An intelligent and entertaining film with plenty for adults and children

Rating: Null/10 (17 October 2004)

1957. When a Maine fisherman reports a sighting of a giant metal device from outer space, nobody believes him except for Special Agent Kent Mansley  always one to hunt out any communist plot involving invasion from outer space. However the robot remains elusive to all but young Hogarth Hughes, who finds it in the woods and manages to befriend it  even teaching it basic English. But with the origin and purpose of the robot unknown, is Hogarth right to accept it as a friend or should he fear it? Regardless, Mansley intends to kill it before it kills 'us'.
It has been so many years since I read the book as a child, that I was pretty much coming to this with no knowledge of story or what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised by an intelligent film that is wholly entertaining and will please kids and adults. Set in the later fifties, the plot uses the iron giant as an allegory for the unknown and thus presents adults with a well-written criticism of the 'shoot first, questions later' mentality. Being a kids' film it is hardly a debating stand point but it was still intelligently enough done to keep me interested. The main plot is also interesting, with issues of death, birth and purpose all having a bearing on the story and giving food for thought later if you let it. These elements work to make quite a touching film where the giant is taught like a child by Hogarth and it becomes a very warm and likable character.
None of this takes away from the film's first function as a kids' movie and as such it produces enough humour, visual excitement and energy to keep the kids happy even if the reference to the Cold War will be almost totally over their heads. The film is moving as much as it is humorous, intelligent as much as it is entertaining and the end result is a very well rounded film. Of course it has problems in that it does go where you expect it to at points, and it does lose its nerve towards the end and ducks the dark but satisfying ending it should have had, but these are minor complaints because the rest of it all works well together to form a really enjoyable animation.
In a way I found it quite refreshing to have a kids' cartoon that provided warmth and intelligence for the adult audience to share in; I love stuff like Toy Story etc but their adult stuff is a little knowing and cynical at times (albeit hilariously so!) whereas here I felt that I was being given the same story as the kids and not having separate levels for them and me.
The voice cast is good on paper but only a handful of them really get much to do. Marienthal is not the usual sickly sweet kid and he does a good job to make his character come across as convincing. Connick jr is very funny and provides a lot of laughs to the film; likewise McDonald's paranoid agent pretty much steals every scene he is in. I was concerned by the fact that Diesel was the voice of the robot, how would I warm to a character played by a man who struggles to bring any charisma to his other roles I wondered? However the limited dialogue and depth of his voice works well and he did a good job (although I'm sure it amounted to no more than a day in a recording studio). Aniston has little to do and her voice is not that distinctive but minor roles for Mahoney and Walsh add a sense of class with their very well known voices.
Overall this is a very enjoyable animation. The plot is intelligent, interesting, moving and humorous at different points and, although some of it go over the kids' heads, it tells the same story to both age groups well.
It's all over a bit quick and kids weaned on Pixar may complain about the traditional animation used for the majority of the film but there are only a few minor quibbles about this film and it is definitely worth hunting down. An interesting and entertaining family film that will stick in your mind for what it does and the talking points it leaves.