An enourmously surprising kid's movie

Rating: Null/10 (2 July 2000)

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs
This was a kid's film,and,as such,I probably would have forgone it,had I not planned to watch it with my younger cousin,who,for reasons out of my control,was unable to make it.I guess I could watch Bicentennial Man with him next weekend,given it's release date is this week.
But,granted I'd already spent £2.50 on the rental fee,I might as well at least get my money's worth and watch it.The film earned a lot of good reviews,and,on this occasion,I'm not really surprised.This is an intelligently done family movie,combining some of the darker overtures of Animal Farm ,with the standard pacing of your regular kid's film.I've probably seen better,more up-to-date style animation elsewhere,but the devil really lies in the details with The Iron Giant.The giant robot itself is the best animated movie droid I have ever seen,and the script skillfully lets it spout a different range of emotions each from us:humour,pity and understanding.The young Hogarth is slightly repetitive,but he has some great other characters to play with,like the excruciatingly snoopy FBI agent,and the individual beatnik,though the mother character is slightly underused. The Iron Giant manages to do both it's aims extremely well: be an entertaining kids film,and be an intelligent piece of post cold war propaganda,almost on a par with The Day The Earth Stood Still.It's this film with more humour,and more social observation.
The robot definitely steals the show,though:the effects,it's unintentionally misfiring attempts to mimic Hogarth,and it's sad ending all contribute greatly to making The Iron Giant the splendid film it is.Highly recommended.****