Ratatouille

 

While Pixar had a sort of “Golden Age”, that being the time between Toy Story (1995) and Toy Story 3 (2010), these films didn’t necessarily come without struggle. Such was the case for Ratatouille, the studio’s eight feature, which saw Brad Bird take over as writer and director after the original creator, Jan Pinkava, left Pixar during the film’s early development. After about two years of work, which included story rewrites and extensive research into cooking and Parisian culture, the film saw the light of day in 2007 to critical acclaim, successful box office returns and the Academy Award for Best Animted Feature (beating out Persepolis and Surf’s Up). Today, Ratatouille remains not only a classic animated film, but an enjoyable celebration of the joy of creation, particularly through the power of cooking.

Incredibles 2

Note: The following review contains spoilers for The Incredibles (2004).

Following the success of the Academy Award-winning The Incredibles (2004), Brad Bird maintained interest in creating a sequel, but wouldn’t begin writing the script until several years later, by which point several superhero films and TV series had become rather popular, especially the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now, 14 years later, the film’s anticipated sequel, Incredibles 2, has released to critical acclaim. Considering the large gap between installments, the finished film feels very worth the wait.

Immediately following the events of The Incredibles, the Parr family – Bob (Craig T. Nelson), Helen (Holly Hunter), Dash (Huck Milner), Violet (Sarah Vowell) and Jack-Jack (Eli Fucile) - fights The Underminer (John Ratzenberger), who uses a large drill to rob the Metroville Bank, with the aid of Lucius Best, aka Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson). Due to the failed attempt to stop The Underminer and the destruction caused by the fight, however, the Super Relocation program is shut down and the Parrs are forced back into hiding. Soon after, Bob, Helen, and Lucius are contacted by Winston Deaver (Bob Odenkirk), who wishes to make Supers legal once more by demonstrating how heroic and helpful they can be. He elects Helen to kick off this plan under her old identity of Elastigirl, which forces Bob to become a stay-at-home dad, a task made more complicated by Jack-Jack’s numerous and developing powers. Elastigirl’s mission is also made complicated by the arrival of Screenslaver (Bill Wise), a villain who can brainwash people through television broadcast signals.

At its core, the story and plot of Incredibles 2 follows a somewhat similar trajectory as the original film, but with Bob and Helen’s roles switched. However, this film is able to expand greatly on the events of the original while not undoing any of the previously established events, and even throwing in some world-building, as well as offer a greater amount of character development for the Parr family without undoing any of the development they went through in the original. In this sense, Incredibles 2 is a sequel that feels like a true continuation of previous events in a way that feels both seamless and organic. The parallel plots of the film are also both engaging and easy to follow, which helps the nearly two-hour runtime fly by.

The villain, Screenslaver, is rather intriguing and the brainwashing ability fits well within the setting. Though their motivation, like Syndrome, involves Supers and it’s a little easier than expected to figure who they might be, this did little to detract from the enjoyment of the film.

Screenslaver (Bill Wise) is an intriguing villain with an interesting ability.

After 14 years, the 1960s visual style of the Incredibles universe still has a timeless quality to it. Naturally, 14 years of technological advancement have resulted in largely improved animation and rendering compared to the original. This also results in some slight stylistic differences between the two films, mainly smaller details of the characters’ faces, but the viewer can quickly get used to it and it doesn’t really feel that jarring.

Even though the story takes place in the 1960s, the problems that the Parr family has and the way characters of the world live and act are more or less universal to how we would live and act today. In fact, there are only a few small hints that clue the viewer into what decade the film takes place, most noticeably the style of cars that people drive and a joke about “New Math”, currently just known as “Math”, that would only work within that context. There are also brief glimpses of both Jonny Quest and The Outer Limits, which further reinforces the setting. There are a couple small things which feel a little out of place, mainly the hairstyle/color of a Super named Voyd (Sophia Bush), but they’re rather minor in the grand scheme of things.

The action is visually exciting and very easy to follow, which is helpful for the amount of action and number of characters onscreen. What helps is that new Supers that are introduced later on all have unique silhouettes and visual designs to help them stand out from one another. The comedy of Incredibles 2 is also consistently funny and mainly derived from the interactions of the characters and how Bob reacts to his stressful life at home raising three children. Some of it also comes from how Jack-Jack can easily throw a wrench into certain situations, though at some point the number of powers he has can get rather ridiculous, even though it’s explained away within the movie.

