A fed up mother has had enough of her son’s wild stories of giant space men.

Well I took a bit of flak for my last overlooked film review, (I still stand by what I said by the way) but here is a film that pretty much every animator out there would agree is fantastic. It can hardly be considered an overlooked film by those of us within the community. Yet this film has been largely passed over by much of the movie going crowd with only a 23 million dollar domestic gross. And so for this reason, I present my review of one of the great overlooked animated films: The Iron Giant.

It is 1957. A young boy named Hogarth stumbles across a giant metal robot (voiced by Vin Diesel) who has crashed down into a remote area of Maine. The two quickly become friends as Hogarth begins to teach the Giant about life on earth.

Hogarth tries his best to keep the giant a secret knowing what would likely happen to him if the military were to find out. Unfortunately a slippery Government agent named Mansley learns about the giant robot and the full force of the millitary is called in to destroy the him. The giant, having learned about life and death from Hogarth, knows the potiental threat he poses to the human race and must make a choice: Defend himself and destroy the men and machines that threaten him, or sacrifice himself for the good of the people.

(The story is not that simple. But to tell you more would be to give away to much and frankly, the story is just to good to do that to you.)

The film is expertly directed by Brad Bird who has gone on to direct Pixars The Incredibles and the upcoming Ratatouille. Bird doesn’t treat this as an animated film. This is a real movie, with real characters, not Caricatures The only thing that tips off the fact that this is an animated films is…well…the animation. This helps alot because its important to see Hogarth as a real boy. And its important to think of the giant as a real fifty foot tall robot from outer space. The climatic sequence of the film is brilliant and hauntingly beautiful and lyrical in its pacing. The whole film feels as if it has led up to that point. None of the scenes feel out of place. Every scene pushes the story forward in a significant way. It is the job of a good director to tell the story in the most compelling and signifcant way he can. Bird does this better than most animation directors I have seen.

Yes, the story is similar in many ways to E.T., (and Godzilla) But knowing the general direction a film is heading isn’t always a bad thing. This film has a timeless feel to it. partly due to the story, but also due to the setting and period. We feel very familar with this period and very protective of it and what it represents. This can make things both interesting and difficlut for a director at times. I always have found the late fifties very facinating and perfect for telling a story which feels as iconic and this classic as this one. Frankly, its the perfect time period for this kinda film. It’s post-war, sputnik was watching all of us, the red scare was heating up. Our televisions and cinemas were full of space aliens and atomic men sent to destroy earth. The Iron Giant, feels right at home here.

The animation is nice, and the design is solid This film is one of the first to incorporate a fully 3-D character into a 2-D film and give it alot of screen time and frankly, it looks really darn good. Many films that do this never really get the two types of animations to match well. I was always taken out of a film when the 3-D shot came up. Not here though. The Giant fits in perfectly, and even if he looks a bit odd in places, he’s an alien right? He’s going to look a bit out of place. Sure I am making up excuses, but what the hell, right?

I like a good ending. And this one is beautiful. Actually, its one of my top five favorite endings of all time. I won’t give it away, but I will tell you that I am getting chills and whelling up right now just thinking about it. Yep, its that good.

Frankly, There isn’t much more to say. Everything in this film is top notch. It’s a classic story that will long be celebrated as one of the very best animated films made. I give it a solid five out of five stars.

-Matt