Friendship. Love. Respect.

Rating: 8/10 (17 February 2008)

Friendship. Love. Respect. Growing up. These are the themes that run throughout THE IRON GIANT, an Oscar Award winning animated film from 1999. Kids films without substance are very familiar to most parents, but The Iron Giant hearkens back to a time when family and friendship meant everything.
Although unusual in the sense that a boy named Hogarth (voiced by Eli Marienthal) befriends an alien robot simply called The Iron Giant (voiced by Vin Diesel), this animated feature still teaches kids the responsibilities of friendship and how devastating it can be to lose one.
The set-up is common in that we see the military and government agents as bumbling morons who misunderstand the intentions of something as large and as powerful as a nearly indestructible robot. But understanding eventually reaches them, too, through the actions of Hogarth and his new alien buddy.
More interesting than previous animation films for kids, this one shows not just the upside of this friendship, but the dangers ...as well as a fatal ending (sort of). Parents should be prepared to comfort their kids when The Iron Robot launches himself into space in preparation to save his best friend (Hogarth). The words "Superman" are uttered as The Iron Giant makes contact with the powerful and deadly rocket, and I'd be willing to bet that there's not an adult out there with any heart that won't swallow hard at those words.
But there are plenty of fun and funny scenes to counter the more stark ones. Watching fellow humans complain to the local constabulary about suddenly absent mouthfuls of trucks, towers, and other metal munchables is pretty comical, as is a great scene where The Iron Giant does a cannonball jump into a favorite swimming hole of Hogarth's.
A fun and serious film with themes that most parents will find a positive influence on the pliable minds of their young ones.