Brad Bird and Pixar did a great job with Incredibles 2. The story and tone are consistent with the original film and the world and characters are expanded upon while staying true to previous development. The action and humor help the film stay engaging and the parallel storylines are both easy-to-follow and entertaining, though at least one twist is a little predictable. The improved animation quality is such that the style is consistent even with an increased level of detail in the world. I highly recommend Incredibles 2 to people looking for a fun summer film or want to visit/re-visit a world that looks and feels different from the plethora of superhero films released within the last few years. Due to its nature as a direct sequel, however, you should also be sure to watch The Incredibles beforehand.

Tomorrowland

Tomorrowland (2015) Starring: George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, Britt Robertson, Raffey Cassidy. Directed by Brad Bird. Screenplay by Damon Lindelof, Brad Bird. Produced by Brad Bird, Damon Lindelof, Jeffrey Chernov  Run Time: 130 minutes. U.S.  Color. Science Fiction, Mystery

Disney continues to mine its amusement park attractions (Pirates of the Caribbean, Country Bear Jamboree, Haunted Mansion) for film ideas, this time out it is Tomorrowland. Unlike other areas of the park that seem to have rigid and never-changing themes, like Tom Sawyer’s Island and the Jungle Cruise, you never supposed to know what you’ll find in Tomorrowland. This is one part of the park that seems to be ever changing, as promises are made about the future that don’t come true and are replaced by new ones. Myself, I’m still waiting for the monorail to take me home to my Monsanto-made house.

From this looseness, a film was crafted starring George Clooney and directed by Brad Bird, who’s previous films have included The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Going into this movie, I had really tried to avoid reading anything about it. I had seen the intriguing trailers before other films, but I wasn’t anxiously anticipating this one.

Time travel is usually a story that gets told when you’ve run out of other ideas, but in this case, Tomorrowland really isn’t so much the future, but rather another existence that is not dependent on our Present. And yes, the connection is made to Disneyland as well as other Disney-owned properties, some still to come. It is a Small World After All.

Some of the film’s high concepts didn’t completely gel for me, chief amongst them being the idea that our thoughts about the future are somehow controlled by the future. There is plenty cinematic mumbo jumbo say-it-fast-and-don’t-think-about-it-too-hard-concepts that we’re fed and supposed to understand. The film sort of stumbles when it tries to explain itself, but that seems to be the expected considering Damon Lindelof, who was the co-showrunner for the overly complicated TV series Lost, had a hand in the writing and production of the film.

Being a summer film, there are a lot of special effects (expect a wall of names if you watch the credits). The film sets out to amaze, and does, though sometimes the reason for them is lost. Fantastical inventions that seem to have both an ill-defined purpose, but also multiple ways it can be used. And that seems to be the problem with Tomorrowland, it seems to overreach, but you’re never sure what it is reaching for.

While most of the “science” may be hard to follow and swallow, this is really a film about relationships and the possibilities of positive thinking about the future. Despite the many special effects that dominate much of the movie, the strength of the film is the relationships and for that it takes actors and not special effects technicians. And this is the best part of the movie.

Clooney has built a fine track record as an actor. Perhaps the closest thing to a modern-day Cary Grant, Clooney is not only an actor, but a director and producer. In this film, he plays Frank Walker, boy genius turned adult outcast. He is a little too prepared for any possibility to be believable. He seems to meet his match with two women in his life.

Athena (Raffey Cassidy) has known Frank since he was a young boy and theirs is a very difficult relationship to define. As an actress, Cassidy seems to be at the beginning of what promises to be a very long and interesting career. Athena is one of those unpredictable characters, whom the writers play a little fast and loose with. They set certain parameters for her and violate them whenever the story requires it.

The other woman to enter Frank’s life is Casey Newton (Britt Robertson), whom Athena has recruited. We see that’s she’s very computer savvy, but that’s not why Athena is interested in her. Unlike Frank, Casey is less an easy to define genius, but more of an optimist about the future. Her power seems to be that she can think things through that you think Frank would have, but hasn’t. While there is no romance between them, their teaming up is crucial to the film.

