Simply put, one of the most beautiful stories ever told on film

Rating: 10/10 (1 January 2000)

Because it didn't raise a huge ruckus in it's theatrical release, I'm betting that almost everyone forgets "The Iron Giant" come Oscar time...but they shouldn't. Oh I'm sure that it will get nominated in the Animated Feature category, but I doubt we're going to see this film's name in either of the categories where it belongs - Best Screenplay and Best Picture. The sad thing is that this is probably more likely going to be due to a lack of an attempt on the part of Warner Brothers to push the film as a Best Picture/Screenplay nominee than on the unwillingness of the Academy to nominate it in those categories. Warner Brothers will I'm sure make at least a token effort to outperform Disney's "Tarzan" marketing juggernaut, but I won't be suprised if it doesn't even occur to the powers that be to float this as a Best Picture/Screenplay contender.
That said, the Iron Giant is, without a doubt, the best film of 1999, and probably one of the 10 best stories ever told on film. The animation is typical Disney-esque fare, and if there are technical categories for animated features there's no reason to think that IG should win an award in one. What carries this film is the writing, both story and screenplay, and wonderfully performed voice acting. Take special note of Vin Diesel (yeah...Vin Diesel) as the Iron Giant. I don't know how much easier voice acting might be than regular acting, but in this case, Diesel nails it.
There's the usual spate of grown-up jokes thrown in to keep adults entertained, and the robot's Cool Quotient is right up there with iMacs.
But when you get down to it it's the simple yet perfectly told story that make this film great to watch.