The Who and outer space enter Stephen King's possible childhood

Rating: 7/10 (4 October 2017)

Yesterday was the 60th anniversary of Sputnik's launch, so it was probably appropriate that I watched "The Iron Giant", which indirectly deals with Sputnik. The movie has a plot similar to "E.T.", with a lonely boy befriending a being from outer space. In this case, the setting is 1957 Maine (so could this accidentally represent Stephen King's childhood?) and the being is a giant robot whose origin and purpose never get revealed. Sure enough, a government agent starts prying.
I was surprised to learn that the executive producer is none other than Pete Townshend of The Who. The last person whom you'd expect to be involved in the production of a movie that pokes fun at 1950s movies about aliens (the movie also has a scene where the kids are in school watching one of those duck-and-cover movies). The whole issue of a possible nuclear war looms large in the background (and nowadays, it looks more possible than ever).
When the movie got released, the ads made it look like something to avoid at all costs. It turns out that the movie isn't half bad, despite the occasional crude humor. Not any sort of masterpiece, but still OK.
The cast includes Jennifer Aniston, Vin Diesel, Harry Connick Jr. and Cloris Leachman.