The Iron Giant - Review

So when hanging out with one of my buddies, he asks me what I thought of the recent hit film, Ready Player One. I proceeded to ramble on about how much I loved it and that it is my favourite movie of the year so far. He then asks the follow-up question, "Iron Giant is in it right? Wait... You've seen The Iron Giant right?" Fortunately, Iron Giant does make an appearance in Ready Player One, unfortunately, I had not seen the movie up until that day. "Okay then, that's what we are watching today." So we got home, grabbed my copy of Iron Giant on VHS and popped it in. And while I wasn't blown away, I was completely satisfied. So right off the bat, I'm going to make the same comparison as everyone already has and that is that the Iron Giant is basically an animated version of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. The only major difference being that it is a giant robot rather than an alien. With that being said, it's still entertaining because the film is so simple. We establish that our hero, Hogarth Hughes, is extremely interested in animals and has always wanted a pet. Therefore, it makes sense that he becomes attached to this Iron Giant. Just little simple things like that that go unnoticed are what make movies like this a treat to watch. Add on top of that a good, simple message for kids. "You are what you choose to be." It's interesting however that the boy teaches this to the robot. That's another thing the filmmakers did right, make the Iron Giant likable and gave him a ton of personality. They were able to give this giant metal creature a soul. He gets scared, excited, curious, sad and you really attach emotionally to him. So that stuff is all well and good, but E.T. did all those same things. Same story with a very simple yet tight script with a good message and an alien creature that we really care about. So why watch Iron Giant? It's the little decisions by Brad Bird and the creative team that give this movie a little extra boost in order for it to stand apart from the crowd. This movie came out in 1999 and it could have been extremely easy for the studio to have it take place in "modern day". Just throw in some catchphrases and pop culture references that were popular at the time and throw in some songs from 1999's hit artist's into the soundtrack and BAM! You have a movie you can easily market to the kids this summer season. However, Brad Bird and his team didn't do that. They decided to have the film take place in the 1950's. In an age where America was paranoid with the Cold War, Nuclear War and visitors from outer space. It adds a level of social commentary and drama. I'm also glad that they didn't go the Disney route. Having Hogarth have some cutesy singing animals or any major magical whimsy. I don't think that approach would have worked for a movie like this. The relationship between Hogarth and the Iron Giant is more than enough cuteness to hold the kids over. So watching this film as a 22 year old instead of watching it as a kid at the time of release, I can't say that this film blew me away or had me wondering what I was doing with my life before I saw this film, but I think it's safe to assume that this movie would have been one of my favourites had I seen it when I was a kid. So if you missed this film when it came out and you still have a bit of that childhood spark still left in you, then The Iron Giant is for you.