Beautiful, positive entertainment without the overkill

Rating: 10/10 (19 August 1999)

I thought about this movie for days after seeing it with my family. It conveys the "innocence of childhood" (pardon the cliche) as well as E.T. Like Toy Story, it keeps you engrossed in a simple, but engaging narrative by animation that actually augments, rather than detracts, from the story. Possibly most compelling, for me at least, it manages to transport you into the paranoid yet somehow rarefied atmosphere of the Cold War, much as the 1993 film Matinee did.
I had prepared myself for the worst - stillborn plots, offensive characters, embarrassingly inappropriate musical numbers, etc. a la Disney. When I walked out of the Iron Giant, I found myself wondering how they managed to do everything so *right* when so many other animated films get it so wrong. In fact, this is really the only good animated kids' film since Toy Story (and woe unto us when Toy Story II comes out).
As a professed gun nut, I would have expected to find the movie's anti-gun message objectionable. That wasn't even remotely the case. The gun thing was only the toe-nail to the greater issue of self-determination, and the deliberate sacrifices that one must make to choose the path of heroism, rather than destruction. That point is made poignant because ???spoiler??? .....................the Giant is a destroyer by nature.
I also couldn't get over the way the movie made me wonder why it is so hard in film to stay away from violence when striving for heroism. It seems that every hero has a mean streak, or is eventually forced to violence by the bad guys; for once I had no reservations explaining to my son the Giant's motivations for doing what he did.
Finally, I hope that everyone sees this film. It deserves better than it will get, and we deserve more good stuff like it. It's not every day that you can look at the viewer reviews and see that *every* one is positive. That speaks volumes.