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The Iron Giant

The Iron Giant (1999)

August. 06,1999
|
8.1
|
PG
| Adventure Animation Science Fiction Family

In the small town of Rockwell, Maine in October 1957, a giant metal machine befriends a nine-year-old boy and ultimately finds its humanity by unselfishly saving people from their own fears and prejudices.

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Reviews

Matrixiole
1999/08/06

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

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FirstWitch
1999/08/07

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

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Zandra
1999/08/08

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

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Fleur
1999/08/09

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

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motaz_emad
1999/08/10

Even it is almost 20 years old it is still entertaining for me .. great acting , great directing , amazing animation for its time It gives me same emotions no matter how many times i have seen it I wish to see another sequel for this soon

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Anish Misra
1999/08/11

The Iron Giant is a film co-written and directed by Brad Bird. This film was on my radar for quite some time since it is directed by Brad Bird. Finally, I decided to watch the film and I can say that it was definitely great.Plot: Hogarth befriends a giant robot but also has to defend the robot from a ruthless government official.Story and direction: This film was in the traditional animation form which incorporated little CGI. At a time when CGI films were on the rise, bringing out such a film is a risk. With Brad Bird as the captain of the ship, what is to go wrong?? Nothing. Director's like Brad Bird is why I love animated films. Not only do they have such a good story but a message that is relevant and should be applied too in real life. This film deals with themes that no one at the time dealt with and is still relevant even in this world where technology has dominated every aspect of our lives. The film also very beautifully shows that it is not necessary to be human to have feelings. Everyone has feelings. Brad Bird and his team were able to grasp my attention in this 87 minute film. But it is quite sad to know that this film didn't work wonders at the time of its release. Some things quite notable are the designs for the town and the robot. They are impeccable and beautiful. Even the characterization work in the film is just spot-on. The bond formed between Hogarth and the robot seems real. Kent's character has been beautifully portrayed in the film. Even the voice work of this film is excellent and I couldn't fault it for even a second. There are some jokes in this film that I laughed and also some scenes which made me very emotional. The music by Michael Kamen also does wonders and goes with the flow of the film. If I had to nit-pick this film for any flaw, I would say it was the story. Many movies have shown such stories and the subject I would say was nothing new.Favorite Scene: It would be the one where Hogarth decides to tell a bed-time story to the robot so that he could fall asleep. He has different books with him and tells them the gist of two of them. This scene just resonated with the main theme the film deals with and very correctly justifies the difference between good and evil.Verdict: As a first timer director, Brad Bird just hit a bulls eye. I was impressed with almost every aspect of the film. This film proves that medium is not necessary to bring across your point. If the message is correct and properly shown, then the medium doesn't matter that much. Even after the film ended, I was thinking about the film. And thank god, the film wasn't made into a musical (which was actually the original plan of the makers). For those who have loved Brad Bird animated films and think that he is one the great animators at present, I urge you to watch this film. It is a beautiful and thought provoking feature. I was highly impressed by it and sure that you will be too.I am going with a 9/10.

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tomgillespie2002
1999/08/12

The roaring success of Disney's The Lion King (no pun intended) in 1994 inspired something of an animation boom, during which various production studios attempted to cash in on the trend to varying degrees of success. Warner Bros. Feature Animation had a moderate hit with Space Jam, but underperformed with the likes of Cats Don't Dance and Quest for Camelot. They had one bona fide hit with The Iron Giant, a truly wonderful little feature adapted from Ted Hughes' 1968 novel The Iron Man. It didn't leave much of a dent at the box-office, but found a loyal audience on home video. In the 19 years since its release, The Iron Giant is fondly remembered as one of best animated features of the 1990s, and saw director Brad Bird poached by a little up-and-coming studio called Pixar.In the fictional town of Rockwell, Maine in 1957, the residents are busy gazing up at the sky in fear of the Soviet Union's satellite Sputnik spying on them, and school children are shown Duck and Cover style educational films to prepare for a nuclear attack. In the surrounding forest, a huge object crashes down to Earth, alarming local fisherman Earl (M. Emmet Walsh). 9 year-old Hogarth Hughes (Eli Marienthal) spends his nights watching cheesy sci-fi movies and dreaming of owning his own pet. His mother Annie (Jennifer Aniston) thinks they cause too much mess, a point that seems to be proven when young Hogarth accidentally releases a squirrel into the local diner. With his mother working late one night, Hogarth wanders into the woods and comes across the object Earl insists he saw: a giant alien robot (voiced by Vin Diesel) that enjoys munching everything from train tracks to the local power station.This kind of allegorical coming-of-age tale has been done before (think E.T. but with an adorable weapon of mass destruction), but rarely with such charm and genuine emotion. It's influence can be felt in everything from the recent Pete's Dragon remake and A Monster Calls, and it's no surprise that the film continues to attract new fans. The Iron Giant questions what would happen if a gun could feel. The titular giant occasionally turns aggressive in the face of possible danger, as the alien's true purpose becomes increasingly and unnervingly clear. But with no memory of his mission, it's down to Hogarth to teach metal hulk kindness, and the youngster does so in a way that only an innocent could. A moment in the woods sees the unlikely friends come across the corpse of a deer. At first, the giant cannot comprehend death as he can regenerate, but Hogarth manages to teach him about the finality of death. It's incredibly powerful, and it's message is even more relevant today than it was almost 20 years ago. We all have choices in life, and sometimes simple human kindness and empathy can be infinitely more powerful than brute force.

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Red_Identity
1999/08/13

This is classic cinema, a throwback to films that only relied on great writing and voice acting. The film is simple but incredibly well-told and effective, told in a period that is rare for animation. The film captures the distinct feeling of the Cold War and it's never immature or "childish" while still being accessible to people of all ages.

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