If you’ve been missing him since the end of his long-running House TV series, Hugh Laurie is back as David Nix. Nix is the governor of Tomorrowland. Like Clooney, Laurie has become one of those actors that can be counted on to make the most of the role he’s given, even though sometimes his talents seem to be wasted. Another in a long line of British-accented movie villains, Nix represents the ill-defined nature of Tomorrowland, which is less a time, but more of a conceptual place.

Even though I was not really drawn into the message the film was preaching, I still felt emotionally involved. Brad Bird manages to pull off a difficult trick, not drawing me into the story, but still giving me a connection to the characters.

Some of the power of the movie is dissipated by the form the storytelling takes. Precarious and dangerous are only momentary, as we know from the beginning that Frank and Casey will make it. Still, towards the end of the film, I found myself near tears about what transpires.

Tomorrowland is not without its flaws, but still it is an interesting. If you like Brad Bird or George Clooney you will no doubt want to see this film. And even though they’ve left the story open-ended, let’s hope they eschew the temptation to make a sequel. A little ill-conceived, once around the track was enough for this passenger. Tomorrowland is not quite an E-ticket ride.

Stubs – Second Opinion: The Incredibles (2004)

The Incredibles (2004) Starring the voice of: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Spencer Fox, Jason Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, Elizabeth Peña and Brad Bird. Directed by Brad Bird. Screenplay by Brad Bird. Produced by John Walker Run Time: 115 minutes. U.S.  Color, Animated, Comedy, Action

By 2004, Pixar Animation Studios was considered to be on the leading edge of animation. They had burst on the scene in 1995 with Toy Story and had followed up every few years with A Bug’s Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Finding Nemo (2003). All had been directed by original members of the Pixar team and all had been incredibly successful. During the same period, Brad Bird had moved from animator to writer/director with The Iron Giant (1999), a great film that flopped at the box office due in part to the lack of marketing by Warner Bros., which was gun shy after the boxoffice failure of Quest for Camelot (1998). But the film impressed John Lasseter, head of Pixar and an old friend of Bird’s.

If you think live-action features have a long lead time, they are nothing compared with animated films. Bird pitched the idea of The Incredibles to Lasseter in March 2000. Pixar signed Bird to a multifilm contract in May of that year. There were a lot of firsts in this film for Pixar: the director was not one of their own, there was only one writer on the project, Bird, and all the main characters were humans.

The Incredibles (previously reviewed on Trophy Unlocked here), in a family friendly way, covers many of the same themes that Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons covered in the 1986 Watchmen comics, itself made into a movie in 2009. Society has become disillusioned with superheroes and tired of picking up the huge financial tabs super heroes leave in their wake. While Moore and Gibbons set their tale in a dystopian world, The Incredibles live amongst us in Middle America.

When the film opens, superheroes are in their prime. Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) is on his way to an important engagement, but has the time to get involved in a police pursuit, taking a few minutes to rescue a cat from a tree. Once again he helps out tracking down a purse thief and, with the help of Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), subdues the criminal. There is obviously an attraction between the two superheroes, but Elastigirl tells him that she has an engagement later.

A young and single, Mr. Incredible (Craig T.Nelson)

But one more stop on his way; Mr. Incredible foils a suicide attempt by intercepting the jumper on his way down and crashing him in through some windows in a bank tower. There, Incredible foils a bank robbery attempt by Bomb Voyage (Dominque Louis). But fanboy Buddy Pine (Jason Lee), self-proclaimed Incrediboy, who wants to be Incredible’s sidekick, interferes. This allows Bomb Voyage to escape, while Incredible removes a bomb from Incrediboy’s cape. The bomb goes off on the elevated track of a commuter train and while Incredible stops the train, passengers are injured.

Mr. Incredible has a date to keep with Elastigirl (Holly Hunter).

Still on an adrenaline rush, Incredible arrives at his destination, a church, where he married Elastigirl with his best friend, and co-crime fighter, Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) standing with him as his best man. But their future together isn’t all that rosy. The lawsuits that follow, from the suicide victim denied his effort and the injured passengers, not to mention the collateral damage done to the bank building and commuter train, lead the government to relocate the Incredibles.

