A Giant of a Film

Dear all,

Ooh, first review, pop the champagne, I feel all fizzy inside. What causing the fizziness? The Iron Giant, an animated film.

Now, I love animated films, and technically, you can do anything that reality doesn't allow or limit. And I try not to go for just the Disney-Pixar stuff as they're not the only ones making the bang-for-your-bucks.

People, even Malaysians frightfully, will look past the stuff that ain't the in-thing (like Justin Bieber & thrashing Justin Bieber), and for animation's concern, perhaps the best Western example is The Iron Giant, making its first appearance in 1999, by Warner Brothers Animation.

Directed by the now Pixar giant, Brad Bird (who also made The Incredibles), it's set in 1957, when the U.S & Soviet Union were at loggerheads. 11-year old Hogarth Hughes (Eli Marienthal) is a lonely boy looking for a friend, and naturally discovers a 50-foot tall robot that crashes onto Earth, with a paranoid government agent bent on destroying the metal-eating behemoth.

During its time, it stood out at the very least in it covering of some very mature themes: paranoia, weapons, heroism, etc. In retrospect, the storyline does seem cheesy, but the script tells the tale with surprising contextualized subtlety and sophistication. It really was light-years what Disney did at the time.

It's thanks to the characters that everyone can relate to. The most special one of all would be the Iron Giant himself (voiced by Vin Diesel, I'm serious, Vin Diesel). The human-ness of his movement and his synthesized, yet gently booming voice really comes through and quite the highlight for the film, with expression that will make you laugh, cry, etc.

No, they did not motion capture Vin Diesel's man boobs (moobs).

F.Y.I, this was made in 1999, so it can't attempt to be ultra-realistic like today's gravy fest, and this film was known to have had a tight budget. That shouldn't deter you from its excellent animation and beautiful score. The opening scene with the roaring waves is incredibly atmospheric, and it actually does a good job of combining CGI with hand-drawn animation, especially in the climatic fight sequence, where the Iron Giant really shows what he really is, and what he becomes.

The biggest gripe I would have is the ending where things got tied up a bit too well and the main antagonist, who you can view either as overdone to the point of irritation or a representation of the ugly American. Either way, I highly recommend this film and it is available on DVD. It stands as one of the best American animated films of all time. 8/10

"I am not a gun,"

Sincerely,

Lee Zhi-Li