DVD Review HTF REVIEW: The Iron Giant - Special Edition (1 Viewer)

[Matt Czyz]

Mike,

Be sure to let us know what you thought after watching it. It's my favorite animted film, and I couldn't ask for a better presentation of the movie than what's on this new disc.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Keep in mind that its not great in a Kubrick-blew-my-mind manner, but rather in a "I can't believe how much I'm enjoying this" manner. Its rather hard to put a finger on what sets it apart, maybe just that all aspects are well-done and work together. It looks great, good acting, nice writing, fun story.

I wouldn't go into it looking for Spirited Away, Toy Story, or Pinocchio, yet it has its own charms that do allow it to be on such a list.


As for the SE, I think I might hold off, maybe Netflix it if they get it.

 

[TheLongshot]

Partially WB dropping the ball, and partially because it was released in an ungodly crowded day. (When "The Sixth Sense" stomped everything.) Tarzan was released earlier in the summer, and didn't really affect "The Iron Giant".

Jason

 

[LorenzoL]

I have never seen Iron Giant but after watching the Incredibles in the theatre, I'm curious to check it out.

My sister has been raving about this movie since it came in video.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

I'm not saying that Warner Brothers didn't know how to market their best films in the late 90s, I'm just saying "Iron Giant", "LA Confidential", "Three Kings", "Heat" ...

Regards,

 

[Craig S]

In addition to The Sixth Sense, that was the day that The Blair Witch Project went wide. I saw all three of these that afternoon. Quite a memorable day of film viewing!

 

[Brenda M]

Bought it today because I needed a spirit boost after too many dark, dreary, rainy days. It is so much better than I remembered. I was laughing so hard after the swiming hole bit I, almost, couldn't breath.

It is strange that the title of the film isn't on the disk itself, just a glimpse of the giant going toward earth.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Well, I watched The Iron Giant last night with my wife. 14-year-old son opted out. He said he had seen it before and seems to be in a phase when animated flix just aren't his thing.

I enjoyed it very much. I thought the story/screenplay was excellent.

We both thought that while the main characters were very likeable, the plot was fairly predictable. The little touches which focused on the interplay between the giant and the boy were awesome. My wife was taken by how they could show emotion through the giant's eyes.

A big for the ending. Even though you were prepared for the giant's demise, it was fun to know he lived. Very "feel-good".


The nuclear bomb stuff seemed odd and unnecesary and supremely unrealistic for a children's film. I know it always seems odd to talk about unrealistic things in a cartoon, but I always think that when you cannot suspend any belief for a plot device it really takes you out of the film. When the bad guy orders the Nautilus to fire the nuclear missile at the giant---threatening the good guys with all-but-certain death...everyone seems quite calm and resigned to their fate.


Those are just some of my knee jerk reactions. Overall, I enjoyed myself for the hour-and-a-half or so. I think I'll visit some of the special features soon. IIRC, there are some deleted scenes. I'll be interested in seeing them.

To be honest, a day or so ago I watched The Little Mermaid--a film I hadn't watched in awhile. There were just several moments where I was stunned by the animator's ability to evoke emotion. And the interplay of voice work, song, animation and story were amazing. I don't think of myself as a Disney elitist or anything, I just haven't found any other animated effort which can measure up to Disney standards.

**Post edited to correct a typo.

 

[Ernest Rister]

"I don't think of myself as a Disney elitist or anything, I just haven't found any other animated effort which can measure up to Disney standards."

The character animation in The Iron Giant is superb. In terms of acting, it is as good as anything Disney did in the 90's, even though Huncback and Tarzan were on a whole other level in terms of production values.

 

[TheLongshot]

I don't really think so, since it fits in with the some of the fear and and times. Nto to mention that the original story was a cold war alegory.

Course, one thing Brad Bird talks about in interviews, is the stuff that "should" be in a children's film. Disney certainly had a lot of dark stuff in his movies.

Jason

 

[Ernest Rister]

The Iron Giant is not a children's film.

Children's films are film made for children.

Dora Goes on a Picnic is a children's film
Wiggles Get Wiggly is a children's film.
Care Bears in Wonderland is a children's film.
Thomas the Magic Train Engine is a children's film.

