Rating: 
Summary: For the kids, but You'll Like it, Too!
Review: A film that can be enjoyed by the entire family, but adults will get so much more than the tots. A non-musical big budget feature about a boy that befriends a giant iron alien and his attempt to keep it out of harm after a nosy government official comes poking around. Set in the Fifties, the film captures that time in American history with a sharp sense of accuracy.
Rating: 
Summary: An American Animation Film That's NOT a Musical - WOW!
Review: Two things which have never sat well with me is the Disney Marketing Machinery making the American public believe:1. If it's animation, it has to be written in a condescending tone (for children, of course), and 2. Be chock-full of songs to make the movie a musical. So, with the Iron Giant someone decided to toss those ideas out the window. The details are what make this movie a howl: from the wooden acting in the B-movie Hogarth watches, to the pervading "Red Scare" attitude throughout (which we can laugh at now, in retrospect, but was a deadly serious fear in the 50's in which the movie is set). The movie's counter-culture (for the squeaky-clean 1950's) roots can be seen in the placing of Top-Secret Government Agent (NSA? CIA? We never do find out) Kent Mansley as the villian, and Beatnik junkyard artist Dean as the only other adult in which Hogarth can confide the secret of the giant. It's all here for everyone - I saw this movie last night and was still amazed my wonder and emotions were the same the first time I had seen it (after it had pretty much gone to video scant months after it appeared in theatres in the U.S. - Puerto Rico never saw this gem in theatres) nearly a year ago. I still bawled my eyes out at the end, surprised, saddened and hopeful at the message of the movie. I challenge anyone to see the Iron Giant and not enjoy the story. What're you waiting for?
Rating:
Summary: Hogarth's TV set looks different!
Review: Did anyone notice on the DVD that the black and white sci-fi movie that Hogarth is watching on TV looks different than it did in the theatre? It has no scan lines on the DVD. In the theatre it had them in order to give the images a real TV effect. Otherwise this is one of the greatest films ever made, live-action or animated. You choose.
Rating:
Summary: Never mind the ad campaign, see the movie.
Review: Due to horrendous advertising that buried most of the movie's charms, most people think this movie is a b-grade kiddie flick. But ignore the brainless trailers and the awful extreme-sport ad campaign that accompanied the video release, and you'll be rewarded with an astonishing film. The Iron Giant is complex and sophisticated enough to be a live-action movie, indeed more complex and sophisticated than the movies that trounced it at the box office (I'm talking to you, Inspector Gadget). It is a remarkable achievement of all the elements of a movie working at their very best. The visuals are astounding. The script is funny without resorting to cheap laughs. The characters are well-rounded. The voice talents are ideal, from the Giant's rumble to Hogarth's wide-eyed wonder (for a welcome change, a pre-adolescent boy does the voice instead of someone trying to sound like one). Most interestingly, the movie makes such a dynamic, empathic character of the titular hunk of metal that we genuinely care about his fate. At the film's climactic scene, I was ashamed at the tears running down my face, until I saw that my three friends (all of us twenty-something, manly guys) were misty-eyed as well. Anyone over the age of 8 will love this film. If you don't like animation, try this on for size. If you love all types of animation, see it NOW. Even though the film's marketing department apparently doesn't want you to see it, you'll be glad you did.
Rating:
Summary: BRILLANT MOVIE
Review: But it should have been longer. I distinctly remember an entirely different ending in the book. I also do not remember any 1950's communist paranoia in the book or the character of Hogarth being so young. But the changes do not harm the movie and the ending this film has is just fine. There are obviously no opening credits to the film so guessing the voices is cool fun. But it's impossible to guess who plays the Iron Giant. But the Iron Giant himself is a wonderful hero. It's cool to watch him learn simple things and having him eat cars is a neat little characteristic. I like when he's bored and he plays with the hood with one of the cars in the junkyard. You cannot dislike the Iron Giant. I think it was a wise and creative decision to make this cartoon in 2.35:1. Most cartoons by Disney are in 1.85:1 or even worse...in 1.66:1. Warner did a great job with this movie. These days it seems that Dreamworks SKG and Disney seem to do all the feature length animations. But Warner beat them all in 1999 with this movie. My only gripe is that it should have been longer. At 87 minutes, it's all over too quick. But it's still cool.
Rating:
Summary: Emotional Movie
Review: This was a great movie. For kids, and adults both. I almost cried!! I was yelling at the bad guys and rooting for the giant. The animation was great, and I even noticed a great job on the facial expressions! It was an over-all wonderful movie. I would have added an extra half, but I didn't have the option. :O)
Rating:
Summary: The mould is broken!
