After flaming out spectacularly in its previous few attempts at feature animation (Cats Don't Dance, Quest for Camelot, The King and I), Warner Bros. figured out how to guarantee a decent story: they re-made E.T. as a cartoon. Okay, technically The Iron Giant is an adaptation of the children's book by Ted Hughes, in which a lonely 9-year-old circa 1957 befriends a 50-foot-tall amnesiac robot he finds in the woods near his home. Venturing--only semi-effectively--into Cold War-era allegory about fear of the unfamiliar, as well as featuring surprisingly strong anti-gun messages, the film is far stronger in its core narrative as a classic "boy and his dog" story--E.T. seasoned with a generous helping of the late '60s TV series Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot. Director Brad Bird, a veteran of The Simpsons and King of the Hill, gives the film a slightly subversive sense of humor, and while The Iron Giant may not dazzle technically like some recent Disney features, the toned-down style may actually work to its advantage, allowing the story's simple charm to come through. Recommended. (S. Renshaw)[DVD Review--September 21, 2004--Warner, 86 min., PG, $19.98--Making its second appearance on DVD, The Iron Giant: Special Edition boasts a solid transfer, and a slew of extras, including an audio commentary (by director Brad Bird, story department head Jeffrey Lynch, storyboard artist Steve Markowski, and animation department head Tony Fucile), “Behind the Armor” links branching to 13 production segments, eight additional scenes (19 min.)--including the original opening sequence--with intros by Bird, the six-minute featurette “Teddy Newton: The X-Factor” on storyboard artist Newton, the two-minute “Duck and Cover Sequence,” a two-minute featurette on “The Voice of the Giant,” a four-minute “Motion Gallery” montage featurette, brief cast/crew bios, Easter eggs, DVD-ROM features, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a fine family film.][Blu-ray Review—Sept. 20, 2016—Warner, 90 min., PG, $14.99—Making its debut on Blu-ray, 1999's The Iron Giant sports a fine transfer with DTS-HD 5.1 sound. Extras new to this release include “The Giant's Dream” retrospective (56 min.), and the production featurettes “The Salt Mines” (8 min.) and “Hand Drawn” with director Brad Bird (2 min.). Extras carried over from previous releases include audio commentary (by Bird, story department head Jeffrey Lynch, storyboard artist Steve Markowski, and animation department head Tony Fucile), a “making-of” featurette (22 min.), deleted scenes (15 min.), production segments on “Behind the Armor” (18 min.), “The Voices” (8 min.), “Teddy Newton: The X Factor” (5 min.), and “The Score” (5 min.), a motion gallery (5 min.), a “Duck and Cover Sequence” (2 min.), Easter eggs (2 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a much-loved animated family film makes a welcome debut on Blu-ray.]
The Iron Giant
(Warner, 86 min., PG, VHS: $22.95, DVD: $24.98, Nov. 23) Vol. 14, Issue 6
The Iron Giant
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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