1999 was a big year for movies. It was the year that The Matrix‘s slow-motion bullet influenced action movies for years to come. It was the year American Beauty won Best Picture at the Academy Awards and Oscar fans have been arguing about it ever since. It was the year Pokémon jumped from Gameboys and TV to the big screen. And worst of all, it was the year that disappointed a generation of Star Wars fans with the release of The Phantom Menace.
To celebrate that landmark year in film’s 20th Anniversary, The Pop Break continues its year-long retrospective of 1999’s most influential (at least to us) films with staff writer, Tom Moore, on the absolutely beloved animated classic, The Iron Giant.
Sometimes the most interesting films aren’t the ones that smash box-office records, sweep during awards seasons, or even the most critically acclaimed. Sometimes, they the ones that you don’t fully appreciate until later in life. The kinds of films that you saw when you were younger and sparked inspiration in you and that inspires you more and more as an adult.
These kinds of films are truly special, and, for me, one film will always hold a very special place in my heart – The Iron Giant. Yes, that film about a young boy named Hogarth and his gigantic 50 foot robot from the sky. It was not only a film that I repeatedly watched every time I saw it on Cartoon Network, but growing it was one of my favorite films. As I grew up it was pretty rare to find animated movies that were pretty much universally liked outside of films made by Disney, so The Iron Giant actually stood out more.
As a kid, what always glued me back to my TV to the see the film was the friendship between Hogarth and The Iron Giant. Hogarth was the kind of kid that I both saw myself in and kind of wanted to be. He always meant well, but had this tough wit to him that I always laughed at and appreciated about him. Not to mention, we both shared a love for sci-fi horror, and I can remember plenty of times trying to watch the kind of films we see him watching when my parents weren’t home.
Even his rivalry with Special Agent Kent Mansley always made me laugh at how heavy-handed things would become. From Hogarth sprinkling chocolate laxatives into Kent’s milkshake to him just yelling “I’m going out” after Kent keeping bothering him about what he’s up to — the film knew the direct line to my funny bone. Hogarth was always someone I feel like I could relate to because he always seemed like a real kid.
The best part, though, was always the Giant. His more docile and innocent nature, that stemmed from Vin Diesel’s incredible vocal performance, was always something that made me laugh yet also feel sad. Being more of a gentle giant made him more of a character that I wasn’t afraid of seeing, but someone that I saw as a hero because that’s what he was. His friendship with Hogarth was always a blast to see on-screen and especially in scenes like him flooding the forest to do a cannonball into the lake or spinning Hogarth around in a car to make him feel like he’s flying. However, he’s also a character I felt bad for particularly when he didn’t understand what was happening when his defensive weapons hurt those around him. Not to mention, the ending of the Giant sacrificing himself to save everyone and even the message of “you are who you choose to be” from Dean and Hogarth are things that really hit me as kid and still make their impact today.
Now as an adult, though, there’s something about the film that drives me to love it even more and even new messages, jokes, and ideas within the story that makes re-watching it so fulfilling. In particular, I find it funny that I was unaware that it was the directorial debut of Brad Bird. Whenever Bird comes up in conversation, many people generally associate the writer/director with his work at Pixar and more importantly his creation of The Incredibles. The Incredibles has always been both one of my favorite Pixar films and superhero movies so it was crazy for me to realize that The Iron Giant was actually where it all began for him – especially when you look into the development of this film.
The film was actually meant to be a straightforward adaptation of a book written by Ted Hughes in 1968 titled The Iron Man. (No, it’s not based on the Marvel hero). The film was intended to delve into the book’s themes of dealing with grief, and there’s actually a lot there that resembles the film we all know. There even was a point where the film was almost based on a musical created by Peter Townsend of The Who and there was even an early version of film pitched to legendary animator Don Bluth. However, Bird ultimately was given the responsibility to taking on the project and with an unusual amount of creative control, he actually created a version that was similar to Hughes’ novel and put his own spin on the animation.
One of the things that has always struck me about The Iron Giant is how unique the animation is for the environment, characters, and the Giant, and the 1950’s atmosphere. When I re-watched the film, it actually hit me how pivotal and still kind of relevant the Cold War atmosphere is to the tone of the film. Bird choosing this setting actually inspired him to create characters, like the beatnik artist Dean and paranoid government agent Kent Mansley, who weren’t in the original novel. It’s one of Bird’s strongest additions to the film and in an interview with Animation World Network for the film’s 10th anniversary he actually talked about how the 1950’s played a huge role in creating new characters and setting a tone for the film.
“The Maine setting looks Norman Rockwell idyllic on the outside, but inside everything is just about to boil over; everyone was scared of the bomb, the Russians, Sputnick — even rock ‘n’ roll,” said Bird in the interview. “This clenched Ward Cleaver smile masking fear (which is really what the Kent character was all about). It was the perfect environment to drop a 50- foot-tall robot into.”
This sense of paranoia is actually a strong part of Kent’s character and there’s actually a lot of talk about people’s feelings towards the Cold War. There’s plenty of newspaper headlines that are shown and conversations from residents of Rockwell that embody the sense of fear and paranoia that was felt from that era. There’s a great scene where Kent lays into Hogarth about his fears of the Giant and the unknown. He says something along the lines of that if they didn’t build the giant then that’s reason enough to destroy it. It’s the kind of fear that era was known for and when you think our issues with Russia and nuclear war today, the film still has some relevancy that can’t be ignored.
