# Iron Giant, The (1999)

### reviewed by
Shay Casey

    ***1/2 out of ****

    Year: 1999.
    Starring the voices of Eli Marienthal, Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr.,
    Vin Diesel, Christopher McDonald, Cloris Leachman, John Mahoney, M. Emmett
    Walsh.
    Screenplay by Tim McCanlies.
    Directed by Brad Bird.
    Rated PG.

Why do so many children's films treat their target audience with utter contempt? Too many of those who write or direct for children's movies assume that the kids just can't handle serious, thoughtful discussions on meaningful issues. "The Iron Giant," which was directed and co-written by Brad Bird, late of such animated series as "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill," assumes that not only can children handle such discussions, but that they can do so while being entertained at the same time. "The Iron Giant" holds absolutely no contempt for the young people in the audience, making it a film that's enjoyable for both children and adults alike.

Hogarth Hughes (voice of Eli Marienthal) is a spirited young lad who lives with his hard-working single mother, Annie (Jennifer Aniston), in a small town in Maine. After staying up late and watching scary movies on a night his mother is away, Hogarth treks out into the forest to investigate what has stolen his antenna and ruined his TV reception. He comes across a giant robot (Vin Diesel) from space that eats metal for food. After saving the robot, nicknamed the Iron Giant, from electric shock, Hogarth befriends the creature and takes him in as a pet of sorts. Because of damage he suffered upon landing, the Giant has forgotten what his original mission was, so he just follows Hogarth around like a lost puppy. Realizing he can't just keep the Giant in a barn all the time, and that the Giant needs food, he takes him to a junkyard owned by Dean (Harry Connick Jr.), an eccentric artist who assembles sculptures out of scrap iron in his spare time. It soon becomes apparent that Dean and Hogarth can't keep the Giant a secret forever, because a government spook named Kent Mansley (Christopher McDonald) has been brought in to investigate mysterious sightings in the surrounding forest area and considers the Giant a threat to national security. He suspects Hogarth knows something about the Giant, and takes up residence in Hogarth's house as a lodger. Meanwhile, the Giant begins to exhibit ominous behavior that suggests he was built to be a weapon of some kind.

"The Iron Giant" is exactly what family films ought to be, because it doesn' t talk down to its audience. The story is simple, very simple, about an alien being that drops out of the sky and befriends a young boy. It's very similar to the Spielberg classic "E.T.,' and such comparisons are actually deserved in the case of "The Iron Giant." The film holds many of the better elements of Spielberg's film, such as the ability to be sentimental without turning sappy. The film delivers several serious messages, the most important of which is one's ability to choose one's own fate. Hogarth teaches the Giant to go against his programming and become what he wants to be: a hero. The final sequence is touching and appropriate, though I won't give it away, I will say that very few will be disappointed.

The animation, while not up to Disney standards (what could be, after "Tarzan"?), is good enough to make you forget you're watching a cartoon. The Giant is computer-animated, while the human characters are all hand-drawn the old-fashioned way. The characters' faces are done quite well, drawn realistically enough to make the personalities credible, but the features are exaggerated so as to allow for the cartoonish expressions that provide for comic relief. Fine voice work is turned in by young Eli Marienthal as Hogarth, and Jennifer Aniston is surprisingly convincing as his waitress mother. Harry Connick Jr. does a nice characterization as Dean, and I really enjoyed the voice work of John Mahoney (of TV's "Frasier") as an Army General called in by Agent Mansley. Unlike several cartoon features, each character is actually a developed personality, rather than a stereotype, and is actually integral to the plot, rather than being a superfluous comic-relief sidekick (a cliché Disney still hasn't ditched). Dean, for example, could have been a stereotypical beatnik (his character profile seems to suggest that), but he is presented as a character with real emotions, thoughts, and motivations. Even the heavy, Agent Mansley, is not a villain who does bad things simply because he wants to, but out of his own fear and paranoia. A lesser animated feature would have drawn up paper-thin stereotypes and figure the kids won't mind, but "The Iron Giant" has clearly put a little work into making the characters real, and it pays off.

The film isn't only around to deliver heavy-handed messages, though. It's also very funny, and the humor is of the kind that both children and adults will enjoy. The scenes in which Hogarth teaches the Giant to do certain things, such as dive into a pool, are handled well, and director Brad Bird clearly has a sense of comic timing, having worked on "The Simpsons" for many years. A sequence where Hogarth and Mansley attempt to "outlast" one another by trying to stay awake is very nicely timed, and also extremely clever. The film even takes some jabs at America's nuclear paranoia during the early stages of the Cold War, satirizing the lame safety films shown to grade school students that tell them to "duck and cover" in the event of a nuclear attack. "The Iron Giant" has much more of a satirical edge to it than most family films, and the edgy humor is actually quite refreshing. Instead of seeing people get bonked on the head, we get well-timed, clever gags that seem to have required some imagination to come up with.

When you get right down to it, "The Iron Giant" is no more than the story of a boy and his robot. The story is so straightforward, so quaint, that it ultimately becomes charming. Though I enjoy the complex plotting of film noir as much as the next person, when it comes to family entertainment, simple is the way to go. It's akin to one of those bedtime stories your father told that had you hanging on his every word, but it's not the story that sets the film above others of its kind, but rather the elements that go into the story, namely real characters and thoughtful dialogue, which "The Iron Giant" has in spades.

    -reviewed by Shay Casey

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