The Iron Giant is no more a "children's film" than E.T. the Extra Terrestrial or The Music Man or Oliver. These are "family films", meaning anyone from age 8 to 800 can enjoy them.

 

[Richard Kim]

This goes hand in hand with The Incredibles, in which Elasitgirl explains to her kids that the bad guys in real life aren't like the ones on TV and will kill them without hesitation.

 

[Steve Schaffer]

1-as said before this wasn't really a children's film.

2-the bomb stuff was very realistic when taken in the context of the period the film was placed in--the mid to late 1950s. The American culture at that time was very much influenced by the cold war. The vast majority of Americans at that time were very much cognizant of the fact that a nuclear holocaust could very possibly occur at any time with about 15 minute's notice.

Schools had regular nuclear attack drills, every town had a system of Civil Defense sirens, depictions of the probably effects of nuclear attack were on primetime television on a regular basis.

It is difficult for those who did not live through the nuclear paranoia that was very real in the 50s and 60s to find accurate depictions of it in films like Iron Giant and even Blast from the Past to be believable. Those truly were insane times. All out nuclear warfare is pretty much unthinkable now, but at that time seemed not only very possible but perhaps even inevitable.

 

[Mike Frezon]

And I'm old enough to remember doing civil defense drills in school as a kid. All I'm saying...apparently not too well...is I thought the nuclear references (pertaining to the Nautilus and its missile) were unrealistic. Now what seems dumb to me about saying that is....its a cartoon. Cartoons are, for the most part, unrealistic. After all, how many times can Wile E. Coyote be crushed by huge pieces of rock?

I erred when I called The Iron Giant a "children's film", but I still think a police force/military unit could have been enough to deal with the Giant rather than to invoke, suddenly, a "real life" reference such as the Nautilus and its nuclear capabilities. I found the mere mention of it jarring in this fictional tale. And then to have the "button" pushed merely as the result of an anonymous voice over a two-way radio bugged me. (I understand what the story-teller was probably trying to say about the ease of starting a nuclear event. I just feel it was all rather unnecessary in telling the tale of the giant and the boy. At least to me.) And, as I said earlier, everyone seemed very resigned to their impending doom. The illogical (to me) sequences in that one scene seemed to build one on top of another. That's all.

I'm glad the film is now in my collction.

 

[Richard Kim]

It was established in the film that conventional weapons were useless against the Giant, and a nuclear strike was the only option left for the military to destroy him.

 

[TonyD]

this wasnt a tale about a boy and his giant, it seems at least to me, it goes much deeper then that.
it's a message film much like the films from the 50's and 60's that had giant bugs coming out of the hills and such.

this story was about more then nuclear weapons though.
i dont want to talk specifically due to forum rules.
but it really isnt very subtle when you see it in the movie.

btw there was apparently a sequal to the book called the iron woman.
http://www.hitchams.suffolk.sch.uk/s...ork/ironwoman/

 

[TheLongshot]

Well, I think most people knew that there wasn't much they could do. Also, I think shock also comes into play.

It all fits into the feel of the film from the beginning. An overly xenophobic enviroment where the threat of attack is in the back of people's mind, then becomes more of a reality when an unknown threat appears, and the military can't handle it by conventional means.

In a lot of ways, it is a throwback to 50s sci-fi films where a threat may only be defeated by extreme means. It also involved those being in charge not understanding the nature of the threat, and reacting in a knee-jerk reaction.

Jason

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

duplicate post - please delete

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

The "nuclear bomb stuff", including the somewhat fatalistic attitudes of people powerless to stop it definitely reflects the tenor of the time the film is set, but there's no doubt that the filmmakers, shall we say, "took some liberties" with nuclear launch protocols.

I hope 50 years from now, my adult grandkids will watch a film about the 00's and think that the "terrorist stuff" seems exaggerated and inappropriate.

Regards,

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Has anyone determined if the transfer of the new version is superior to that of the previous DVD? I own the DVD and am not so worried about special features...but would be convinced to double dip if the image is improved (the old version already looks great though...so please don't hamper a guess...I want to know if the new version really does look better)...


Agreed. Have that soundtrack album. "Be Friendly/a friend is a freind" is my personal favorite track...

-dave