A mirror held up to humanity

Rating: 10/10 (12 August 2000)

The enigma of the Iron Giant's complex nature is a literary device to make us look at ourselves. The Giant is a mirror of humanity; making him a space alien is a way of bringing another perspective to our human nature. On the one hand, we humans seem to be programmed as death machines. On the other hand, we have compassionate souls. Which will predominate? The key to the whole story is simply "You are what you choose to be." Your innate compassion can override your death program.
The character of Mansley the bad guy is so malicious as to be actually psychotic. His only function is to show the madness of the human death programming taken to extremes. It makes us look back on the Cold War and wonder what the hell went wrong. The name "Mansley" symbolically reflects on Man, who has allowed this insanity to run away with the human race. The Giant's choice of compassion over death programming is inspiring and uplifting; to get that across in a movie any more you have to disguise it as a kid's movie, but this one is equally enjoyable for kids and adults alike.
The technical side of this film shows the impressive advances in conventional animation, to remind us that computer animatronics are not necessarily the last word in this art form. The most stunning light shows, however, involve weapons of mass destruction.
The Giant's seemingly miraculous ability to regenerate himself as well as whip out a mind-boggling array of destructive devices reminds me of Arthur C. Clarke's dictum: "Any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic."