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The Iron Giant
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Iron Giant | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for The Iron Giant |
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| Directed by | Brad Bird |
| Produced by | Allison Abbate Pete Townshend Des McAnuff |
| Written by | Tim McCanlies Brad Bird Ted Hughes (book) |
| Starring | Jennifer Aniston Harry Connick, Jr. Vin Diesel |
| Music by | Michael Kamen |
| Cinematography | Steven Wilzbach |
| Editing by | Darren T. Holmes |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Running time | 86 minutes |
| Language | English, German |
| Budget | $48,000,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
The Iron Giant is a 1999 animated comedy science fiction film, directed by Brad Bird, produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation, and released by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Script (written by Tim McCanlies), and for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. It is loosely based on a 1968 children's book by Ted Hughes, The Iron Man.
A young boy named Hogarth Hughes discovers an amnesiac "iron man" that fell from space, and saves him from electrocution. Grateful, the childlike Giant becomes friends with him. Hogarth, with the help of a beatnik named Dean, has to stop a military force led by a general and an egotistical federal agent from finding and destroying the Giant out of paranoia. There are many references to the Cold War, the McCarthy era, cautionary instructional films such as Duck and Cover, and science fiction films and TV of the age.
The characters are voiced by a cast that included Harry Connick, Jr., Jennifer Aniston, John Mahoney, and a then-relatively unknown Vin Diesel.
Tagline: It came from outer space!
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The plot summary in this article or section is too long compared to the rest of the article. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. |
The film is set during the Cold War in October 1957, where a giant metal robot (the Iron Giant) crash-lands just off the coast of Rockwell, Maine. A large dent is on his head when he lands.
Later that night, Hogarth Hughes (Eli Marienthal) is watching a cheesy science fiction film when the reception fails. Going outside, he finds the TV antenna chewed up on the ground and a trail of destruction leading off into the woods. Hogarth gathers a battered pilot's helmet and BB gun and then follows the path, arriving at the electric power substation. The Iron Giant is there, trying to feed upon the metal. In doing so, he tangles himself in the power lines, electrifying itself. Hogarth saves him by shutting off the power. By the time his single mother, Annie Hughes (Jennifer Aniston) comes looking for him, the Giant has retreated into the woods.
The next day, Kent Mansley (Christopher McDonald), a pompous and self-centered U.S. Government agent, arrives at the substation as part of his investigation into reports of a strange object that landed off the Maine coast. (With the recent launch of the satellite Sputnik 1 by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957, a shocked America became even more paranoid of the Iron Curtain nations.) After finding Hogarth's smashed BB gun with part of his name ("Hog... Hug...") on the remains of the gun stock, Mansley prepares to leave and drop the whole investigation, only to find that his car has been bitten in half. When he tries to find a witness to verify what has happened, the Giant takes the entire car.
Meanwhile, Hogarth goes into the woods with a camera to find the Giant again. When the two meet, the Giant tries to follow him home, not understanding or heeding Hogarth's pleas to remain behind. The Giant accidentally destroys some train tracks along the way, and in his attempt to repair them is hit by the train, which smashes him into several pieces. The Giant is able to repair himself, and while he does so Hogarth lets the Giant hide it in his barn. There he shows it comic books depicting Superman as an alien visitor who becomes a hero.
At the same time, the engineers of the wrecked train (caricatures of, and voiced by, veteran Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston) tell Mansley that the train ran into "a giant metal man" and point to Hogarth's house as a likely place to find a telephone. Mansley is unable to convince his superior, General Rogard (John Mahoney), of the danger, and Rogard angrily tells him to get more evidence. As he leaves, Mansley realizes that the BB gun he found belongs to Hogarth. Mansley rents out a room in the Hughes house so he can keep an eye on Hogarth.
In order to conceal and feed the Giant, Hogarth relocates it to a nearby scrap yard. The yard's proprietor, a beatnik metal artist named Dean McCoppin (Harry Connick, Jr.), reluctantly agrees to let it stay the night. As Horgarth plays with the Giant, they find a deer in the woods. When it is shot by hunters, Hogarth explains to the Giant about death and how guns kill, but he also states that it isn't bad to die and that souls never die. The Giant's eyes narrow and glow red at the gun, but he is shaken out of it by Hogarth.
Meanwhile, Mansley finds Hogarth's camera (which he had dropped in the woods) and finds a picture of the Giant. With it, he is able to call in the Army, led by General Rogard. Dean and Hogarth disguise the Giant as a massive iron statue to throw them off, even offering to sell him to the Army. Rogard is not amused, and severely punishes Mansley for wasting his time and government money for nothing. As the Army leaves, Hogarth inadvertently triggers the Giant's defenses by brandishing a toy gun, which the Giant unconsciously responds to by attempting to vaporize him. Dean rescues him and chases off the Giant, only realizing after the fact that the Giant didn't do it intentionally. He then assists Hogarth in giving chase.
As the Giant leaves town, he's spotted by a pair of brothers with binoculars. The balcony they're on gives way, and they end up dangling high above town. The Giant rescues the boys, but Mansley, alerted by Dean and Hogarth heading toward town, spots the Giant and points the Army at it. Unaware of what it just did, they open fire. The Giant flees with Hogarth, deliberately not returning fire. In escaping, the Giant discovers that it has rockets built into its feet for flight. Dean tells Mansley the Giant has Hogarth with him and to hold fire, but Mansley, eager to be proven right, tells Rogard that the Giant has killed Hogarth, which just escalates the situation. The Giant is eventually shot down by a group of F-86 Sabres. Hogarth, in the Giant's hands at the time, is knocked unconscious. Knowing no better, the Giant assumes that his best friend is dead, grief-stricken at the turn of events.
