"What if a gun had a soul and chose not to be a weapon?"

Rating: 10/10 (30 August 1999)

"What if a gun had a soul and chose not to be a weapon?"
That is the one sentence summery of "The Iron Giant" that director Brad Bird uses to capsule the concept of his new film. I saw it last night and my head has been so busy with thinking about it that I just had to sit down and send a quick note to my friends to let you know how wonderful a movie it is. It has so much love and care put into every frame and it shows. The characters are nicely fleshed out, the voice performances are wonderful, the themes of the film are so seamlessly sewn into story that it never feels preachy and most importantly, it is 100% entertaining. I went into the movie with extremely high expectations having heard others rave about it. I felt sure that I would be let down some because of the hype. Not for a moment. I was pulled in from frame one and was taken into this little boy's world until the very end. It does not pander to kids and it does not try to be cleaver with a wink-of-the-eye towards adults. The message that this story, set in Maine in 1957, brings to America in 1999 cannot be ignored.
You do not need a child to accompany you to see this film but when I walked out of the theatre I was trying to think of nieces, nephews, neighbor kids, or anyone who could provide me an excuse to see it again. If you were already going to see "The Iron Giant" (or have already seen it) that is great. However, if reading this has put you one step closer to seeing a film that you were going to pass on then I am glad.