Review of The Iron Giant (1999) by Nateed — 13 Aug 2021

The Iron Giant is one of the best animated films ever and holds up to this day. The storytelling in this movie is phenomenal with it tugging on your heart and knowing how to make small details feel powerful.

Brad Bird and Tim McCanlies made an almost perfect script. Yes, there are few lines that don’t hit and seem out of place, but the amount is very small compared to a lot of other films. It is such a simple story that anyone can connect with, yet the filmmakers take the film to such heights that there are a lot of deep emotions planted into it.

The voice cast also does a very good job in the film with each person in the cast making the character their own. Eli Marienthal never gets annoying or feels like he needs to get everything his way like some other kids in animated films.

Yes, Hogarth has wants, but he never comes off as whiny or annoying. Harry Connick Jr. also does a great job. At some points you can tell that it is Harry Connick Jr. voicing Dean, but his voice fits the character and the design of Dean so well that it doesn’t really affect the viewing experience.

James Gammon also really makes his character come alive which is accompanied by a great character design and fun animation. Speaking of the animation, it was quite good. I found all the character designs to be very nice with a lot of fun gags that were enjoyable to watch.

There are some iffy shots mainly with The Iron Giant as sometimes he looks flat and not three dimensional. Plus, there are some blurry shots and some color issues. The only reason I point this out is that this film had a bigger budget than a lot of the other animated films that were released during its time which shows that it wasn’t the best quality.

While I am nitpicking, I do want to say that some scenes felt a tiny bit empty. I think the sound design and score were slightly off. The score from Michael Kamen falls a bit flat sometimes and doesn’t quite capture the excitement and thrill of what is on screen.

The sound design is also off in some scenes with certain sounds not sounding like what it should be which sometimes led to it drowning out the dialogue. Even with those nitpicks, the film can still stand greatly above a lot of other animated films.

The script is so well-done and really makes a simple story have deep meanings that will surely leave an impact after the viewing is over. With some great character designs and a stellar voice cast to bring the script alive, The Iron Giant really is a piece of art that needs to be witnessed by everyone.

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