REVIEWS

"THE IRON GIANT"

"The Iron Giant" is the latest entry of non-Disney animated movies trying to steal some Disney thunder. This one is by Warner Bros., whose prior animated film, "The Quest for Camelot," was something I avoided because it looked like it was gonna suck (and I heard that I was correct in that assumption). "The Iron Giant" was something I wanted to see because, for months, the geek sites have been saying how good the movie is. Anyone who read my review for "Tarzan" knows that even though I liked the movie, Disney's formula is getting kinda stale. "The Iron Giant" is the perfect example of the direction that Disney's animation department should go.

One of the best things about "The Iron Giant" is that there's no music. WELL IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME!!!! What law says that every animated film needs to be a musical? Let it be said that it worked in "South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut" because it was done as a joke. Anyway, I understand that some animated films go well with music. I mean, the music in Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" was perfect, as it was in "The Little Mermaid," "The Lion King," and many others. But every single freakin' one? Uh-uh.

The casting of the voices was pretty cool. I like Jennifer Aniston as the boy's mom. As for the boy himself, he was voiced by Eli Marienthal, and it's quite a switch from playing the perverted younger brother of the even more perverted "Stifler" in "American Pie." My favorite character in the movie was "Dean," a beatnik daddy-o who's into jazz music. The voice selection was perfect there: Harry Connick, Jr. The title character was voiced by Vin Diesel ("Private Adrian Caparzo" in "Saving Private Ryan"), but since the voice was altered, ANYONE coulda done it.

The director and co-writer of "The Iron Giant" was Brad Bird (he directed episodes of "The Simpsons" and "Amazing Stories"). The other writer was Tim McCanlies, whose prior work is all unfamiliar to me. The script is based on a book called "The Iron Man" by Ted Hughes (who sadly died of cancer in 1998). It's interesting to note that the name of the boy in the movie is "Hogarth Hughes," so he shares the last name of the man who created him.

"The Iron Giant" isn't the best animated film I've ever seen, but it's very entertaining. There are several moments that are "laugh out loud" funny, and as I mentioned before, it's not a musical... so there are no annoying musical numbers. The third act of "The Iron Giant" is pure brilliance. You sit there watching it, captivated by the whole thing, totally immersed in what's going on. It takes a little while for "The Iron Giant" to get going, but once this movie kicks into high gear, you get really involved.

This is a movie that kids will love, and so will the parents. There are a couple of times where it seems like the jokes are purely for the parents, but that doesn't mean that you're gonna hear a few shit jokes in the movie. I just mean that it's too highbrow for the kiddies. "The Iron Giant" starts slow, but when it picks up, you're hooked. I hope that the bigwigs at Disney decide to take a few lessons from "The Iron Giant."

Scale of 1-10: 8