"The Iron Giant" has most everything an adult
could ask of a children's movie. The kids will
enjoy it, and so will the grown-ups. There's
warmth, values, friendship, some scariness to
make things exciting, but a happy ending to
relieve all concerned. For adult viewers, there
is some humor (parodies of 1950s era public
service messages about nuclear bombs) and some
eye candy (Hogarth's mom).

"The Iron Giant" is a cartoon about a boy
and his giant robot. Set in a coastal Maine
town in the late 1950s (Sputnik launched in
Oct. 1957, but the story seems to take place
during Summer), there is a background of cold-war
paranoia, and fear of the unknown.

Hogarth (voiced by Eli Marienthal) is a boy
about ten years old who lives with his single
mother (Jennifer Aniston). He finds and befriends
an enormous humanoid robot in the forest. The
robot needs to eat metal to um, continue, and
is taken to a junkyard run by friendly beatnik
Dean (Harry Connick Jr.) Even good cartoons
have villains, so government agent Kent Mansley
(Christopher McDonald) learns of the robot's
existence and seeks to destroy it, with the
help of the U.S. Army.

"The Iron Giant" has surprising warmth between
the boy and the giant robot. The robot has much
to learn from the boy, who teaches it how to
talk, and gives it values. We see that the robot
has feelings, which are expressed through the
robot's eyes. We also learn that the robot,
which has come from outer space, is even more
than what it appears: it can fly, and it is a
war machine. The script continually adds to the
robot's capabilities, and by film's end it can
do everything except recite Shakespeare.

The biggest weakness, as is often the case for
animated features, is the character of the villain.
Kent Mansley is a stereotype of a suspicious,
relentless, stupid government agent, the type
so well parodied in "Beavis and Butthead Do America".
One can also complain that the character of
Hogarth's mother is underdeveloped, that the
romance between her and Dean comes too easily,
and (sorry for the obscurity of this comment)
that the 'For Rent' sign suddenly appears in the
window halfway through the film.

Still, it seems shallow and condescending to
criticize "The Iron Giant", which more than succeeds
on its own terms. It is a family film that both
children and their parents will enjoy. (58/100)




Recommended: Yes