by Leah Stone
I chose The Iron Giant as this week’s article because I keep having this vivid memory of curling up with my brother to watch this film, time and time again, as it was one of his favourites.
I chose The Iron Giant as this week’s article because I keep having this vivid memory of curling up with my brother to watch this film, time and time again, as it was one of his favourites.
Released in 1999, The Iron Giant follows the story of Hogarth Hughes (Eli Marienthal) who discovers a crash-landed giant alien robot (Vin Diesel) and befriends it, whilst U.S government agent Kent Mansley is snooping around trying to discover the whereabouts of the giant robot. At the end of the film, the giant is eventually discovered by the military and attacked, triggering his defence mechanism. Hogarth manages to calm the giant down, however Mansley starts a nuclear launch that would not only destroy the giant but also the whole town. The giant gladly flies into the sky and intercepts the nuclear rocket, giving his life (don’t worry though, he is a self-rebuilding robot. He ends up somewhere in Iceland.)
The film has a great historic backdrop, set during the Cold War. In 1957 Sputnik was launched, and it was this that caused the iron giant to crash land in the film. It also has extremely credible morals and themes, mainly anti-gun and anti-war, but also has the message that “you are who you choose to be” as said by Hogarth. It teaches that no matter what your background, your upbringing, your past, you can also choose to be a good person, the better person. That you get to choose who you are, not anyone else. It gives younger viewers a sense of what is right and what is wrong, wrapped up in a neat animation film that is extremely easy to watch and enjoy. Although animation wasn’t as high-tech back then as it is now, the quality of it does take you back to those childhood days curled up and hiding from the massive weaponry, or laughing as the giant jumps into a lake and empties it out over a dazed Dean (Harry Connick Jnr) and out onto the roads.
The film has a great historic backdrop, set during the Cold War. In 1957 Sputnik was launched, and it was this that caused the iron giant to crash land in the film. It also has extremely credible morals and themes, mainly anti-gun and anti-war, but also has the message that “you are who you choose to be” as said by Hogarth. It teaches that no matter what your background, your upbringing, your past, you can also choose to be a good person, the better person. That you get to choose who you are, not anyone else. It gives younger viewers a sense of what is right and what is wrong, wrapped up in a neat animation film that is extremely easy to watch and enjoy. Although animation wasn’t as high-tech back then as it is now, the quality of it does take you back to those childhood days curled up and hiding from the massive weaponry, or laughing as the giant jumps into a lake and empties it out over a dazed Dean (Harry Connick Jnr) and out onto the roads.
Although it initially failed at the Box Office, The Iron Giant received great critical acclaim, including 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts awarded the film with a children’s award for Best Feature Film and it also won six Annies.
True, its not one of the most famous Warner Brothers films, in fact Warner Brothers have produced very few animated films, few of them worth noting bar this film and also The Lego Movie. The Iron Giant placed itself in a hard market full of Disney princess films and rested in a genre that allowed boys to learn valuable morals whilst also being entertained at the same time, something that the film industry tends to lack. But don’t just think that because of the aliens and the mechanics and the weapons that girls can’t enjoy this film either, I for one thoroughly enjoyed the film as a child and still do now.
Now, where did I put that VCR…..
True, its not one of the most famous Warner Brothers films, in fact Warner Brothers have produced very few animated films, few of them worth noting bar this film and also The Lego Movie. The Iron Giant placed itself in a hard market full of Disney princess films and rested in a genre that allowed boys to learn valuable morals whilst also being entertained at the same time, something that the film industry tends to lack. But don’t just think that because of the aliens and the mechanics and the weapons that girls can’t enjoy this film either, I for one thoroughly enjoyed the film as a child and still do now.
Now, where did I put that VCR…..
RSS Feed