It was definitely an interesting environment for Bird to stick him as Bird’s story allowed for certain themes and tones of Hughes’ novel to bleed through. When Bird read Hughes’ novel, which he wrote to help his children grieve over their mother’s death, he actually came up with a singular concept that producers at Warner Bros loved. Bird came up with the idea – “What if a gun had a soul, and didn’t want to be a gun?” This idea of death, the nature of humanity, and morality would stem from this single concept and Bird actually took on these same ideas from Hughes’ novel.
All of this leads to easily one of my favorite sequences in the film where Hogarth explains death and the idea of having a soul to the Giant. As a kid, this scene sort of just snuck by me, but as an adult, the message is profoundly effective and actually shows how mature of character Hogarth is. When most films talk about death, they generally just have an adult explain everything to a kid.
However, Hogarth has a sense of maturity to him that resonates so strongly in his explanation that “souls don’t die” to the Giant and makes the message so effective. It’s even a scene that I was able to refer to in a class I took in college on “Death & Dying,” (and yes that’s a real class and that’s the exact name), and how it was so strong at being open about death and grieving.
Even the animation of the town of Rockwell and all of its inhabitants are a product of Bird’s strong desire to keep to the style of that time and it even caused the animators to research other artists. The works of Chuck Jones, Hank Ketcham, Norman Rockwell, Edward Hopper all played a part in creating the look of the film and they even look at Disney films from that era, like 101 Dalmatians, to give the film a unique look.
Honestly, their research really shows as everything to the finest detail feels straight out of that era. From the ’50s sci-fi flick Hogarth watches while his mom is away to the Golden Age comic books that Hogarth shows to the Giant, the art style is truly inspired and is something that I haven’t seen emulated in other films. There’s even a cool sequence when Hogarth and his classmates are watching a “Duck and Cover” video that was shown during the class in the ’50s.
Even the Giant’s animation was incredibly unique as he was created using CGI to give him more fluid movement and his creator is actually another recognizable name – writer/director Joe Johnston. That’s right, the man behind The Rocketeer and Captain America: The First Avenger, had a heavy hand in initially designing the Giant. What I actually love about his design is how detailed it is as Bird actually wanted to make the CGI look hand-drawn and how otherworldly he feels because of how much he stands out. His emotions and movement give him that fluid look that the animators were definitely going for and it allows him to have more of a personality.
What I realized this time around too is that the style of the animation actually made the humor work more and I found myself laughing at jokes more than ever. Even just little scenes like Kent freaking out after being unable to hang the phone up or Hogarth being incredibly hyper after drinking Dean’s coffee.
One of my new favorites this time around, though, is definitely the scene of Hogarth saying grace to distract his mom from seeing the Giant’s hand behind her. The hilarious voice work from Eli Marienthal mixed with the jumpy movement of the animation is just perfect. Honestly, just Hogarth’s humor, in general, worked so much better for me as there’s a sense of maturity to him, but it’s hidden behind a lovable goofiness that’s always endearing.
Nothing his me harder, though, than the emotional impact the ending leaves and how meaningful the Giant’s final words are. The second the missile launches into the air you can immediately feel your heart sink and the reactions and emotions characters are feeling have realistic impact. This is all of their worst fears coming to life and the lack of score here perfectly sets a more serious tone. Hearing the blaring alarm go off is just a sound that’s haunting, and Dean say that even attempting to go to a bomb shelter wouldn’t even matter is still heart-breaking. It’s a moment that always got me as kid and still gets me choked up today. Even what happened in Hawaii when everyone received a fake alert about an imminent nuclear missile reminds me of how horrifying this situation is and what makes this moment feel that much more real.
This all capped off by one of the most tear-jerking moments of the film with the Giant flying into space to sacrifice himself to save everyone. There’s a great exchange where the Giant calls back some of the things that Hogarth has said to him throughout their time together. The score from Michael Karman as he’s flying towards the missile is perfect and the Giant’s final utter of “Superman” cements him as an iconic hero. This moment perfectly embodies the film’s main message of “you are who you choose to be” and seeing the memorial of the Giant has this wholesome feel to it that I just love. Not to mention, I have such a soft spot for how magical the final reassembling of Giant is as all of the broken pieces begin to form together again and it gives the film the kind of ending that makes you want to jump up and cheer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXy3f6f9DxI
Now, I’m sure you’re expecting me to say that the masterpiece of a film that I’ve just been was an absolute box-office beast, right? Well, that’s not the case. It’s actually mind-blowing to me that The Iron Giant wasn’t just a flop on it’s initial release, but that it’s box-office returns were more of a financial catastrophe. With a budget around $70 million, the film only made about $31 million worldwide during its theatrical release. It’s speculated that the film was plagued with marketing problems and that Warner Bros. didn’t exactly realize what they had their hands on.
Thankfully, though, due to widespread critical acclaim and audiences heavily enjoying the film, it gained a strong cult following that has propelled the film into a pop culture hit. More recently, audiences might have noticed that the Giant actually plays a strong part in 2018’s Ready Player One as he fights against Mechagodzilla alongside the RX-78-2 Gundam. He actually replaced Ultraman in the film due to licensing issues, but I didn’t complain much as seeing the Giant on-screen again was just a treat in itself.
Though there have always been discussions on whether a sequel would ever see the light of day, Bird has always said that the film’s financial shortcoming would keep there from being more. However, Bird has always said that he appreciates the film more as a self-contained story and never seen a point to adding more and I can’t help but agree with him. Although twenty years have flown by since Hogarth and the Giant first met on-screen, what their friendship taught audiences still resonates just as strong, if not stronger, today and what makes The Iron Giant undeniably timeless.
