SummaryA giant metal machine falls to Earth in 1950s Maine, frightening townspeople. However, the robot befriends a nine-year-old boy named Hogarth who must save it from the predjudices of the townspeople and from a government agent intent on destroying the robot.
SummaryA giant metal machine falls to Earth in 1950s Maine, frightening townspeople. However, the robot befriends a nine-year-old boy named Hogarth who must save it from the predjudices of the townspeople and from a government agent intent on destroying the robot.
Surprising as it sounds, as far as examinations of trust, loyalty and identity go, the big metal dude's story winds up far more satisfying than the plodding Kubrick opus any day of the week.
Director Brad Bird (TV's King of the Hill, The Simpsons), adapting the original children's book by the late British poet laureate Ted Hughes, has created a wonderful character in the huge childlike visitor from space.
In most respects, The Iron Giant is one of the better animated children's films in recent memory, which makes its strident political correctness all the more frustrating.
This might be one of the best animated movies of all time. The story is heartwarming, has a great message and is very compelling. The setting of 1950's Maine is beautiful and the art direction is top notch. The characters are all really likable and the antagonist really makes you hate him like a good antagonist should. I highly recommend this movie to everyone.
The movie has one problem: the story is so classic (ET for example), that I couldnt get into the movie. There are so many movies about a boy who is dreaming of a special friend and get it. Also some characters were very superficial, especially the villain was awful.
The graphics are not bad, it mixes classic drawings with computer animations.
While the film has its merits, I found the familiar tropes to be somewhat bothersome. The setting, the time period provide a nice backdrop for the story of a metal ET crash landing on earth. We have the Americana version of Maine during the Cold War and a young boy, Hogarth who is basically your everyman as a child. He is precocious and adventerous. He owns a BB gun, he loves his comic books and wants to have a wild animal for a pet. His mother is your typical single mom... or rather a widow (it was not well-established how she lost her husband and I only discovered this after referring to the Wikipedia site) and works at a diner. She is patient, long-suffering with her child's antics and his many other quirks which altogether come out of the stereotypical screenplay bag of basic ideas here. Into Hogarth's life comes this Iron Giant and from there, it plays out like ET. I know this is a kid's movie yet after hearing and reading the great reviews, I found myself wondering how this film could belong to numerous top ten film lists. I kept forcing myself to keep watching, expecting some depth or revelation. Yet Hogarth, his mom, and Dean, an artist who owns a scrapyard were all poorly written characters. The bad guy was boring and idiotic. The climax was overblown and ludicrous. The whole plot offered nothing new. The dialogue felt clumsy and trite. A pleasant film and I suppose great for children. Weapons are bad. Killing is bad. Yes, wonderful moral messages here along with the idea that we choose to be what we want to be. The film just felt bland and boring, more a chore to watch. There are far better animated films out there. I urge people not to believe the hype. Brad Bird directed this work and it is definitely a first film for him. I recommend The Incredibles which is much more mature and a far better film. It was more well-thought out than this piece of juvenelia. This felt like a sketch that needed more attention to detail. I truly don't understand the rave reviews. Sometimes I think the herd mentality is at work in movie criticism.
