Gary's Movie Reviews and Ratings

1999 Movie Chart

1999 Movie eAwards

All Time Movie Chart

The Iron Giant (1999) = 63 =

This animated movie version of the classic Ted Hughes book 'The Iron Man' is action packed fun for both children and adults with its snappy animation and clever satire of Cold War paranoia.

The story runs along similar lines to E.T. (although 'The Iron Man' book predates the Spielberg movie by almost 20 years) with the metallic man falling to Earth from outer space, losing his memory, and befriending a small boy, Hogarth Hughes (voiced by Eli Marienthal). Hogarth saves the giant from electrocution at a power station, teaches him some words of English, and helps to keep him out of trouble. Trouble arrives primarily in the form of a suspicious government agent who upon discovering the giant, assumes him to be some sort of Soviet or alien weapon and seeks to have him destroyed.

This is a classic story of childhood innocence coming up against the suspicion and paranoia of adults. This movie makes the most of its 1957 setting by exploiting the paranoia that existed in this time of anything foreign that might be evil, different, or communist. Remember that this was the year that the then mysterious Russian satellite Sputnik was launched and a time when the use of nuckear weapons had become a reality.

This film also features the voices of Jennifer Aniston as Hogarth's mother and Harry Connick jr as the supercool junkyard owner who helps Hogarth to hide the giant and also provides a source of food to appease the big guy's appetite for anything metallic. Vin Diesel supplies the bass tones of the giant's limited but developing vocabulary.

There are some nice scenes through out the movie, all building to a suitably stirring ending. It is an unfortunate fact of modern movie marketing that, like 1998's Antz, The Iron Giant will never be big box office draw with young audiences because of the lack of merchandising tie ins (compare to the likes of A Bug's Life or Tarzan).

Not a bad movie. You could certainly do much worse than take your kids to see it.

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  Director: Brad Bird  
  Starring: Eli Marienthal, Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick jr, Vin Diesel
  Date seen: 18 December 1999  
  Last Updated 20 December 1999  


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