Written by: Tim McCanlies & Brad Bird
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr., Vin Diesel, James Gammon, Cloris Leachman
Rating: [4/5]
As humans we get the opportunity to break away from our predetermined destiny through our decision-making and the right amount of luck. We have this free will that others, especially those given no such choice other than the reason for their creation. This idea of choice permeates plenty within the heartbreaking and life-affirming The Iron Giant as it presents a planet-killing robot in the most palatable way to get a message across to all ages.
Suddenly one night a strange object from space crash lands on Earth and young Hogarth (Eli Marienthal) investigates and finds a 50-foot alien robot. Initially frightened by its presence, as Hogarth begins to interact with the robot, he builds a rapport, which comes at a huge risk as a U.S. government agent begins snooping around for it thinking it has some connection to the Soviet Union starting a potential nuclear war.
Set during the Cold War era, perfect for this type of story, The Iron Giant takes place during a tense and paranoid time in this country’s history. A time when the loyalties of many faced questioning and a perpetual fear of our collective doom sat on the mind of many. This fear mostly took place between the Soviet Union and the United States as they monitored each other’s moves carefully. Therefore, it would come as no surprise when something strange lands in the United States that a government official would immediately believe it had to do with the Soviets but little do they know this planet-killing machine came from something far more sinister, but luckily it appears its bump on the head made it forget its initial protocol.
The mixed beauty and tragedy of this story works around the innocence of this robot, much like Hogarth, as they learn about each other and interact. Two beings now on Earth with one of them created for the sole purpose of destruction. This bump on the head allows it to start from scratch, even if still possessing all the arsenal at its disposal to unleash some incredible damage. These two build this beautiful bond where Hogarth, even in the face of all this trouble for getting involved with this robot, does everything in his will as a literal child to protect it from others that will certainly try to destroy it. In these moments, their mutual innocence shows itself as it digs into something innately heartwarming.
Just as Hogarth learns more about this robot, so do we, the audience, as it displays feelings and emotions from protectiveness of Hogarth and anger when the young boy gets put in harm’s way. It raises larger questions about this robot and its general construction that it could develop these feelings and operate beyond its main destructive designs. These questions of who or what created this robot and the intention of sending it to Earth that the film does not necessarily dig into nor does it need to. We have just enough mystery surrounding it where it focuses on what matters most, which is the relationship it develops with young Hogarth.
As with the majority of animated films, The Iron Giant seeks to find a way to connect with all four quadrants in a resonant manner, which it does in spades where children can appreciate the simple message the film seeks to communicate through its animated characters not only in style but also their general demeanor. This anti-war message comes through and gets communicated clearly as the robot utters its very famous phrase towards the end of the feature where it dares to dream to be something else other than what its programming dictates. In fact, in that very moment, it does the opposite in such a beautiful way to place a bow on the prevailing theme of the entire film. Adults can certainly attach to the general Cold War paranoia that creates this tense atmosphere throughout the film, which gets distilled through the cartoonishly evil Kent Mansley (Christopher McDonald) and his plot to find this robot. To children, Mansley feels like a simple villain, but he undoubtedly represents a form of weaponized paranoia that left a good deal of unease during this period of time.
With its release before the 21st century and losing none of its power since then by a long shot, The Iron Giant contains so much through its visual storytelling. It utilizes the perfect setting to build the paranoia and the assumptions assigned to something built to destroy but seeks to become and represent something much more. Having a child see through this typifies the innocence and beauty connection can have on something with unknown origins. We get both over the top characterization but also characters that represent larger more sinister ideals and those representing incredible valor. Very well crafted and manages to hit all four quadrants as most animated films try to accomplish without losing any of its powerful thematic work.
Films with Josh 