With his friend dead, there is nothing to restrain the Giant. As such, the military's next attack enrages it. The dent in his head is repaired and his body transforms into a heavily armored battle machine. With his far superior weapons, the military quickly discovers that they're ill-prepared to fight the Giant. The military tries to divert the Giant away from Rockwell with some battleships in the harbor, which fire their cannons unsuccessfully at the armored behemoth. Mansley suggests using a nuclear missile to destroy it, which the USS Nautilus is equipped to fire. (This is a use of artistic license, as the Nautilus was not armed with missiles, nuclear or conventional. A Regulus missile submarine would have been more appropriate but less recognizable.) Rogard consents after the Giant fires a massive energy weapon at one of the battleships, which it misses.
By this point, Hogarth has regained consciousness, and he is able to calm the Giant, which reverts to its regular form upon recognizing Hogarth. Seeing the Giant stand down and Hogarth still alive, Rogard takes to heart Dean's earlier warning and calls a cease fire, but Mansley seizes Rogard's radio transceiver and orders the Nautilus to launch, neglecting the fact that the Giant is now in town, not in the ocean as they had planned. When Rogard points this out to him, Mansley suggests "Duck and Cover" to survive. Rogard tells him that there's no way to survive a nuclear blast, and Mansley is going to die with everyone else like "a good soldier". Mansley panics and tries to escape in a Jeep, but the Giant blocks his escape.
Hogarth explains to the Giant that when the missile returns to earth, everyone in the town will die. The Giant, reminded of the deer it saw killed by hunters, decides it must not allow this to happen. Turning to Hogarth, it declares, as Hogarth told it when they met for the second time, "You... stay. I... go. No following." With that, it takes flight to intercept the missile. As it nears its target, it recalls Hogarth's words: "You are who you choose to be." Closing its eyes, the Giant utters the word "Superman" before colliding with the missile. The detonation can be clearly seen by everyone on the ground. Hogarth takes refuge with his mother and Dean, who can offer him no consolation.
A few months later, in the spring of 1958, Dean and Annie have started dating, and Dean has sculpted a metal statue of the Giant that is placed as a monument in the town park. Hogarth is sent a single screw by Rogard, the only piece of the Giant recovered from the explosion. In bed that night, Hogarth hears a tapping noise at the window; the screw is attempting to leave, presumably in order to reunite itself with the rest of the Giant. Smiling and realizing what the piece's activity means, Hogarth opens the window and lets it roll away.
The movie ends with the Giant's body parts traveling to the Langjökull glacier in Iceland, summoned there by its self-repair mechanism. In the final shot, the Giant's eyes light up as it smiles.
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Vin Diesel | The Iron Giant |
| Eli Marienthal | Hogarth Hughes |
| Harry Connick, Jr. | Dean McCoppin |
| Jennifer Aniston | Annie Hughes |
| Christopher McDonald | Kent Mansley |
| John Mahoney | General Rogard |
| James Gammon | Marv Loach Floyd Turbeaux |
| M. Emmet Walsh | Earl Stutz |
According to Rotten Tomatoes, the critics' reviews were 97% positive, with praise from many major film critics. Despite critical acclaim, it did poorly at the box office, as it was both overshadowed and overlapped by the release of Disney's Tarzan, grossing only $23 million in the U.S.. The total worldwide gross was only $80 million, although that amount covered the film's estimated budget of $48,000,000.[1] It has since gained a cult following through VHS and DVD sales, and 24 hour marathons on Cartoon Network.
Ed Hooks' book Acting for Animators (ISBN 0-325-00580-X) takes the Iron Giant as a classic example for a case study of 'acting in animation' and storytelling.
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- In 1989, Pete Townshend of The Who released a concept album based on the book The Iron Man titled The Iron Man: A Musical. Townshend and stage director Des McAnuff developed a stage version that had a successful run at The Old Vic Theatre in London in 1993. They originally wanted to produce a film version of the stage production, but McAnuff and Warner Bros. agreed it would work better as a non-musical animated feature. Although this film is very different than Townshend's concept, he is still credited as an executive producer.
- This is the only film where the Warner Bros. Feature Animation logo is shown.
- The Iron Giant appears briefly in a Flying Legions hangar during the 2004 science fiction film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.[1]
- The weapons used by the robot to attack the military forces were based on designs from The War of the Worlds (1953).
- The basic design of the Iron Giant is an allusion to the classic robot "Rico".
- Blast Off - The Tyrones
- Rockin' in Orbit - Jimmie Haskell
- Kookies Mad Pad - Edd "Kookie" Byrnes
- Salt and Peanuts - The Nutty Squirrels
- Comin' Home Baby - Mel Tormé
- Cha-Hua-Hua - Eddie Platt
- Let's Do the Cha-Cha - The Magnificents
- Blues Walk - Lou Donaldson
- I Got a Rocket in My Pocket - Jimmy Lloyd
- Searchin' - The Coasters
- Honeycomb - Jimmie Rodgers
- Destination Moon - The Ames Brothers
- You Can Be... - Michael Kamen
- ...Who You Choose to Be - Michael Kamen
Categories: Wikipedia articles with plot summary needing attention from September 2007 | Articles with trivia sections from May 2007 | 1999 films | Alien visitation films | American animated films | Annie Award winners | Children's fantasy films | Films based on children's books | Films based on science fiction books | Robot films | Warner Bros. Animation films