An often overlooked Classic-Buy it Soon!

Rating: 8/10 (3 April 2014)

Cable used to run this all the time. In 1999 WB got out of feature animation for a while, after that disastrous "Quest for Camelot" misfire. An ambitious feature based on the book "The Iron Giant". This property had legs, and could have been a series if handled properly--it wasn't. It was a financial success, however. Intentionally set in the early 1950's around the time of such wonderful nonsense as "War of the Worlds", "Invaders From Mars" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still". A young boy finds a giant robot and at first nobody believes him. The original purpose of it was to conquer planets, as it has laser beams and sonic rays, like all good giant monsters, but all it really wants to be is friendly, like Superman. It eats scrap metal, not people. A paranoid government agent sees it as a threat to all Mankind, and an Army General and troops are sent to destroy it, of course. In the wrong hands, this would have been a terrible film, but along the way, we are treated to good, early CGI animation and a slightly-preachful storyline about "being what you want to be". Mild violence ("Bambi" dies) and cuss-words: "Hell" used is few times. Make this inappropriate for very young kids, but otherwise quite acceptable. Your 8 to 10 year-old will love it! The T.V."Evil-Brain Monster" sequence is also a bit scary! Buy this while you still can! I have to watch my VHS "First Men in the Moon" a while longer, as I waited too long. It is currently "out-of-print" on DVD, (until Sony makes more.)!