Brad Bird's film "The Iron Giant" came out in 1999 and it was an odd movie to say the least. While in 1999 the movie didn't even make its budget back, returning just over 31 million dollars on 50 million dollar production budget. However, over the past two decades "The Iron Giant" has reached a sort of cult status among fans and is highly regarded in retrospect. "The Iron Giant" is even making a cameo is the upcoming film "Ready Player One". So while there still isn't a lot of people out there who have been graced by the heartwarming story locked behind the giant's steel casing now is your time to fix that.
What its all about
"The Iron Giant" is set in 1957 Maine. The lead is a young boy named Hogarth, voiced by Eli Marienthal and the titular giant is voiced by vin diesel. Diesel's giant crashes in the woods outside of Hogarth's hometown and that is where the two characters meet. Hogarth being a fairly lonely kid doesn't have any friends and his single mother doesn't have a lot of time to devote to him if she wants to keep food on the table. So what any boy would do when confronted in Hogarth's situation is he befriends the giant. Hogarth teaches the giant all about humanity and even who and what Superman is, once it is revealed the giant has powers and can fly like Hogarth's favorite character.
The conflict of the film comes in the form of a shady government agent who wants to destroy and study the giant in order to learn from it and get an upper-hand over the soviets (this is set during the cold war after all). Hogarth, now with the help of a beatnik artist named Dean do what they can to protect the giant but the odds are stacked against them.
If you're wondering how a boy and a dumpster artist are able to outsmart the U.S. military and hide a several ton giant robot you must go check it out yourself.
The cult-movie status is well earned
While the premise of the film doesn't fit your standard child movie formula it is still a wonderful story that animation is still charming.
While "The Iron Giant" is different where it really shines is in its writing. It has one hour and change of run time and in that time you will care about every single character in the small town of Rockwell. Hogarth and the giant especially for their bond of friendship that is formed is heartwarming even to the most frigid of hearts. While audiences today are in love with Vin Diesel's character Groot in Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise the actor is just as quiet and as compelling as the eloquent Groot and that alone is a big selling point for why you should go see this movie. The giant doesn't say much but the innocence and love that pours from him in every scene is glorious and leaves you in a very feel good state as the credits roll and that is what nearly 20 years later people who still watch this move hold onto. It is out on Netflix already so go watch and bring it into the spotlight it rightly deserves.
