Film #5: "The Iron Giant" (1999)

At the end of a decade where animation pictures were dominated almost entirely by Disney, came arguably my favorite children's movie; "The Iron Giant" from Warner Brothers Studios. (Based on the 1968 story "Iron Man" by British poet laureate Ted Hughes.)


Set in the midst of the Red Scare years of the 1950s, a giant metal robot crashes to Earth and is befriended by excitable nine-year-old Hogarth Hughes (Eli Marienthal). As one could imagine, Hogarth quickly discovers how difficult it is to hide a 100ft metal man from his mother, the town, and most importantly, Government agent Kent Mansley (Christopher McDonald).

It doesn't take long for Hogarth to get caught up in every boy's dream of having his own Robot, but agent Mansley is hot on their trail and soon has the army knocking on the door of smalltown New England. Hogarth needs some help and fast, so he recruits the aide of the local scrap collector/artist Dean McCoppin (Harry Connick Jr.).



Never does Hogarth question his new friend's purpose or his strength but one day in Dean's scrapyard, he discovers something about the Iron Giant that might change their friendship for good.


In a movie that my mother claims "hits close to home for someone from the Red Scare generation", "The Iron Giant" brings to life one of the most amazing adventures for the young-at-heart.