The Iron Giant

A captivating animated feature that's part metal, part magic and all heart.

DVD Features: DVD ROM Features Documentary Music Video Theatrical Trailer A young boy rescues a huge robot which has rocketed to earth from space - and tries to protect the genial giant from a nosey government agent and the military. Something humongous is among us!

Director Brad Bird may have Family Dog and The Simpsons to his credit, but this film doesn't have that brand of scatological humor. --Doug Thomas As with E.T., the iron giant is a misunderstood outsider who becomes a child's best friend, and Hogarth does his best to hide the massive figure from his mom (voiced by Jennifer Aniston) and the local scrap-yard beatnik (Harry Connick Jr.). And like another famous cinema tin man, our hero--and the movie--has heart. This gentle reworking of Ted Hughes's 1968 novella was the unseen gem of 1999. Superb entertainment for ages 5 and up. Soon the suspicions of neighbors and a government agent (Christopher McDonald) spell trouble.

With no songs, no sidekicks, and no cheap ending, The Iron Giant is a refreshing change-- like an off-Broadway production compared to the glitz of Disney's annual animated extravaganzas. And the star is one cool piece of animated magic. Hogarth, a young boy who lives in the Maine woods during the cold war, befriends a giant robot. Voiced by Vin Diesel (Saving Private Ryan's hulking Private Caparzo) and filled with more gadgets than a Swiss army knife, the giant is a grand thing to behold. As with the best family entertainments, there are gags that adults will howl at while the kids are watching something else (see Bird's interpretation of cold war propaganda).