Really impressive and vastly superior to a lot of other animated films.

Rating: 8/10 (18 January 2009)

I liked The Iron Giant, I liked it a lot. The film, surely, has to be recognised as one of the last, great two dimensional animated films that the Americans made at the back end of an era. If we formally acknowledge that the new 'era' of animation is, or was, from 1999 onwards predominantly three dimensional from an American perspective, then this is the last great film of that time. Here is an animated film that does not rely on purely the visual, even if they are as impressive as they need to be and opts for story telling and emotional involvement more than anything else. Sprinkle on a little bit of Cold War paranoia and you have The Iron Giant, a period set character study of a human being and a creature not of this world.
The film is one of which it is difficult to not just sit there, and stare in both wonder but more importantly appreciation at what's being presented to you. While both colourful and atmospheric, I was most impressed with director Brad Bird's attention to character detail when it came to the animation. It's the little things; the way in which the Iron Giant himself moves around in the manner in which he does. The Iron Giant is big and hulking but its presence is juxtaposed with the very fragile and delicate relationship he has with a young boy, who is established to be pretty desperate for a friend or companion early on. The Giant's presence and traits are comparable to the only villainous character of the piece, an F.B.I. agent who's grossly smaller than The Giant but seems more threatening despite the height difference and jolts about in an urgent and jittery manner giving off an entirely different feeling to that of the large, lumbering but friendly robot.
Bird's work here reminded me of Nick Park's Wallace and Gromit series, a series which I feel has since partly been inspired by The Iron Giant. There is that knowing feeling behind the production; that setting in the past and that referencing to what the filmmaker enjoys or grew up enjoying, indeed The Iron Giant's tag-line is 'It came from outer space!', maybe a nod to Hollywood science fiction films of the 1950s and 60s that dealt with the fear of impending Communist-related invasions. The link is uncanny  a giant robot the most antagonistic character of the film, believed to be Russian, sent to 'the good ol' U.S.A.' in order to destroy the nation from within.
The hero of the title is a nine year old boy named Hogarth Hughes (Marienthal) and lives with his mother Annie (Aniston) and in a desperate attempt to prolong some sort of relationship with another being other than his mother, he brings home little animals not exactly fit for household domestication. The establishment introduces this fact and acts as a good introduction to post-modern artist, working in a time not ready for the post-modern, Dean McCoppin (Connick Jr.) who's a friend and ally for them later on. After some other initial events, a large robot voiced by Vin Diesel, who merely has to supply some grunts and other such noises that eventually turn into synthesised words, comes into contact with Hogarth and they strike up a friendship following a train-wreck.
Enter F.B.I. agent Kent Mansley, played by Christopher McDonald in the sort of slimy role you'd associate with him, in all his paranoid glory. I think initially, we don't really mind if Mansley gets his prize. He makes some enquiries and asks about but he's just doing his job. We know about as much about it as he does and it hasn't really earned its place in our hearts but it's not until Bird brilliantly brings together both the Giant's friendship with the boy and Kent's gradual obsession with the capturing of the robot until we veer more into a thought process that demands we don't want to see him get his man.
Echoing what Bird sets up at the beginning, The Giant acts as a fatherly figure for Hogarth; wearing a constant smile on his face and vastly becoming one of the friendliest non-human components to a relationship involving children we've seen on screen. From the Cold War era sci-fi films of the 1950s onwards to Spielberg's E.T. and Cameron's second Terminator film, the referencing and inspirations flow and flow. Additionally, the other feelings I got amidst all this harked way back to comedy of the silent era and the use of heartfelt music and shots of character's reactions while humorous exchanges were played out  it seems Bird's knowledge and love of cinema-past knows no end.
Despite this phenomenon of a giant robot landing on Earth and a child taking a likening to it, the film looks at the identity of the robot more than it does anyone else. As a grey and hulking thing, is possesses neither the colour to place it into any particular category nor the necessary intelligence to place it within another. What reminded me of the second Terminator film apart from the obvious fatherly connotations was the scene in which the boy teaches it the difference between good and evil, and the poor kid uses all the facilities available to him, which peak at mere comic books, to give this creature some sort of identity and how he can be 'good' like Superman instead of 'bad' like the typical 'destroy the world' aliens  perhaps a reference to more recent blockbusters like Independence Day which rely on flashy visuals, hostile aliens and zero logic. The Iron Giant is the opposite of this and is vastly superior. Towards the end, there is one lump in the throat moment and I don't think the immediate ending does the film a disservice. The Iron Giant is truly a special animation for children and adults alike.