surprisingly entertaining "kid's movie"

Rating: Null/10 (23 August 1999)

I recently had the pleasure of seeing the Iron Giant with two members of LA's animation industry and was pleasantly surprised by a movie I had heard very little about.
This is an excellent movie. The characters are real and engaging and the plot, while fairly straight-forward is tight and fast moving. The script is well written and its so nice to see an animated character reveal themselves through dialog and action rather than a musical number. Billed as "kid's movie", the story is never dumbed down and was very enjoyable for us adults. The animation and color are first rate, but the movie shines as it take full advantage of the freedom of camera movement and editing the medium offers.

We walked out of the theater, and my friend's first comment I think is the best review I've heard yet, "I wish we could make films like that at Disney!"
Yes the "boy befriends kind hearted monster" story has been done many times, but not this well since Spielberg brought E.T. to the screen in 1982.
I would recommend to anyone this under-advertised movie, which so far this year, has the strongest exit polls of any other film.