Fifteen years after relocation, Bob and Helen Parr, formerly Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl, live in the suburbs with their three children Violet (Sarah Vowell), Dash (Spencer Fox), and baby Jack-Jack as a suburban family. Bob works as a claims agent at Insuricare, an insurance company, working for Gilbert Huph (Wallace Shawn), a job which he finds very unsatisfying.

After fifteen years in exile, Bob Parr works for Gilbert Huph (Wallace Shawn) at Insuricare.

Longing for the glory days, Bob meets up regularly with Lucius Best (aka Frozone) and they spend the night listening to the police radio and perform vigilante work, all while Helen thinks they are bowling. One night, under the watchful eye of a woman called Mirage (Elizabeth Pena), the two get involved in a burning building, rescuing several tenants, but accidentally break into a bank as part of the escape. They manage to elude the police, but Helen is not happy with Bob’s behavior.

Mr. Incredible longs for his Glory Days.

When Bob loses his temper with Mr. Huph and throws him through several walls when he won’t let him interfere with a mugging in progress, he is fired. His government handler, Rick Dicker (Bud Luckey), warns Bob about such outbursts and offers, for old time’s sake, to relocate the Parr family once again, but Bob turns down the offer.

Returning home, Bob finds a Mission: Impossible-style message from Mirage, who needs him to be Mr. Incredible again and help with a mission to destroy a malfunctioning robot called the Omnidroid, promising a substantial reward. Arriving on Nomanisan Island, Bob is able to defeat the robot by tricking it into ripping out its own power source.

Mirage (Elizabeth Pena) elicits Mr. Incredible's help with a project.

Bob is rejuvenated by being able to use his powers freely, improving his attitude and relationship with his family, and he begins rigorous training while waiting for more work from Mirage. Discovering a tear in his Mr. Incredible suit, Bob visits superhero costume designer, turned fashion mogul, Edna Mode (Brad Bird) for repairs. Edna decides to make him and his whole family new suits, unbeknownst to Helen and the children. She rejects Mr. Incredible’s desire for a suit, recounting all the supers who have been killed by accidents with their capes.

Mr. Incredible brings his suit to Edna Mode (Brad Bird) for
repairs. She makes him and his family all new outfits.

Leaving for Nomanisan once again, Bob discovers that Mirage is working for Buddy, now identifying himself as the super-villain Syndrome. Buddy, after being shunned by Mr. Incredible, took to weapons design, which has made him incredibly rich, but there are some weapons he has kept for himself, including the Omnidroid, which Syndrome has been perfecting at the expense of former Supers. Syndrome plans to release and then defeat the Omnidroid in Metroville, the Parr family’s hometown. Using controls he’s built into his own suit, Syndrome can manipulate the robot and become a hero himself. Then he plans to retire and sell his inventions so that everyone will become super, meaning that nobody really is.

Annoying Incrediboy grows up to be Syndrome (Jason Lee)

Meanwhile, Helen visits Edna, who shows her the new suits she’s gleefully designed. Edna tells Helen what Bob has been up to, making it sound like he’s having an affair with Mirage. She encourages Helen to find Bob, using a homing beacon built into his suit and go fight for him. The activation of the beacon gives Bob’s presence away and he is captured.

Syndrome captures Mr. Incredible.

Helen borrows a jet and heads for Nomanisan, but on the way she finds out Violet and Dash have stowed away wearing their own costumes, leaving Jack-Jack in the care of a teenage babysitter Kari McKeen (Bret Parker).

Syndrome picks up Helen’s radio transmissions and despite Helen’s plea that there are children onboard, sends missiles with destroy the jet. But Helen, along with the children, survives and makes it to the island, following the jet trails from the short range missiles, but Bob thinks they are dead.

Helen rescues Violet (Sarah Vowell) and Dash (Spencer Fox) by turning herself into a raft.

Leaving the children in a cave, Helen proceeds to the base to find Bob, discovering Syndrome's intentions to send the Omnidroid to Metroville in a rocket. Mirage, who is distraught when Syndrome acts indifferent to Incredible’s threat to kill her, releases Bob and informs him that his family is alive. Just when Bob hugs Mirage in celebration, Helen appears. Her suspicions realized, Bob has to convince her there’s nothing going on. The two end up racing after the children when alarms go off when they are spotted by security. Dash and Violet use their powers (Dash’s speed and Violet’s invisibility and force field capabilities) to escape their captors and are joined by their happy parents. But their freedom is short-lived when the whole family is captured by Syndrome; his plan is initiated.

