The Iron Giant (1999)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Iron Giant (1999) – B. Bird

Set in the 1950s, this animated film might have enough (American) references for adults as it has action designed for kids.  A 100-foot-tall robot crash lands on Earth and is discovered by a young boy (voiced by Eli Marienthal) who befriends him and teaches him to be good, not evil (“guns kills”).  It is cute and often beautifully animated (taking place in Maine with lovely fall foliage).  When the robot gets hurt, his various parts are able to crawl back together to rebuild him. With the help of a beatnik artist (voiced by Harry Connick, Jr.), Hogarth (the boy) successfully hides the Iron Giant from the American authorities, specifically the CIA agent Kent Mansley (voiced by Christopher McDonald) ... for a time.  Soon they discover that the robot has been designed to defensively destroy anything that attacks it (with laser weapons of the future) and soon the US Army shows up to do just that (believing it may be a Russian attack).  In the end, for all its violence (including an atomic bomb which scared my 6-year-old), I felt a rather hard-to-miss Christian theme – after all, the robot dies for our sins (and may be resurrected, which reassured everyone).  Setting this aside, the film’s message that it is better to be good than evil and that guns/violence are horrible is worthwhile indeed.  Still, my 9-year-old gave it only 2 ½ stars (“too boring”) but the younger boy was much more impressed (4 stars).  I enjoyed it a lot, particularly for the early scenes where the robot is learning about its environment and some silly humour.  Yes, it brought a tear to my eye but I’m a pushover.