It’s always worth taking a chance to geek out with Kristen Bell. Her roundtable interview for Astro Boy was the perfect opportunity to talk ‘80s cartoons and recent movies. In Astro Boy, Bell plays the voice of Cora, an orphan on the surface who Astro meets after he falls from Metro City.

Crave Online: What got you involved with Astro Boy?

Kristen Bell: I have always loved animation and I always knew that I wanted to be part of an animated movie, and I read Astro Boy and liked it so much and then I had always known the name in my head and knew that it was a character from somewhere but didn’t really understand how iconic it was overseas and how influential this character had been from the first in so many people’s lives in the television show in the ‘50s and in the ‘80s. It was all just a learning experience for me about what a cool cat he was and how sort of timeless the story was, you know, and there’s a reason that they want to remake it because it’s just a very relatable, attainable story for everyone.

Crave Online: Have you ever needed or found a sort of surrogate family like he finds with the kids on the surface?

Kristen Bell: Oh yeah. I have a surrogate family in L.A. for sure. I have a couple of surrogate families. I think the idea of community that Astro finds on the surface of the Earth is so vital to my way of living. I had a lot of roommates for a while. We all lived in the same house and it was very much like a functioning commune. [Laughs] It’s only for switching beds every night, you guys. It’s totally normal. I always say that to people and they’re like, “Oh…?!” I find that my friends out here are definitely like a surrogate family and I think that’s just very important to my sanity and well being.

Crave Online: Are they comprised of industry people?

Kristen Bell: Some, and some not. Most of the people work in the industry some way or another, whether they’re lawyers or hair stylists or make-up artists or producers.

Crave Online: You said that you were a big fan of animation. What were some of your favorite animated films or cartoons growing up?

Kristen Bell: I was obsessed with Aladdin, obsessed with The Little Mermaid. I mean, I kind of loved all those Disney movies and was very much on board with any of those. On TV, I was born in ‘80 so the late ‘80s was my prime and I really liked DuckTales. Anybody? Okay? Darkwing Duck. Yes? TaleSpin. I don’t know why so many of them involved ducks but I did like each and every one of those.

Crave Online: So you were really a Disney gal then?

Kristen Bell: Yeah. And I did like the Disney movies a lot.

Crave Online: Could that explain why you’ve got two Disney movies coming up?

Kristen Bell: Maybe. When In Rome, I was lucky enough that Disney allowed me to put it on my shoulders when I had never really carried a role like that and we’ll see how it does in January. But, it was a great experience and they were very good to me and gave me every reason to work with them again on You Again.

Crave Online: Now that we’ve seen how important Cora and the surface kids are to Astro Boy figuring out who he is, I can’t imagine this story without them. What do you think it adds to the mythology that came from the manga and anime?

Kristen Bell: Well, I’m not that familiar with the original, with the manga or the anime. I purposefully didn’t familiarize myself with it because I was playing a new character, because I didn’t want to know too much about Astro, in particular, going in because the story for me, from my perspective, is about Cora and Astro getting to know each other. But, I do feel like it provides a little bit more of a female perspective in the film, a little bit more estrogen, if you will.

Crave Online: Maybe you don’t know this either, I certainly don’t. Has Astro Boy ever had a team behind him before? Because, in the climax of this, you guys come and help him. So, that would be a very new element.

Kristen Bell: I don’t know. Not that I know of. As far as I know, these characters that he gets to know on the surface of the Earth, this is the first time he sort of has these friendship relationships.