The Incredible strike their iconic pose before being captured.

Violet manages to escape, but the family needs Mirage's help as well to get off the island. Using a security van, a rocket booster and Elastigirl’s stretchiness, they pursue Syndrome and the Omnidroid to Metroville. But the Omnidroid proves to be too intelligent for Syndrome and knocks the remote controls out of his grasp, knocking him unconscious and rampaging through the city.

Syndrome's Omnidroid about to wreck havoc on Metroville.

The Parrs and Lucius team up to fight the robot, but are losing until they use Syndrome's remote control and one of the Omnidroid’s detached pincers to blow a hole through the Omnidroid, the only thing strong enough to break inside, tearing out its power source and destroying it.

Lucius, aka Frozone, (Samuel L. Jackson) teams up with the Incredibles to stop the Omnidroid.

On their return home, the Parrs find Syndrome has taken over watching Jack-Jack from Kari, much to the teenager’s relief. But Syndrome intends to raise Jack-Jack as his own sidekick to seek revenge on the family. As Syndrome attempts to escape to his waiting jet, Jack-Jack, whom the family thought had no super powers of his own, shows that he has several, including turning into fire and becoming a lead weight. Syndrome drops the baby and Helen is thrown by Bob to intercept. Syndrome tries to escape in his jet, but Bob throws his own car at the jet, knocking Syndrome into the jet’s intake which catches his own cape in the blades of the engine, which sucks him in. The jet explodes and destroys the Parr's house, but Violet's force field shields the family.

Baby Jack-Jack, who no one thinks has any powers, becomes a handful for babysitter Kari.

Three months later, the Parrs have readjusted to normal life. Dash is allowed to participate in sports as long as he holds back. Violet has come out of her shell long enough to attract the attention of Tony Rydinger (Michael Bird), a popular boy at school, who asks her out. All seems right with the world, that is until a new villain called the Underminer (John Ratzenberger) tunnels up and invades the city. The family dons their superhero masks and prepares to face this new threat.

It wouldn't be a Pixar film without a vocal appearance by John
Ratzenberger, here appearing as a new villain, the Underminer.

The Incredibles would go onto win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and earn over $600 million at the worldwide boxoffice. Bird would take over the direction of Ratatouille (2007) and again win the Best Animated Feature Oscar. While the budget was 50% higher, Ratatouille, like The Incredibles would also earn more than $600 million worldwide. Bird would move on to live action films, directing Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011). He is currently working on Tomorrowland, co-written and co-produced with Damon Lindelof, and is expecting a release next year. And there are plans in the works for an Incredibles sequel.

It’s difficult for me to comment on the acting in an animated film. While the voice is very important, there are no screen captures, so much of the physical acting is animated. However, all the voices seem to hit the right notes so to speak.

The animation is typically amazing Pixar rendering. At this time the studio was setting the animation bar very high with not only incredible CGI, but amazing story-telling as well. That has arguably dropped off since, as Pixar, like all the studios, seems to rely on sequels: Toy Story 3 (2010), Cars 2 (2011) and Monsters University (2013) as they ramp up their output at the expense of invention. Their films seem to still do well at the box office, but the bloom of infallibility, which the studio once had, is off the rose by now.

Having recently watched The Incredibles again, I can tell you that it still holds up very well after ten years. It is still a lot of fun to watch and is definitely one of those family films that people over 10 can really enjoy. While I worry about Disney/Pixar going back to the well again, The Incredibles 2 is in pre-production, the magic is definitely present here and The Incredibles lives up to its name.

Stubs – The Iron Giant (1999)

The Iron Giant (1999) Starring the voices of: Eli Marienthal, Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick, Jr., Vin Diesel, Christopher McDonald, John Mahoney. Directed by Brad Bird. Screenplay by Tim McCanlies. Story by Brad Bird. Based on the novel by The Iron Man by Ted Hughes.Executive Producer Pete Townshend, Produced by Alison Abbate and Des McAnuff. Music by Michael Kamen. Run Time: 86 minutes. U.S. Color, Animated, Science Fiction

Every year there are films that, for whatever reason, don’t catch on at the box office. Now I know money is not the only measure of the worth of a movie, but since filmmaking is a business, films are judged by how much money they make. This is especially true of the films from the major studios, since they have the best distribution and marketing groups in the industry. If Warner Brothers or Disney can’t make you aware of a movie, who can?

