So here's the story of a movie nearly 20 years old and the eyes that saw it for the first time.
The Iron
Giant is set in October 1957, at the height of cold war hysteria between the
United States and the Soviet Union. In a forest outside of Rockwell,
Maine, nine-year-old Hogarth Hughes finds a giant robot being eltrocuted as it
tries to eat the transmission lines of an electrical substation. Hogarth turns
off the station to save the robot. When it eats the railroad tracks
in the path of an oncoming train, Hogarth tries to have the robot repair the damage,
but the train collides with the robot’s head and derails. Hogarth helps usher
the robot away from the scene, discovering that its damaged parts are drawn to
the robot and can undergo self-repair. Hogarth hides the robot in his family's
barn. After dinner with his widowed mother Annie, Hogarth reads comics to the
robot. The robot is impressed with the adventures of Superman, but is agitated
by how the villainous "Atomo the Metal Menace" is depicted. Hogarth
assures the robot that "you are who you choose to be". The iron
giant doesn't want to be Atomo; he wants to be Superman.
It's hard to keep a giant robot the size of a tall building secret so U.S. government agent Kent Mansley comes t Rockwell to investigate some weird incidents. He discovers evidence of Hogarth's involvement and rents a room from Annie, Hogarth's widowed mother, to keep any eye on the boy. Hogarth "hides" the robot in a junkyard owned by beatnik artist Dean McCoppin by disguising the robot as on one of Dean's scrap metal sculptures.
While Hogarth enjoys spending time with his giant robot pal, ythere are some moments of tension. When Hogarth and the robot witness a deer being shot and killed by hunters, Hogarth has to explain the concept of death to the giant.
Later, Hogarth is playing with the robot using a toy gun. seeing the "gun", the robot involuntarily reveals several powerful weapons. Dean rescues Hogarth before one strikes him. However Hogarth and Dean realize the robot was acting in self-defense.
The robot arrives in town where he saves two boys falling from a roof; the townspeople are grateful. But the iron giant's presence in town exposes him, leading Kent Mansley to alert General Rogard,who orders the military to attack. In the chaos, Hogarth is knocked out but the giant believes he's dead. The iron giant aggressively engages his weapons against the military. The military is no match for the robot's powerful advanced weaponry so Kent convinces Rogard to prepare to launch a nuclear missile.
Dean and Annie revive Hogarth. Seeing that Hogarth is alive, the robot ceases his attack. Dean explains things to General Rogard who is is ready to stand down when Kent panics and orders the missile launch. Rogard furiously reminds Kent that the missile is locked onto the robot's current position and guess where they are? Oh yeah. With the robot.
Hogarth explains to the robot what is about to happen. The robot says goodbye to Hogarth before flying off to intercept the missile, calling himself "Superman" just before colliding with the missile, which explodes harmlessly in the atmosphere.
Months later, a statue of the robot stands in the town park, a memorial of gratitude of the citizens of Rockwell. Hogarth receives a package from General Rogard, a single solitary bolt, all that could be found of the iron giant.
Tht night, the bold begins to move. Hogarth lets the bolt leave he house. Somewhere else, the bolt and other pieces of metals are assembling. The robot's head miles as he continues to put his body back together again.
And... wow.
Visually, The Iron Giant is on par with the best of Disney's hand drawn classics. The art is clean and expressive.
But what really propels the best of Disney's classics is heart and Warner Brother's captures some of that magic. Heart is a powerful force in the Iron Giant. Yes, the giant looks cool and does cool stuff but at the core, The Iron Giant is about two outcasts who become friends and look out for each other.
It's hard to keep a giant robot the size of a tall building secret so U.S. government agent Kent Mansley comes t Rockwell to investigate some weird incidents. He discovers evidence of Hogarth's involvement and rents a room from Annie, Hogarth's widowed mother, to keep any eye on the boy. Hogarth "hides" the robot in a junkyard owned by beatnik artist Dean McCoppin by disguising the robot as on one of Dean's scrap metal sculptures.
While Hogarth enjoys spending time with his giant robot pal, ythere are some moments of tension. When Hogarth and the robot witness a deer being shot and killed by hunters, Hogarth has to explain the concept of death to the giant.
Later, Hogarth is playing with the robot using a toy gun. seeing the "gun", the robot involuntarily reveals several powerful weapons. Dean rescues Hogarth before one strikes him. However Hogarth and Dean realize the robot was acting in self-defense.
The robot arrives in town where he saves two boys falling from a roof; the townspeople are grateful. But the iron giant's presence in town exposes him, leading Kent Mansley to alert General Rogard,who orders the military to attack. In the chaos, Hogarth is knocked out but the giant believes he's dead. The iron giant aggressively engages his weapons against the military. The military is no match for the robot's powerful advanced weaponry so Kent convinces Rogard to prepare to launch a nuclear missile.
