My All-Time Favorite Film

Rating: 10/10 (24 June 2016)

I'll admit it, I am beyond biased when it comes to The Iron Giant. I first saw the film when I was four back in 1999 and I immediately fell in love with it. I wanted to be Hogarth, I wanted my own Iron Giant, and quite frankly I wanted to be a filmmaker. This movie was my first real introduction to Superman, it was my first introduction to the Cold War, and it showed me the kind of America that I wanted to live in.
I know that's heavy and seems like a lot, but honestly The Iron Giant is one of the best, if not THE best, animated films of all time, as well as just straight-up science-fiction masterpieces of all time. Just recently the film was re-released into theaters for two days as the "Signature Edition" with two additional scenes that they fully animated for this re-release. I was so excited to go but seeing as how I got to school in Bozeman, MT I was afraid that we wouldn't get it at our theater and I would have to drive to find one, but nevertheless it was there for two nights, and I went both even taking my 11 year old sister to one of my viewings.
The Iron Giant teaches you the moral lessons you need to survive childhood and develop into who you are. "You are what you choose to be" is the main quote from the film and it certainly rings true. The Bible says, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he..." (Prov. 23:7), and this is exactly the message that this film points towards. It's funny, it's exciting, it's entertaining, it's compelling, and it's over-all original in the sense that the magic of this movie has never been re-created on the big screen, in my opinion.
The Iron Giant is my all-time favorite film, so I'm obviously biased, but beyond the emotional attachment I have to it from my childhood, as I continue to watch this film throughout my adult life, it always brings out the child in me, and I always tear up at the end (don't worry, I won't spoil it). This movie rocks, and I can't thank Brad Bird enough for bringing to life Ted Hughes' "The Iron Man" in the form of The Iron Giant.