The Iron Giant ****½ (1999, voices of Eli Marienthal, Harry Connick Jr, Jennifer Aniston, Vin Diesel, Harry Connick Jr, James Gammon, Cloris Leachman, John Mahoney) – Classic Movie Review 2647

Writer-director Brad Bird’s outstanding, brilliantly imaginative, dark-toned 1999 animated feature is based on The Iron Man children’s story by British poet Ted Hughes.

It starts when a nine-year-old boy, Hogarth Hughes (voiced by Eli Marienthal), who lives with his mom Annie (Jennifer Aniston), finds a huge metal robot, The Iron Giant (Vin Diesel), in a forest near his small-town home in Maine in 1957. Saving the creature from electrocution, the boy and iron giant become pals.

However, their friendship is threatened when an FBI agent learns about the creature. Christopher McDonald voices a paranoid U.S. Government agent named Kent Mansley who arrives in town, and becomes hell bent on destroying the iron giant.

But, though it seems to be programmed to be an instrument of destruction, the innocent alien giant robot from outer space saves the townsfolk from their fears. Hogarth protects him by keeping him in the junkyard at Dean McCoppin (Harry Connick Jr)’s place.

Superb animation, rousing storytelling, a sweet message and an excellent voice cast combine to give this near all-time great classic status. Older children and adults will admire this particularly thoughtful, intelligent cartoon, though its air of menace makes it unsuitable for small children.

It also features the star cast voices of James Gammon, Cloris Leachman, M Emmet Walsh and John Mahoney. The screen story is credited to Brad Bird, with the screenplay to Tim McCanlies. Brad Bird is the double Oscar-winning maker of The Incredibles (2004), Ratatouille (2007) and Tomorrowland (2015).

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2647

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