired Freddie Highmore to star as the voice of Astro Boy in their new CGI-animated motion picture. Freddie was last seen in The Spiderwick Chronicles playing a little kid, but he’s actually now sixteen. The former child actor has become a teen-actor. More importantly, he’s a pretty good actor and shouldn’t have any problem voicing Astro Boy’s title character, assuming his voice isn’t cracking. I suppose that since the character is a robot, they could always sell that as a vocal short-circuit.

Set in futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy is about a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist to replace the son he has lost. Unable to fulfill the grieving father’s expectations, our hero embarks on a journey in search of acceptance, experiencing betrayal and a netherworld of robot gladiators, before he returns to save Metro City and reconcile with the man who had rejected him.

Astro Boy originated as an animated television series in the 60s, created by Manga icon Osamu Tezuka. The new movie version is currently slated to hit theaters in 2009.