TIFF Comic Book Hero Series Review: The Iron Giant (1999)

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Cast: Eli Marienthal, Harry Connick Jr., Jennifer Aniston
Director: Brad Bird
Country: USA
Genre: Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Sci-Fi
Official Trailer: Here

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Editor’s Notes: This review of The Iron Giant is apart of TIFF’s Comic Book Hero series which runs from March 9th to 24th at TIFF Bell Lightbox. For more information, visit TIFF.net.

Some films are classics right out of the gate.  People see the genius and the power of it right away and it becomes canonized in the annals of greatness and stays there.  Some films get warmly received right away before dropping off the cultural radar and become ignored at best or downright hated at worst.  And some films get lost in the shuffle at the beginning of their lives before becoming firmly entrenched in the “classic” category.  The Iron Giant, Brad Bird’s feature length directorial debut, is one of these films.  Dumped by Warner Bros, who were winding down their dud of a feature animation department as the film was in production, with little fanfare and on the same August weekend as The Sixth Sense, Mystery Men and The Thomas Crowne Affair, The Iron Giant over the last 14 years thanks to constant repeats on TV and fantastic word of mouth has become, and rightfully so, a modern day classic, one of the last great works of 2D animation (which seamlessly integrates with the budding at the time CG animation) and in my opinion, Brad Bird’s best work to date.

…a modern day classic, one of the last great works of 2D animation (which seamlessly integrates with the budding at the time CG animation) and in my opinion, Brad Bird’s best work to date.

Set in the late 50′s after the launch of Sputnik, the film opens with the titular Iron Giant (voiced by Vin Diesel of all people) as he crashes off the coast of a new England town, wrecking a boat in the process.  We then follow young Hogarth Hughes (Eli Marienthal), a latchkey kid living with his single mom Annie (a surprisingly well cast Jennifer Aniston) who wants nothing more than a pet to play with.  One night while she’s working late and he’s up watching cheesy sci-fi B movies on TV, their antennae gets bit off.  Journeying into the woods, he discovers the Iron Giant munching on metal before being nearly electrocuted by a power transformer.  After Hogarth saves him, they become best friends.  Soon, Dean (Harry Connick Jr.) a local beatnik who runs the local junkyard, finds out about him and they both have to keep the giant hidden from Kent Mansley (Christopher McDonald) a paranoid government agent determined to expose and destroy the giant by any means necessary.

This film is a prime example of the heights that animation can achieve.  Imaginative in its look, its design, its visuals, its characters, its storytelling and its themes.  It’s incredibly funny without succumbing to the condescending type of humor that you normally see in animated films aimed at kids.  The characters and their relationships with each other are done with subtlety and nuance.  Even normally clichéd roles like the military general (voiced here by John Mahoney) is refreshingly done with a level of intelligence and deep characterization you never see in typical kid fare.  And the storytelling is top notch.  It’s as funny, dramatic, thrilling, scary and powerful when it needs to be and never overstays or forces its moments.

It’s incredibly funny without succumbing to the condescending type of humor that you normally see in animated films aimed at kids.  The characters and their relationships with each other are done with subtlety and nuance.

But where the film really shines is in its themes.  It’s no accident that the film take place during the height of the Red Scare, with Cold War paranoia slowly creeping in.  Playing it both for laughs (with a hilarious parody of the Duck and Cover cartoons shown in schools) and chilling drama during the climax, the films deals with the “us vs. them” mentality and its unintended consequences that sadly is not limited to that time and place.  Ultimately this film is about a gun who doesn’t want to be a gun.  It is the antithesis of the message of The Incredibles with its unfortunately Rayndian “You are who you’re born as” mentality, as opposed to this film message of “You are who you choose to be”, which while not exactly delivered with subtlety, is delivered in a moment with a far bigger emotional impact than in The Dark Knight Rises.  Something tells me the Nolan’s must’ve had the DVD on in the background when coming up with the finale for the Dark Knight Trilogy.

1999 was not only just a great year for films period, but it was also a great year for animated films as well.  Between Toy Story 2, Princess Mononoke, South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut and even Tarzan, while it may have crashed and burned at the box office, The Iron Giant towers firmly alongside these modern day classics of animation that prove once and for all that animation is no longer just kids stuff.  Do yourself a favor and see this, preferably at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.  You’ll be kicking yourself for not seeing it sooner.

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