Movie Review: The Iron Giant (1999)

Throughout the 1990s, animated films saw their highs with such iconic films as The Lion King or Beauty and the Beast, and also the lows of such atrocities as Titanic: The Legend Goes On.

The problem few noticed is that until Studio Ghibli came along, most animated films were full of musical numbers, talking animals, and fart jokes, and nothing truly felt grounded in any serious way. That is until 1999 when Warner Brothers partnered up with Brad Bird to adapt a little known British children's book to the big screen.

This movie was The Iron Giant, directed by Brad Bird, and starring the voice talents of Eli Marienthal, Vin Diesel, Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr., and Christopher McDonald.

The story is arguably very cliché: A lonely, bullied, young boy with parent and friend issues befriends a lifeform from beyond the stars that fell to Earth during a stormy night in 1957, at the height of the Cold War. The only thing different about this is that this lifeform is a 50 foot metal robot voiced by Vin Diesel, suffering from amnesia. Together, the two form a forbidden, dangerous friendship, and so they embark upon an adventure of discovery, as the boy struggles to figure out why the visitor landed, but also change his outlook on life.

One of the best things about this movie is easily the incredibly talented direction from Brad Bird. He would gain a much bigger and more dedicated following with more mainstream films like The Incredibles and Ratatouille, but even before then, he proved he was a master of animated filmmaking, and his style is all over this movie, from the themes of being proud of who you are, to the energy and life he injects into his actors and the animation.

Another praiseworthy topic to mention here is how well the animators and writers capture the vibe of the 1950s. Much in the same vein of the Duffer Brothers recapturing the 1980s with Stranger Things, Brad Bird and the screenwriter recapture the 1950s to a T, with a fittingly 50s soundtrack, alongside the paranoia of the characters as to the Sputnik satellite that launched the very same year.

This leads me to one of my biggest praises of the film, and that is just how adult the movie feels, even though it was intended for all ages. The screenwriter and the actors convey some pretty intense themes in this PG movie, from anti-war, innocence, identity, and even gun control, themes that few other animated studios were probably willing to tackle at the time.

This arguably sealed the film's fate as a bomb at the box office, for Warner Bros had no idea how to market and handle a film with such risqué themes for children to handle. And against the mainstream studios, the trailers would've been seen by many as typical animated schlock, and not worthy of seeing, unaware of the enormous misfire Warner Bros had created with the marketing.

The film hardly made back its budget of $50 million dollars, and so became a forgotten masterpiece, despite the overwhelmingly positive reception from the few who did see it at the time, and thanks to these people, knowledge of the film has spread significantly into a cult following of very passionate fans.

As with any film, as much as I hate to pick out negatives from this movie, it does have its problems. For one, the style of animation used here shows its age, and there are plenty of moments where it shows, not the least of which is a well-written and acted scene involving the main character, Hogarth, trying to prevent his mother seeing the giant robotic hand scuttling round the house, whilst having dinner!

Such a flaw as this does little to lessen the impact this film can have on you. In the wake of Stranger Things acting as a comeback for retro science fiction movies and TV shows, The Iron Giant still has plenty of room for its audience to grow and expand as the years go by.

Boasting excellent direction, voice acting, a tense yet sweepingly beautiful soundtrack by the late and great Michael Kamen, and enough themes to touch everyone, The Iron Giant is a classic of modern animation still reaching out to new fans with every passing year.