Release Date: August 6, 1999
The Voices of: Jennifer Aniston, Eli Marenthal, Harry Connick Jr., Christopher McDonald, Vin Diesel, M. Emmet Walsh
Directed by: Brad Bird
Distributed by: Warner Brothers
MPAA Rating: PG (fantasy action, mild language)
Animation is a tricky medium, just now recovering from the effects of a non-Disney revolution that began about two years ago. With the release of Anastasia in late 1997, studios like Fox and Warner Bros. have begun to slate their own releases alongside Disney's annual summer blockbusters.
These first attempts were dismal, from the out-of-place plot line in Fox's Anastasia to the downright wretched animation in WB's Quest for Camelot and The King and I. In fact, only DreamWorks' Prince of Egypt gave Disney any pause, with its stellar cast of voice talent and finely-tuned animation.
But with The Iron Giant, the folks at Warner Bros. have made the first step at a comeback, having dumped the latest in computer-generated animation in favor of a more simplified, classical approach. This style-over-substance mentality forced the Tim McCanlies script into the foreground, making sure that some serious storytelling would be done. Animation always has been about bringing fantastical tales to life in a manner suitable for all ages, and this is the one measure that The Iron Giant gets an A-plus for.
Not all components of the movie work so well. The story has a pretty solid progression: pint-sized prepubescent Hogarth Hughes (voiced by Eli Marenthal) discovers a giant robot, crash-landed from outer space, in the woods behind his small-town Maine farmhouse. Doubted by his overworked mother Annie (voiced by Jennifer Aniston) but supported by outcast artist Dean McCoppin (voiced by Harry Connick Jr.), Hogarth makes friends with the giant and hides him in Dean's junkyard. The late 1950's setting, at the height of the Cold War, means that the government is naturally suspicious of anything from outer space, and so they send agent Kent Mansley (voiced by Christopher McDonald) to investigate.
As Mansley's attempts to destroy the robot become increasingly drastic, writer McCanlies tries to squeeze in a heart-warming message about friendship and its ultimately positive ends. When manifested, however, it comes out rather shlocky: the robot learns to say the words "souls never die," a slogan which might just as easily have been found on the track listing of a heavy metal album.
McCanlies' other attempts at breaking the boundaries of the medium include brief moments of crude humor (an offhand reference to the rural setting: "The biggest thing in this town in probably the homecoming queen") and a sprinkling of mild expletives as the ninety-minute runtime wears on. But aside from these questionable moves, the script has a distinctive flavor of wit to appeal to adults and a penchant for kid-stupid physical comedy.
This blend is sure to make The Iron Giant a hit with audiences as the summer winds down, but as the August release date indicates, this movie doesn't have the box office clout or big marketing spin to send it against bigger releases. It just needed an extra push somewhere along the way.
all contents © 1999 Craig Roush