The Best Animated Feature Since Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Rating: 10/10 (9 September 1999)

I don't have enough positive things to say about the Iron Giant; I just want to say that right now. It was a beautiful film that reflects the Communist paranoia of 1950s America through a boy and a metallic alien in rural New England. This movie is a genuine treat. It is something that adults can relate to with the myriad of reference to 50s culture, and both children and adults will love its innocence.
The film is drawn in a classical animation style like early Disney films to give the audience a feel of the time in which it is set. Unlike recent Disney films (thankfully), The Iron Giant does not have any cutesy little "friends" that serve as comic relief or to create nausea for the viewer. Instead, the filmmaker respects the audience's intelligence (both children and adults) by giving us a simple story that does not rely on embellishment to make itself more viewer friendly. It doesn't need it.
The author started with a concept - what if a gun had a soul? - and created this brilliant animated feature in the same vain of Spielberg's E.T.-The Extra-Terrestrial. It stands as a testament to what animated films should be (it is possibly the best in over 50 years), but what's more, it stands as a testament to what FILMS should be.
I can't stress this film's greatness. Just see it for yourself, and be a kid again.