Movie Review: The Iron Giant

Even though Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant doesn’t have stunning cinematics or a quick plot progression, it has more going for it than most blockbuster action films.

The Iron Giant is set in 1957, in the midst of the Cold War, in Rockwell, Maine. The rising conflict between America and Soviet Russia made that year an incredibly tense time.

The film explores not the power of violence, but the power of pacifism and the struggle to stay good in a world filled with evil. Hogarth Hughes (voiced by Eli Marienthal), a young boy, finds the giant in a childlike state after crash landing into the ocean. Hogarth teaches the giant to abhor guns and fear death. The giant’s mellow nature is caused by a dent in his head from crash landing on earth.

The “Iron Giant” (voiced by Vin Diesel) embodies everything that Americans feared during the Cold War: the uncontrollable threat of the nuclear bomb, as well as the unknown aspect of space intensified by the launch of Sputnik. The films explores how a paranoid America would react to an overwhelmingly powerful space invader.

Although the giant was originally programmed to be a weapon, for a large portion of the film, the audience is left unaware of the giant’s true nature. Bird leaves us in the dark as to whether the robot is friendly, or just a rogue killing machine, mimicking the tense sense of waiting that millions of Americans endured during the Cold War.

Bird’s film was poorly accepted by the public, opening to empty theaters, and grossing only $23 million. Its pacifist message was too much for an audience thirsty for juicy explosions and chaotic violence. The Matrix, an action film opening the same year, grossed almost 7.5 times as much. Yet, The Iron Giant has substance as opposed to mindless action. What this film lacks in blunt, stupid violence, it makes up for in many different areas.

Hogarth is a smart, adventurous little kid, who grew up alone with a single working mother. He spends his time trying to find pets to act as the friends he doesn’t have. Then, the answer literally falls from the sky. Hogarth comes across the “giant” and they immediately become friends. Although the giant fills the void of friends in Hogarth Hughes’ life, he is still missing a father figure and someone to tie him to reality. This void is filled by Dean McCoppin (voiced by Harry Connick, Jr.), who owns a junk yard which he uses to create art. Dean offers both a his age as well as a “hip” influence in Hogarth’s life. Dean once again further instills the idea that there is good inside everyone. He is introduced as a sort of brooding loner, yet by the end of the film opens up as a person, and fulfills the role of a father.

The bond between giant and boy is so strong that at one point, the giant believes Hogarth is dead and, overcome with grief, reverts back to his original programing, and almost kills everyone in the town. However, Hogarth saves everyone by telling the giant, “It’s bad to kill. Guns kill. And you don’t have to be a gun. You are what you choose to be.”

Sure, The Iron Giant is tame compared to movies today, and even films back in the late ‘90s, but what this science fiction flick has that no others have, is heart. The film doesn’t rely at all on heavy action sequences to hold the attention of the viewer. Instead this animated feature relies on a heartwarming American story, and incredible character development to create a masterpiece.