The Iron Giant - 1999 - Brad Bird

Director Brad Bird's first feature film is an homage to both sci-fi films of the nineteen fifties and to the classic Disney animated films from the pre-Pixar years. The plot is simple enough, a giant robot(Vin Diesel) crash lands off the coast of Maine and, having lost his memory, begins to wonder the forest outside of the town of Rockwell. As the giant roams around eating whatever metal he can find, he eats the television antenna at the house of the Hogarth Hughes(Eli Marienthal). Hogarth go to find out what happened and ends up saving the giant and the friendship begins. Reports of an unexplained power outage leads to the government sending in our requisite villain, agent Kent Mansley(Christpher McDonald) who is out to destroy the giant. Along the way we meet the junk artest Dean( Harry Connick Jr) who helps Hogarth and the giant. Conflict occurs and we get our heartwarming ending.

Exposition is left out so we do not get the story of what happened to Hogarth's dad and it is not needed. It is the little touches Bird includes in the film that really make it stand out. From the War of the Worlds inspired design of the robot to the Forbidden Planet poster on Hogarth's wall Bird goes to great lengths to create an atmosphere that fells like the post Sputnik cold war. At one point early on we have a scene of the children watching a filmstrip about the old duck and cover method of trying to survive an atomic blast.

The animation is well done in a traditional way and, even though Bird has gone on to work with Pixar, it is nice to know that some directors in the United States still have the skills to work with two dimensional animation.
8/10