The Iron Giant (Special Edition)
List Price:
Our Price: $2.51
You Save: $3.46 (58%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.08 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Eli Marienthal, Jennifer Aniston, Jr. Harry ConnickBrand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Widescreen, 2.35:1
Running Time: 86 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-11-16
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of The Iron Giant (Special Edition)
Movie Review: A LOST ANIMATED GEM!
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Iron Giant" was Brad Bird's debut animated feature, several years before he created "The Incredibles" (which happens to be the best animated movie I've ever seen). I'd not heard of this movie or the original story, a children's novel by the late and renowned British poet Ted Hughes. Bird, however, is one of the very few animators who can write and tell a story with a genuine human touch.
Set in a wryly named Downeast Maine hamlet called Rockwell,
this is an unusual mix- part boy-and-pet fable, part '50s-style sci-fi/Cold War thriller with some gentle humor added. The main character, a friendly red-haired boy named Hogarth Hughes, is not only raised by a single mom (the waitress at the town diner)
but the kid who finds a mysterious 50-foot robot in the woods...
and helps him become not a man-eating monster, but a "friendly giant". He also keeps the secret from not only the townies, but a glib FBI agent who happens to rent a room in his house.
A well-done mix of old-fashioned hand-drawn designs (with
good '50s decor) and the computer-driven Giant make for a nice transition between the classic Disney-style look and the flashy CGI era. Sequences involving the Giant, who can put himself together in seconds, are just geeky enough- this is a human-scale
movie, not a high-tech extravaganza. The character mix is also interesting and not typical '50s white-bread, especially the laid-back, beatnik-style scrap yard owner, Dean McCubbin (voiced by Harry Connick Jr.)
Connick is the biggest name among the voice cast, which includes a down-to-earth Jennifer Aniston as Hogarth's waitress mom, a caffeinated Christopher McDonald as the true-believer FBI man Mansley, and even the salty M. Emmet Walsh as the old salt who stumbles upon the seaborne Giant. But the best voice work belongs to an impressive child actor from San Francisco, Eli Marienthal, who gives Hogarth his warm, empathetic quality and personality that's rare in a cartoon kid (or a live-action one).
Don't forget Vin Diesel's perfect mechanical grunts as Hogarth teaches the Giant to talk!
Even the music and sound effects are subtle, rather than splashy. Michael Kamen's moody, symphonic score is unusual- and classy- for animation, and a few well-chosen rock n'roll oldies (notably "Searchin'" by the Coasters) are added, yet neither overwhelms. This is a story, not a "Shrek"-style pastiche, and it shows.
"The Iron Giant" isn't just a sci-fi tribute, but a thoughtful fable with a central theme of friendship and self-
guidance. Its surprising, and touching, finale, like the entire movie, is life-affirming without ever getting gooey or preachy.
I can see why this movie slipped through the cracks on release. Studio politics is one thing, but the nature of "The Iron Giant"- not quite fantasy, not quite high-tech- is hard to peg. What it is, though, is one of the nicest family-friendly movies I've seen in a while. I saw the older DVD version, but if the great success of "The Incredibles" gets others, like me, to check out Bird's other work, they'll discover a story that's not easy to pull off, animated or live. "The Iron Giant" deserves its
reputation as a lost animated gem!
UPDATE: I recently checked this movie out for the first time in a year and, once again, think it's terrific. One of the few American animated movies with real depth and meaning- and a crackling good tribute to, not to mention send-up of, Cold War/
sci-fi thrillers. Some surprise gags, too, like the sequence where Hogarth and agent Mansley share ice cream- and Hogarth puts Ex-Lax on the agent's sundae! What a wicked bit of humor there. The extras are great, too: when you watch the "Behind the Armor" version, little interviews pop up that really enhance, not detract from, the story line. Those with the late Michael Kamen, who wrote and conducted the score (in the Czech Republic, oddly enough) are especially interesting. The most unusual fact about "Iron Giant" is that the Ted Hughes story was originally optioned by Pete Townshend to develop into a "Tommy"-style rock opera, but Townshend's friend, director Des McAnuff, insisted it would work better as an animated feature and brought it to an ambitious young "Simpsons" associate named Brad Bird. If Brad had never made "The Incredibles", he'd be remembered as one of the all-time great animation talents for "Iron Giant" alone. Again, I can't recommend this marvelous movie enough.
Summary of The Iron Giant (Special Edition)
Features include:
?MPAA Rating: PG
?Format: DVD
?Runtime: 86 minutes
Similar DVD Movies
The Iron Giant RARE {ROBOT} Promo Figure 4.25 Inches Warner Bros 1999 {LOOSE} RAREWARNER BROS; Toy
Best price: $15.00
FernGully: The Last Rainforest (Family Fun Edition)Fox; Release date: 2005-10-18; DVD
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
Tarzan (Special Edition)Disney; Release date: 2005-10-18; DVD
Best price: $9.77
Price in other shops:
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven SeasParamount; Release date: 2010-05-18; DVD
Best price: $4.80
Price in other shops:
The Road to El DoradoDreamworks; Release date: 2000-12-12; DVD
Best price: $4.89
Price in other shops:
Astro BoySummit; Release date: 2010-03-16; DVD
Best price: $5.72
Price in other shops:
Robots (Widescreen Edition)Fox Home Entertainment; Release date: 2005-09-27; DVD
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
Quest for CamelotWarner Brothers; Release date: 1998-10-20; DVD
Best price: $2.68
Price in other shops:
Titan A.E.FOX Home Entertainment; Release date: 2000-11-07; DVD
Best price: $4.59
Price in other shops:
The Iron Giantby Ted Hughes
Yearling; Published: 1999-07-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.30
Price in other shops: