In
what film does an extraterrestrial being come to earth and
become the private friend of a ten-year-old boy? The answer
to this question in 1982 was E.T. In 1999, the
answer is The Iron Giant, an animated feature
directed by Brad Bird, based on the 1968 book with the same
title by British Poet Laureate Ted Hughes. The tagline of
the film is "It came from outer space!" As the film begins,
the Iron Giant (voiced by Vin Diesel) comes ashore after a
storm off the coast of Rockwell, Maine, in 1957 at the height
of the Cold War. Nine-year-old Hogarth Hughes (voiced by Eli
Marienthal) lives with his mother (voiced by Jennifer Aniston)
but has no father, similar to Annekin in Star
Wars: Episode I. Lonely, Hogarth follows clues
and tracks down the 100-foot tall giant, whom he befriends.
Soon, beatnik Dean McCoppen (voiced by Harry Connick, Jr.)
finds that the giant can help him to turn junkyard metal into
works of art. However, reports of the creature's habit of
eating automobiles and other metallic objects prompt Kent
Mansley (voiced by Christopher McDonald), an official from
the U.S. Bureau of Unexplained Phenomena to investigate. Although
Hogarth and Dean try to protect the giant from discovery,
Mansley discovers a photograph of the giant and calls in the
army to destroy the creature. Even the commanding general
is reluctant to launch an attack. However, Mansley authorizes
the launch of a nuclear bomb, which would certainly annihilate
the town in Maine, so the giant sacrifices itself by intercepting
the bomb in space. Then, a small part of the destroyed giant
is located and presented to Hogarth. As the film ends, the
part has escaped to a glacier in Iceland, where its magnetic
field is attracting the other parts to reconstitute itself.
Kids who watch the film are supposed to learn that kindness
can tame the wildest beasts, that friendship is far more rewarding
than hostility to others, that guns are bad, and that bureaucrats
are much less trustworthy than generals. But boys in most
cinemas are bored up to the point where the tanks, warships,
and missiles are activated for a showdown. So much for the
moral of the story. MH
I
want to comment on this film
