Il gigante di ferro

Sometimes when watching an animated feature, I spend my time saying, "What great animation." When this happens, I wonder if I am doing what the producers wanted me to do. Like so many things, should I be so enamored with the technical part of the movie that I am distracted from the content. As I watched "The Iron Giant" I realized I had forgotten it was an animated feature. Don't get me wrong. I knew the enormous title character was animated, but the relationships among the characters and the intelligence of the script caused me to forget that these weren't actors. The movie is filled with tender moments, especially as they relate to our feelings of our own mortality. What I enjoyed is that the grownups aren't treated as garden variety bad guys. Even the military, which is nearly always portrayed as evil, finds itself in a contradictory position--having to go on faith. The animation is wonderful, but so are the "performances." No spoilers here, but I think the ending is a lovely tribute to the spirit of the life force in all of us--even those of us not made of metal. See this. It is one of the better movies of the year.

I'm 25 years old. I have no children. So why am I praising a 'kid's movie' which nobody saw? Because I have never seen a film pack the emotional wallop 'The Iron Giant' provided.

The film's plot is similar to 'E.T.' - a young boy meets an alien robot from outer space, who is stranded on earth, and runs afoul of paranoid government agents. Not to knock the Spielberg film, but what makes 'The Iron Giant' the better film is that the young boy is the teacher. It is he who has to teach the Giant about the beauty of life, the difference between good and evil, and choices we have to make. The Iron Giant, it turns out, is a weapon, who has to struggle against his own nature. The film has an obvious (and timely) gun control message, but its real message is about the choice we make when dealing with other people. We can use our powers for good or lash out at everyone around us.

I dare not give away the climax. All I will say is that it features a sacrifice absolutely breaktaking and emotionally shattering (albeit somewhat blunted by the ending). The animation is gorgeous, Michael Kamen's score is perfect, and the film beautifully evokes the 1950s.

Sadly, poor marketing kept audiences away in droves. All I can say is, to heck with the box office gross. Despite Warner's appearant desire to pretend the film never existed, the word is getting around about what a magical film this is, and I have no doubt it will join 'It's a Wonderful Life' as a film which bombed in theatres but became a classic over the years. See it now, so you can say you discovered it before everyone else did.

All too often, "family films" are only infantile, simplistic formulas with a few self-referential and pop-culture jokes thrown in to try and keep adults awake. But then along comes something like "The Iron Giant", which is sophisticated enough to demand respect while maintaining a mythic and pure-hearted tone that actually does appeal to the kid in everybody.

"The Iron Giant" is refreshingly non-Disney in no end of ways. Characters seem real and chosen to fit the story, instead of being a superficial reshuffling of an old formula. The animation definitely has its eye-popping moments, but there are also scenes of great wonderment, pathos, and humour that only top-drawer animation can convey. The Giant itself is a great character, who only becomes MORE interesting as the film continues (another huge break from Disney). No scene is wasted in this film, either; every set piece, even the really funny ones, helps either to establish the "world" of the movie, or to advance the plot. At no time do you feel that you are merely waiting for the story to crank up again.

"The Iron Giant" is funny, exhilarating, and touching as well. It's sad to see it failing at the box office, as a blunt reminder that the success of films is often in direct proportion to their publicity budget. Hopefully, though, word-of-mouth will come to its rescue. Go see it! Tell your friends! Then go again! (Repeat as necessary.)

P.S. I find myself comparing the Iron Giant character to Martin Donovan's character in "Amateur". If there is anyone else on earth who has seen both films you may wish to entertain the notion yourself.

An ambitious take on Ted Hughes' 1968 children's book The Iron Man, director Brad Bird's The Iron Giant works well as both archetype-infused allegory and heartstring-tugging tale of friendship. Set in small town Maine in the 1950s at the height of Cold War paranoia, the film explores the relationship between a lonely, fatherless boy (a photo on a nightstand hints that the father was a combat pilot killed in WWII) and a monstrously huge, hulking metal behemoth (the origins of which are brilliantly left to the imagination). The animation marks a welcome contrast from the virtually ubiquitous Disney template, with the human characters bearing a stylized, comic book exaggeration that fits perfectly with the story material. The Iron Giant has more than enough imagination and sparkle to interest kids and adults, and nicely balances its action-adventure aspirations with a solidly-crafted sense of moral purpose.

It's nice to see an elegantly crafted piece of animation come out of America. How did they manage it? The writing is great the animation is excellent and the voice acting is superb. I don't think I've liked an English animated film this much since The Plague Dogs. The film doesn't talk down to it's audience, and instead tells a simple story very well. My only complaint would be that Hogarth is somewhat of a smart-alec at times, but I guess this is the era of Leave it To Beaver.

Many of the situations are standard movie-fare, the ex-lax in the food, the helmet on the bed, but it's nice to see them in an animated film for a change. As an anime fan, the realism of the movie didn't impress me as much as the quality of the writing, voice acting, and the music and sound effects. I particularly remember the sound of the power lines snapping and the musical score building up to the climax of the film.

The character design for the giant is excellent, it's amazing how they could draw out very subtle emotions without noticeably distorting the face. I bawled like a baby near the end.

Finally, most importantly for me, there are NO CHEAP LAUGHS in the movie. One of the best moments in the movie for me was when Hogarth is running through the woods and he slams his face into a low branch. The theater full of kids raised on recent Disney crap bursts into laughter, but wait, there's no stupid sound effect, he's not hopping back up to his feet instantly with a ridiculous lump or distorted face or little birds flying around his head, he's still on the ground ... and what's that coming out of his nose.. it CAN'T BE.. it IS, a trickle of BLOOD. The kids (and parents) quickly cease their laughter. I couldn't stop smiling because I knew then that like me, they actually cared about the character on the screen and frankly that doesn't happen very often.

Tarzan was a small step in the right direction, and near the end of the long path beginning with that step is The Iron Giant.