Glorious

Rating: 10/10 (14 August 1999)

I love good children's films. They are one of the few genres left where writers, actors, and directors feel safe to tell a story in ways that honor both an audience's intelligence and desire for entertainment. I loved *Charlotte's Web,* I loved *Babe,* I loved *Fly Away Home* and now I'm happy to love *The Iron Giant,* which goes on my shelf to have on hand whenever my friends, both children and adult, come for a night at the movies at my home.
As we were leaving the theater, my friend said "I wish it'd been made 20 years ago" and I agree. At the suggestion that the family find a fallout shelter once the nuclear missile is aimed at the Giant, Dean sadly replies that "It doesn't matter...no shelter can protect us." And Hogarth tells his friend "We're all going to die." Using the old "duck and cover" cartoon is brilliant: what a contrast between that moment of boundless optimism, and the end, when reality hits! For that reason, and for the love that so evident here between all the major characters, I wish I'd grown up with this movie. In an ever more violent America, I wish there was just one other release this year with a line like "You choose who you are. You can choose *not to be a gun.*" One of my favorite films this year.