A delightful and imaginative family film!

Rating: Null/10 (8 September 1999)

It's hard to make a family film in the 1990's. If you do not have the name "Walt Disney" placed before the title of your family film, it's usually a sure bet that your movie won't make much money in the box office, but the film will do well in the video market. But every now and then there is a family film that rises out of the juvenile and childish ashes and shines brightly on the faces of both the young and old. In 1995 Universal released that family film, and it is titled BABE. In 1997 Fox released their family film titled ANASTASIA, which was both spectacular and fantastic. Now it's Warner Bros. turn, and their film is called THE IRON GIANT, which isn't only the best family film of the year, but one of the best movies of the year. THE IRON GIANT takes place during the Communist scare of 1957. It's the animated tale of a young boy named, Hogarth Hughes (voiced by Eli Marienthal) who is kind, smart, and intelligent. Hogarth lives with his mom, Anne Hughes (Jennifer Aniston) who is a waitress at the town's popular diner. One night while Hogarth's mom is working late at the diner, Hogarth is up late at night watching t.v., until the reception goes bad. Hogarth sees that the antenna for the t.v. is missing, and there's a trail leading out to the woods. Out in the woods Hogarth sees a 100 foot tall metal robot that's made of metal, that is at first eating the metal off of a electrical power station, until the robot gets tangled in the power lines and is getting electrocuted. Hogarth, with sypmathy, turns off the power to the station and saves the robot. It is then that the young boy and the robot become friends. Meanwhile, one of the fishermen who's boat crashed into the robot while it crashed landed on earth, calls the government and they send over government agent Kent Mansley (Christopher McDonald). Mansley believes that the robot will pose a threat to the people and sees that it must be found and destroyed. So Hogarth decides to hide the robot in the town's junkyard run and owned by beatnik Dean McCoppin (Harry Connick Jr.). It's only a matter of time that Hogarth teaches the Iron Robot the ways of life, before agent Mansley finds the robot. Parents complain that Hollywood needs to make more family orientated films. Well, Waner Bros. (a Hollywood studio) had made the ideal family film, and sad to say, nobody is seeing it. While parent groups are in meetings bashing such films as: MATRIX, WILD WILD WEST, AMERICAN PIE, AUSTIN POWERS 2, and SOUTH PARK; they are guilty of not letting their children watch a great movie like this. Instead, these "guilty" parents are letting their children become lab-rabbits and let them be exposed to such adult orientated films as the ones I meantion above, and then go to meetings and rallies to protest the films that shouldn't be viewed by young children. Or maybe these parents don't really want to see a children's film, and would rather see a film that they would want to see, and bring their children along so they can spend the money on refreshments and not on some baby-sitter. That's a shame, since this is a excellent family film, yet like ANASTASIA, it's not pulling in much money into the box office. Perhaps it's because that children would rather see talking animals than an animated person, that would explain on why BABE was such a big hit (but please, DO NOT let them watch the upcoming TNT film ANIMAL FARM, that will traumatize kids for years).
What I personally liked about THE IRON GIANT is two things: the cute homage to the life-style of the 1950's, and the humor. First the homage, this film really makes a nice and witty look at what life was like in the 50's. From the cheesy "Duck & Cover" films, to the witty satire of the sci-fi/horror films. Then there's the humor, where nothing is offensive, but it's still funny and clever. No wonder, THE IRON GIANT is directed by Brad Bird, who has made some of the funniest animated t.v. shows ever. Including the AMAZING STORIES episode of "THE FAMILY DOG," THE CRITIC, KING OF THE HILL, and my favorite, THE SIMPSONS. I think Disney is missing out on not having Brad Bird work for them, he would turn Disney's animated films from cutesy to witty, and hopefully less musical numbers. But since THE IRON GIANT, is still playing in the theaters, go take the kids to see it!!! And if you don't have any kids, go see it anyways!!! I would rather take kids to see this film than INSPECTOR GADGET. The critics would also agree with me, but people don't like to listen to critics. But it's the critic's that people should listen to when it comes to a family film, since most critics reccommend BABE, ANASTASIA, and THE IRON GIANT. It's a really touching and nice family film that comes out every so often that will entertain both the young and the young at heart. And I forgot to mention, the animation was great!!!! ***** (out of five)