Brian in Mesa

One of my favorite animated films, especially in recent years. Well done animation, great voices and story. One of the first dvd's we ever got also.

From Amazon: This gentle reworking of Ted Hughes's 1968 novella was the unseen gem of 1999. Hogarth, a young boy who lives in the Maine woods during the cold war, befriends a giant robot. As with E.T., the iron giant is a misunderstood outsider who becomes a child's best friend, and Hogarth does his best to hide the massive figure from his mom and the local scrap-yard beatnik. Soon the suspicions of neighbors and a government agent spell trouble.

With no songs, no sidekicks, and no cheap ending, The Iron Giant is a refreshing change-- like an off-Broadway production compared to the glitz of Disney's annual animated extravaganzas. Director Brad Bird may have Family Dog and The Simpsons to his credit, but this film doesn't have that brand of scatological humor. As with the best family entertainments, there are gags that adults will howl at while the kids are watching something else (see Bird's interpretation of cold war propaganda). And the star is one cool piece of animated magic. Voiced by Vin Diesel and filled with more gadgets than a Swiss army knife, the giant is a grand thing to behold. And like another famous cinema tin man, our hero--and the movie--has heart. Superb entertainment for ages 5 and up. --Doug Thomas

Based upon the 1968 story "Iron Man," written by British poet laureate Ted Hughes, The Iron Giant is directed by Brad Bird (screen story also by Bird).

Featuring: Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr., Vin Diesel, James Gammon, Cloris Leachman, Christopher McDonald, John Mahoney, Eli Marienthal, and M. Emmet Walsh.

Misc:

First traditionally-animated feature to have a major character - the title character - who is fully computer-generated.

The newspaper headline that Dean McCoppin is reading ("Disaster Seen as Catastrophe Looms") is the same headline that Jim Dear is reading in Lady and the Tramp (1955) and that Jiminy Cricket is reading in Fun and Fancy Free (1947).

The last name for Annie and Hogarth is a homage to Ted Hughes, author of the original children's book upon which the movie is based.