If you do, watch it again today like I did. If you have never seen it, it's one to put on your list.
Before he made The Incredibles, Brad Bird made this little gem that was overlooked in it's time. Everyone who loves stories about a boy and his robot (voiced by Vin Diesel) will love this movie and even the strongest of men have teared up at the ending (of course from all the dust in the theatre).
A merchandising artifact from the film The Iron Giant, released in 1999, this wondrous toy is almost impossible to find today. I tracked one down on eBay — it was kind of pricey in this pristine boxed condition.
The figure of the giant is about 10″ tall. If you push a button on its chest it speaks a few phrases from the film and its eyes light up. It would be awesome if the giant’s jaw were moveable — otherwise it’s just about perfectly cool.
"It's worth repeating the old complaint that animation isn't treated seriously enough, if only to point out what a shame it would be for The Iron Giant, one of the year's best films, to go overlooked."
"A well-told and beautifully drawn tale of friendship and fortitude."
"It is in the best tradition of animation: an ideal tale for children that offers a lot to adults as well."
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8 comments:
I'll second, third and fourth you on this movie masterpiece. The story it's based on, The Iron Man by the poet Ted Hughes, is also a highly recommended read.
ARRRRGGG, I STILL cannot believe I haven't seen this film yet.
It always looked SO AWESOME.
Again I scream.., "ARRRRRGG".
How do I even talk to you?
That movie broke my heart and I choke up every time I watch it. One of the best of the best.
Ok, ok, I'll hunt it down on Amazon and buy it this weekend.
"Jeez, tough crowd.."
Thanks for the great posting.
Warner Brothers Animation has had great success with television and franchise properties on home video, but when it comes to feature films, they pioneers all sorts of ways to shoot themselves in the foot.
The story goes that the company sunk all their money into "Quest for Camelot", convinced that a lukewarm Disney knockoff would be a sure fire hit. Surprise, surprise, it completely tanked. So there wasn't anything to promote the Iron Giant which was next up on the block. Consequently, there wasn't money in the budget to promote this new film, so no one really knew that it was out.
At the time of its release there were little to no TV ads. In fact, I only found out about it because of an ad in Reader's Digest of all places.
Fortunately, the film got a plenty of attention after it was picked up by the Cartoon Network who made it a staple around the major holidays, and joined the ranks of Its a Wonderful Life, John Carpenter's The Thing, and The Shawshank Redemption of "flop" movies that soared in popularity with the public on television.
Thanks for all that research. I love stories like that. I saw this one with my friend and her 5 year old daughter and her and I both squeeled with delight when the Giant went nutso and went after the army. I cry everytime.
You're welcome. I love backstage stories like this and am glad you liked it as well.
The only other time I can think of animation so throughly betting on the wrong horse is when Disney greenlit The Lion King, thinking it would be a small picture that would turn a modest enough profit so that they could set the financial foundations for what they were sure would become their magnum opus... Pocahontas.
Low and behold, Lion King is a phenomenal hit, and ranks among one of Disney's highest grossing films and even twenty years later is still a huge part of their market. While Pocahontas is that one were people usually say "oh yeah... forgot about that one."
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