THE IRON GIANT
Brad Bird (1999)
4.5 STARS
Brad Bird’s premise for The Iron Giant finds its feet with one sentence; ‘What if a gun had a soul and it didn’t want to be a gun?’ This sets the thesis for the family animation as well as pondering a deeper question about humanity itself. This is explored so intrinsically that any audience member, no matter their age, is provoked to ponder what it means to love and what sacrifices we are willing to make for those that we do.
Brilliantly curated characters combine to create one of the tightest plots I have ever seen. This film is not particularly short, especially for an animation, but it wastes no time in constructing a compelling narrative.
The giant itself is the only element produced using CGI, lending a weight to the character that works brilliantly with the fantastic hand drawn animation of the rest of the film. The music, including some well placed jazz numbers, accompany the visuals fantastically.
Well timed sequences of comedy spattered amongst gripping drama are what make this film stand out. The journey that Hogarth and his Iron Giant lead us through, and it’s spectacular finale, is so affecting that, over twenty years later, this film still hits home in a way that not many can.