Review: Rarely one for contemporary animation, it was with great caution that I approached my first viewing of The Iron Giant. Much to my suprise, it appears today's cartoons are not limited to singing animals and Elton John soundtracks, and the Iron Giant shows that animation can be intelligent and entertaining, while still catering for the younger audience. The fact that this film was a commercial failure upon its theatrical release is a perfect example of how we have become trash-fed battery hens, served up the same tripe day after day, yet when such a sumptuous banquet is on offer we pass it up for some Disney Brand Meat-flavoured Filling please. I ordered this DVD the same night I saw the film for the first time, and it is by far my most-watched movie of recent times. Do yourself (and your kids) a favour, and discover a gem the world seems to have missed.
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Summary: nifty animated tale
Review: A young boy, living in suburbia with his single-parent mother, befriends a benign outer space alien he finds in a nearby forest. The youngster then teaches his special pal to communicate while hiding him from both his mother and the diabolical forces of the uncomprehending military industrial complex which are bent on the interloper's total annihilation. Sound familiar? Say one thing for "The Iron Giant": if you have to model your tale on an earlier film, you could do a lot worse than choose Steven Spielberg's timeless masterpiece, "E.T. - the Extraterrestrial." The good news too is that, derivative as this new film is - it plays at times almost like a scene-by-scene remake of the previous film - "The Iron Giant" is quite a charmer in its own right as well. It is a rare pleasure to see an animated film so rooted in the real world. So many of them take us to such exotic places - for the obvious reason that animated films, by their very nature, simply CAN - that all too often we feel distanced from what is taking place on the screen before us. By setting this film in the recognizable world of 1950's America, the makers establish a tone of unfrenetic charm and tranquility that plays well as a background for the sci-fi elements of the tale. The film also becomes a beautiful reflection on the strange coexistence of scientific idealism and trepidation that took hold of the imagination in that early era of space exploration and nuclear gamesmanship - an uneasy amalgam that found its way into many of the science fiction films of the time. The dialogue in the film enhances the gentle tone of the story without resorting to either maudlin sentimentalilty or sardonic cynicism. Hogarth, the boy, is simply a curious, well intentioned young lad, a bit smarter than most perhaps but not a budding genius (one of the wittiest lines comes when he bemoans the fact that other boys tease him because he is so much smarter than them when really the only difference is that he STUDIES). "The Iron Giant" manages to instill a number of such subtle life lessons as these without straining the point or becoming pedantic about it - although the "guns kill" theme, obviously designed to infuriate NRA members, does come across as a bit heavyhanded. The use of widescreen yields a number of tremendously beautiful moments of visual splendour, and the giant himself is especially impressive. Again, though, the animation is always placed at the service of the material; we are not subjected to a barrage of meaningless flashy images for their own sweet sake. "The Iron Giant" may feel overly familiar - and it will never replace "E.T." as the definitive version of this story - but it is definitely a film well worth seeing, an animated film that will indeed appeal to audiences of all ages.
Rating:
Summary: Why did so many people miss this film
Review: I avoided this film like the plague for over 10 months until my 9 yr. old foster son finally convinced me to rent it. I am ashamed that I waited so long. Where did this group of animators come from and why haven't we heard more from them. This is a finely crafted movie for all ages and is one to be watched over and over. This is one movie I will buy, and will watch when I need something to make me feel good. Don't miss it!
Rating:
Summary: Not just a little kids film
Review: It is very rare that I enjoy cartoon movies that are directed at younger kids. But this movie is definatley an exception. There is no cheap soundtrack, and a fair amount of violence, which sets this apart from your typical Disney cartoon movies. "Iron Giant" is set in the late 1950's and is about a 9-year-old boy called Hogarth Hughes. One night he sees his TV antenna being eaten straight off the roof, and follows the strange thing that has eaten it. Once he gets a better look, he sees the "thing" is a 100-foot robot, with a naive personality due to a bump on the head. Hogarth befriends the Iron giant and hides him in the garage at home. When this doesn't work, he confides in his beatnik friend, Dean (Voiced by Harry Connick Jr.), who helps him hide the giant in the tip he owns. Unfortunatley for them, there is a sleazy inspector after the giant (probably thinks finding the giant will get him a promotion or raise), and will stop at NOTHING to catch and destroy the giant, who is actually a walking war-machine that is triggered by guns. A beautifully animated movie, with plenty of laughs along the way, and with an sad, amazing ending.
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