Iron Giant

Theatrical Release Date: 1999 08 04 (USA)

UPC: 085391831822

Studio: Warner Home Video

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:[Mild Violence, Excellent For Children]

Summary: A boy's best friend is his robot in this animated adventure from Brad Bird, best known for his TV work on such series as The Simpsons, King of the Hill, and The Critic. Set in 1957, The Iron Giant focuses on Hogarth (voice of Eli Marienthal), an imaginative nine-year-old boy who daydreams of alien invasions and doing battle with Communist agents. One day, Hogarth hears a local fisherman talk about something that surpasses anything he could dream up: a fifty-foot robot that fell from the sky into a nearby lake. Needless to say, Hogarth's mom, Annie (voice of Jennifer Aniston) finds this a little hard to swallow, but when Hogarth finds the robot (voice of Vin Diesel) and fishes him out of the water, his pal Dean (voice of Harry Connick Jr.), a beatnik sculptor who also runs a junkyard, offers to help by hiding the robot with his salvage. A government agent named Kent Mansley (voice of Christopher McDonald) soon gets wind that there's a mechanical invader of unknown origins in the neighborhood and wants to wipe out the potential threat. However, the robot (which loves to eat metal and is learning to talk) turns out to be friendly, and the boy in turn tries to teach his new pal the ways of humans. The Iron Giant is loosely based on the book The Iron Man by late British poet Ted Hughes, previously adapted for the stage by rock musician Pete Townshend, who executive produced the film. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Children's/Family

Awards: Best Animation – Los Angeles Film Critics Association

Features: ccAll-new digital transfer
Feature-length commentary by director Brad Bird, head of animation Tony Fucile, story-department head Jeff Lynch and Steven Markowski: animation supervisor for the Giant
Eight amazing additional scenes including an alternate opening and a giant's dream sequence
13 branching mini-documentary segments highlighting key sequences from the viewpoint of score, character design, storyboards, and animation
Bird and creative consultant Teddy Newton analyze the movie's Annie Meets Kent and Duck and Cover sequences
"The Voice of the Giant" featuring Brad Bird and Vin Diesel
Stills gallery and more surprises
Filmographies
Theatrical trailers
Languages: English and Fran?ais
Subtitles: English, Fran?ais, and Espa?ol
Enhanced features for your DVD-ROM PC: Original theatrical website and links, web events and chat room access

Iron Giant

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 07/08/2003

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 86 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Eye(s) of the Storm [:04]
2. Rocket in Pocket [:04]
3. Home Alone [:01]
4. Into the Woods [:01]
5. Power Lunch [:07]
6. You Won't Believe This [:04]
7. Educational Film [:49]
8. Enter Kent [:04]
9. Something Big [:01]
10. The Luckiest Kid [:01]
11. Train Coming [:07]
12. Mr. Fixit [:02]
13. Hand Underfoot [:02]
14. National Insecurity [:57]
15. Hand Underfoot 2 [3:44]
16. Bedtime Stories [:29]
17. All U Can Eat [:04]
18. We Like Dean [:01]
19. Fast Friends [:01]
20. Satellites and Sundaes [:07]
21. Fun & Games [:04]
22. Banzai! [1:59]
23. Innocent Creatures [1:33]
24. Souls Don't Die [2:16]
25. Bad Dream [1:57]
26. Artful Disguise [:04]
27. Weapons to Bear [:01]
28. Not a Gun [:01]
29. Like Superman [:02]
30. Arsenals Unleashed [:04]
31. The Bomb [:04]
32. No Following [1:21]
33. See You Later [1:53]
34. End Credits [2:19]

Derek Armstrong

The Iron Giant is a wondrous animated fairy tale of post-Sputnik paranoia and the related fears of "otherness" that carries with it warm messages about friendship and non-violence. What should have been an unqualified hit, however, managed a scant $23 million at the box office due to an infamously indifferent advertising campaign by Warner Bros., which demonstrated that its animation competitors (Disney and Dreamworks) are far more comfortable with this end of the business. After all, the materials are all first-rate, from the incredibly cool-looking gentle giant, to the enthusiastic vocal talent, to the tight adaptation of Ted Hughes' book by directors Brad Bird and Tim McCanlies. What might seem on the surface like a simple "boy and his robot" tale is secretly a wicked parody of the 1950s, targeting not only hair-trigger government agents, but also pulp monster movies and laid-back beatniks. What provides the spine-tingling emotional core is the tender characterization of the childlike giant, whose swirling circular eyes and gravelly voice (thank you, Vin Diesel) convey heart-breaking empathy. Watching him innocently chomp junked cars and farm equipment is also oodles of fun. The struggle between this benevolent soul and his battle droid pre-programming, which appears in a flashy display of inventive artillery near the end, also sends a crystalline message to children that guns are bad -- an idea rarely communicated to them in so entertaining a fashion. It's a real shame that Hughes died during production, meaning he never got to see this glorious realization of his work. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Mary Kay Bergman  Actor 
Frank Thomas  Actor 
Ollie Johnston  Actor 
Pete Townshend  Executive Producer 
Brad Bird  Director 
Brad Bird  Screenwriter 
Michael Kamen  Composer (Music Score) 
Tim McCanlies  Screenwriter 
Allison Abbate  Producer 
Des McAnuff  Producer 
Eli Marienthal  Actor 
Vin Diesel  Actor 
Jennifer Aniston  Actor 
Harry Connick, Jr.  Actor 
Christopher McDonald  Actor 
James Gammon  Actor 
Cloris Leachman  Actor 
John Mahoney  Actor 
M. Emmet Walsh  Actor 

Country: USA