Oh my god, did I ever tear up at the end.
The movie might be a little preachy for some, but I found it incredibly endearing. I’m ordering it today!
This was one of the few movies, besides “The Champ” and that one with Macaulay Culkin that brought a tear to my eye. I love this film and own it on VHS although I’ll need to get the DVD at some point.
The animation of the Giant is so endearing and the pace of the action is perfectly timed. I bought a doll of the Giant with a tiny Hogarth figure which he holds in his hand.
Good call Manservant Hecubus !
Man, you should’ve been on the Iron Giant message board when the movie came out! About a third of the posters were the animators…and a couple of the artists had this big argument over who really designed the Giant. Parts of that thread were reprinted in a magazine (don’t recall which)… Animators were referring each other to new jobs, talking about their new projects, etc. It was really something for a dumbass fan like myself.
I went and saw that movie about 8 times in the theater, and bought the DVD when it came out. It was underpromoted, had no tie-in toys at McD or BK, and the few toys at toy stores (which were pretty cool) were hard to find, and had no commercials, shelf display, or promotion at all. Those critics who called the movie “just an excuse to sell toys” didn’t know what they were talking about…there were almost no toys to sell!
The film swept the Annie (animation) awards for 1999, and denied Glen Keane the Annie for animating Tarzan, which he probably deserved. I think it did finally pull a profit when the home video/DVD were released. Kid’s movies usually do very well in home video release, and this one was no exception.
Brad Bird, the director who made it all happen, is now working at Pixar, after something like 8 years on “The Simpsons” and then the WB gig for “Iron Giant.” He’s one of the CalArts crowd, and I guess John Lasseter is an old school chum of his. They both put that “A113” in-joke into their movies, anyway.
Some people did find it preachy, but the story guys explained why they chose the story elements they did on the message board. Most people didn’t form any opinion at all, because they either had never heard of the movie, or figured it was only for kids because of the lame-ass commercials WB had out for it.
Whoo! Got me going, didn’t cha?
-Theobroma
You and a zillion other fans of this underpromoted classic. Why people bothered with Disney’s Tarzan instead of this I’ll never understand.
The preachiness is part of the charm – what’s the point of a movie if the characters don’t take definite positions on the issues?
Oh, man. I took my little sister to see it (she was sixteen and wondering why the hell I was taking her to a kid’s movie, but I had read the reviews) but we both were pretty blurry eyed at the end. I really didn’t like the Iron Giant reassembling itself, but if they didn’t have that scene there would’ve been an entire theatre full of suicidal little kids. I was really amazed.
As for the preachiness, I found it tolerable – mostly enjoyable, in fact – because they were things that usually don’t get preached or don’t get preached that well.
I watch this movie once a month. It is fantastic! I don’t find it preachy at all, and I’m hyper-sensitive to that kind of crap.
“…Superman!”
That last scene, with that music, absolutely moves me to the point where I get shivers all over!
just rented it for the first time last month, and cried during a lot of it. which was embarrassing, because we had company. but really loved it, and would probably buy a copy if i could find it. mr. zoot even liked it, though he didn’t cry. i’m such a wuss.
The first time I saw it I was working in the video department of a grocery store. Being a family-oriented organization, we could only show G and PG movies. So after tiring of Yellow Submarine (I must’ve put that on 50 times in a month), I decided to give The Iron Giant a try. I hadn’t read any reviews for it and had actually thought it would be kinda stupid, but it was either that or one of those dumb straight-to-video Scooby Doo movies. So I put it in the VCR and went about my buisness. After the scene with the squirrel, I was shooing customers away (ala Randall from Clerks). When it was over, I played it again. And again. And again. Then I played Rushmore and got in some trouble for that. Then I played IG again. By the sixth viewing, I had pretty much pieced the whole thing together (some customers just can’t be shooed) and it had gotten me quite misty-eyed. I laughed. I cried. I loved that scene with the Giant’s severed hand :-)) Best animated movie EVER.
…Still, did anyone else think Hogarth saying “I love you” at the end was a bit much?