Dean and Annie revive Hogarth. Seeing that Hogarth is alive, the robot ceases his attack. Dean explains things to General Rogard who is is ready to stand down when Kent panics and orders the missile launch. Rogard furiously reminds Kent that the missile is locked onto the robot's current position and guess where they are? Oh yeah. With the robot.
Hogarth explains to the robot what is about to happen. The robot says goodbye to Hogarth before flying off to intercept the missile, calling himself "Superman" just before colliding with the missile, which explodes harmlessly in the atmosphere.
Months later, a statue of the robot stands in the town park, a memorial of gratitude of the citizens of Rockwell. Hogarth receives a package from General Rogard, a single solitary bolt, all that could be found of the iron giant.
Tht night, the bold begins to move. Hogarth lets the bolt leave he house. Somewhere else, the bolt and other pieces of metals are assembling. The robot's head miles as he continues to put his body back together again.
And... wow.
Visually, The Iron Giant is on par with the best of Disney's hand drawn classics. The art is clean and expressive.
But what really propels the best of Disney's classics is heart and Warner Brother's captures some of that magic. Heart is a powerful force in the Iron Giant. Yes, the giant looks cool and does cool stuff but at the core, The Iron Giant is about two outcasts who become friends and look out for each other.
The
Iron Giant was directed by Brad Bird who would go on to make the mega
successful Pixar super hero adventure, The Incredibles.
The Iron Giant was released in 1999, a bit of
a financial disappointment, earning about $31 million worldwide. That's all
over the world, not just in the U.S., against a budget around $75 million.
But The Iron Giant is a very well reviewed movie.
•Based
on 134 reviews collected by the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, The
Iron Giant received an overall 96% approval rating.
•On
Metacritic, the film achieved an average score of 85 out of 100 based on 27
reviews, signifying "universal acclaim".
•CinemaScore
reported that audiences gave the film an "A" grade.
•The
Reel Source forecasting service calculated that "96–97%" of audiences
that attended recommended the film.
•Based
on 134 reviews collected by the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, The
Iron Giant received an overall 96% approval rating.
•As
of 2015, Rotten Tomatoes ranks The Iron Giant as third most-acclaimed animated
film made in the 1990s.
•Kenneth
Turan of the Los Angeles Times called it "straight-arrow and subversive,
[and] made with simplicity as well as sophistication," writing, "it
feels like a classic even though it's just out of the box."
•Roger
Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times compared it to the works of the acclaimed
Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki, summarizing the film as "not
just a cute romp but an involving story that has something to say."
•The
New Yorker reviewer Michael Sragow dubbed it a "modern fairy tale,"
writing, "The movie provides a master class in the use of scale and
perspective—and in its power to open up a viewer’s heart and mind."
•Time's
Richard Schickel deemed it "a smart live-and-let-live parable, full of
glancing, acute observations on all kinds of big subjects—life, death, the
military-industrial complex."
•Joe
Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal felt it "beautiful, oh so
beautiful, as a work of coherent art," noting, "be assured that the
film is, before anything else, deliciously funny and deeply affecting."
So
why the disconnect between box office & critical acclaim? There was
criticism of Warner Brother's marketing. Perhaps it was dismissed as a mere
Disney knock off. Maybe because the protagonist is a young boy and his giant
robot and not a princess so it wasn't Disney enough? Who knows.
But it's rep as a good movie has kept it alive
after nearly 20 years. It's a cool and
fun movie that also speaks to questions about identity, who we are personally
inside and the impact that identity has on the world around us.
Take the Iron Giant. His origin is never made
clear. Was he built by the Soviets? Did
he fall from beyond the sky, built by alien beings in outer space? Or did he
fall through a whole in time, a product of future machinery? We never know but
he appears to be a weapon. In a mode of self defense, the giant is a veritable
dreadnought of destruction. But the giant learns there is more than being a
weapon. "I am not a gun," he
intones in that warm, deep bass of Vin Diesel's voice. The giant decides,
"I am Superman."
As
Hogarth tells the giant, "You are who you choose to be". The giant
chose not to be a gun. The result is that Rockville, Maine escapes the
destruction instigated by man's worse impulses fueled by fear and hatred. The
citizens of Rockville live another day because the iron giant decides, "
"I am not a gun. I am Superman."
So nearly 2 decades after it's release, our
family found something "new" to enjoy. And The Iron Giant is quite a
joy and a wonder.
----------------------------------------
Tomorrow, enough about good movies.
Oh no! We have movie sign!!!!!
Until next time, remember to be good to one another.
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