one of the best of the modern animated movies

Rating: 10/10 (30 November 2007)

Brad Bird's "The Iron Giant" is, in my opinion, a flawless and superb animated film that is well suited for the entire family. I saw it once in the theater and loved it from the start. A few years passed by before I saw it again and I loved it even before upon my second viewing. As I've gotten older, I've come to respect it even more for being a film of quality substance, excellent animation, humor, voice casting, and even great action sequences. It's a film that's not afraid to get violent from time to time, not even to show a tad bit of blood, but it doesn't go over its head to disturb the kiddies too much. That's why parents are recommended to view it with them.
The animation designs of the characters and the voice actors who made them come to life verbally was absolutely perfect. The voice of Hogarth, our main human character, fitted very well with the animated design of the character. The character of Dean was just as good at being humorous and was not under-developed. The character of Kent Mansley, our main antagonist, was very well designed and acted. His overly large and forward-jutting eyebrows as well as his slender head and relatively calm voice was perfect for an animated villain. But who really steals the show is the Iron Giant himself, a giant hundred-foot-tall extra-terrestrial invention made of metal but containing a vast array of emotions, feelings, and thoughts somewhere within his several-ton metal body.
Like I stated earlier, this film is not afraid to show a little violence or hard action. In fact, there's a lot of it. And it does not become overly powerful to be frightening, except maybe to young kids. Another thing is that it's not afraid to use a minimal amount of vulgar language, which is another reason why parental discretion is advised. But we have gunshots, explosions, and plenty of destruction on screen. But with no carnage. As far as I know, there is no body count in the entire film, which is appropriate. It makes the film suited for everybody.
Aside from the action sequences, we have an extremely well-written storyline and plot. And it knows exactly which subplots of the film to emphasize and which ones to keep a minimal level, such as a small romantic subplot. It is shown enough to make the story compelling, but does not become too involved to distract us or slow the movie down. "The Iron Giant" almost seems a little bit too short for its brilliance, but nonetheless, it does play at a very reasonable running time.
Bottom line, this is one of the best animated films there is out there. I highly recommend it for its brilliant animation styles, lovable characters, somewhat original plot, and overall style. It works out very well.