Last week, some friends were talking online about animated films, and The Iron Giant came up. Most agreed that it’s on the short list of greatest animated films, while one person asked why it was so popular. Quite by coincidence, I had the disc sitting on the DVD player just waiting for me to watch it, so the subject was on my mind when I sat down to watch it.
The first thing I noticed was the design of the film. It’s set in the 1950s, and that’s clear not just because there’s a hipster and a 50s-style diner, but because every frame of the movie evokes the style of the era. The shot on the left is exactly what I’m talking about. The neighborhood is drawn in the style of children’s books like The Poky Little Puppy. The trees are shaped like the trees you would see in old breakfast cereal commercials.
Setting the mood as late-50s was important. The Iron Giant, based on the children’s book by Ted Hughes, is set in a very specific time, right after Sputnik I was launched in October of 1957. Hogarth Hughes, nine-year-old American kid and hero of the story, sits through “Duck and Cover” films at school and watches Twilight Zone-esque shows on TV when his Mom isn’t home. So when he discovers a giant robot in the woods near his house, he goes wild with excitement.
Hiding the robot, now there’s a problem. Where exactly do you hide a 50-foot robot, and how do you feed him? (And why does he need to be fed?) What do you do about his lost memory? How do you keep from telling someone that you have A GIANT FREAKING ROBOT?!? Hogarth, wonderfully voiced by Eli Marienthal, is shall we say, a little overwhelmed at the prospect. One of the best lines in the movie comes from this section when Hogarth shouts, “I’m the luckiest kid in AMERICA!!!”
Sadly, his unbridled joy can’t last. Of course other people have seen the robot, and before long a Federal agent is called in, and he isn’t happy about being called to Rockwell, Maine in the middle of a global crisis. The rest of the story flows from there, and as we go we also meet Hogarth’s mother Annie (voiced by Jennifer Aniston) and the town hipster/artist/junk yard proprietor Dean McCoppin, (Harry Connick Jr.), who unsurprisingly become a couple at the end of the movie.
So The Iron Giant is charming, it’s slightly historical, it has style. But what sets it apart from all the other animated films?
First, it doesn’t do break up the action every ten minutes for a song. I love me some musicals (I was practically raised on Sound of Music), and I love musical cartoons, but somewhere along the way it became accepted that animated = musical, and it just shouldn’t always be. Sometimes it’s a lazy way to stretch the story to 90 minutes, and sometimes it’s done to get parents to bring their kids to the theater. Both of those bother me. If you’re going to do something, you should do it for the right reason, and you should do it well. (I know, it’s terribly anti-capitalist of me.)
Second, The Iron Giant is done artfully. There’s an external reason for the snowfall toward the end, and there’s an external reason the snow stops. Both of those decisions, and countless other decisions, help the story.
More importantly than these, though, The Iron Giant addresses a question that most other animated films wouldn’t dare to. Most stick to the tried and true “boy meets girl” story, or maybe “be true to yourself.” The Iron Giant takes the latter one a step further, and explores the idea that you get to choose the kind of person you are. That’s a tall order for an animated movie, and this animated movie delivered.
The Iron Giant is the kind of animated film that all films should aspire to be. Inspiring, artful, funny and at times tender, this film is the reason Brad Bird (director) has gained such a following. Which leads me to. . .
SIMPSONS SIGHTING!
Executive Consultant for 181 episodes over nine seasons, Director for two (Season 1′s Krusty Gets Busted and Season 3′s Like Father, Like Clown), Brad Bird would go on to direct The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, and the recent smash Ratatouille (…which until I was typing this I thought was called Ratatouiville. I are dum.). His next project is the live-action 1906, based on the novel by James Dalessandro and set to be released in 2009.