Remember Quest for Camelot? You’re not alone. The film opened in 1998 on the same weekend as The Horse Whisperer, with Deep Impact already in the theaters. The following week, this behemoth called Godzilla would open. The net result was that Quest for Camelot lost Warner Bros about $40 million. That sort of return disillusioned the studio on animated films. Problem: there was already one in the pipeline. Gun shy from their last failure, Warner Bros. decided against putting the effort into The Iron Giant’s release. And guess what? It didn’t do well. While I can’t comment on Quest for Camelot, since I, along with the vast unwashed, didn’t see it, I did see The Iron Giant and I can honestly say Warner Bros. blew it on this one.

Remember Quest for Camelot? No? You're not alone.

This movie should have put its director Brad Bird on the map as a director of animated films. Lucky for all of us that would happen, but five years later with the release of Pixar’s The Incredibles (2004). While Iron Giant was a critical success and won several animation awards, those were after the fact. Warner Bros., according to filmmakers Bird and writer Tim McCanlies, didn’t realize what they had on their hands.

1957 was a time of great paranoia in America. This was the height of the Cold War between the U.S. and the then U.S.S.R.  The Soviets had launched Sputnik that year, sending the U.S. into a panic. We were suddenly in the midst of a crisis and everyone felt vulnerable. All eyes were looking skyward, wondering what they might see and fearful of what might come their way.

Into this atmosphere, a large alien crashes off the coast of Rockwell, Maine. The only one to see this happen is Earl Stutz (M. Emmet Walsh), a local fisherman. He even crashes his boat into the robot before getting washed up on shore.

The next morning, Hogarth Hughes (Eli Marienthal) rides his bike to the diner where his mother, Annie (Jennifer Aniston), works. He has found a squirrel that he hopes he can talk his mom into letting him keep. While looking for it, he overhears Earl telling everyone about his close encounter and his call to the government. But everyone believes Earl is off his chum (in keeping with the fishing metaphor). Dean, a local beatnik artist, sticks up for Earl, but that only makes Earl less believable.

Dean has a squirrel in his pocket.

That night, Hogarth is left alone at home; he indulges in Twinkies and popcorn while watching bad 50’s sci-fi on the television. When the TV picture goes bad, Hogarth goes outside to check on the antenna and finds it’s missing. Seeing a bath of destruction into the woods, Hogarth, with his trusty BB gun and flashlight attached, goes looking for what he suspects and hopes are martians.

Powered by junk food and an overly active imagination and
armed with a BB gun, Hogarth gets ready to hunt for Martians.

Running towards flashes of light, Hogarth comes across an electric substation just before the Iron Giant sees it. Thinking it’s food, it starts to eat the metal structures, but gets a shock when he gets entangled in the power lines. Hogarth starts to run, but hearing the Giant’s screams of agony, he goes back and turns off the power. The Giant falls down unconscious. Hogarth climbs up to get a closer look when the Giant wakes up. Hogarth runs away into his mother’s arms. While she loves him, she doesn’t believe the wild story he’s spewing. But when they drive away, Hogarth looks back and sees the Giant’s eyes watching after him.

The power station is just what a hungry Iron Giant craves.

The next day at school, Hogarth and his class watch a duck and cover film about nuclear blasts. Meanwhile, a farmer is trying to sell Dean his half eaten tractor. The next morning, government agent Kent Mansley (Christopher McDonald) arrives to investigate the power plant damage. While he’s on the scene, he’s shown the BB gun that Hogarth had dropped and the Giant had crushed. But before he can leave, half of his car is eaten and when he tries to show the damage to Marv Loach (James Gammon), the foreman at the station, the rest of it has been eaten as well.

U.S. government agent Kent Mansley is sent to assess the damage down
to the power station. Here he talks with station foreman, Marv Loach.

That afternoon, Hogarth goes looking for the Giant. He has with him a camera on which he hopes to record the Giant, but he grows bored waiting for him and falls asleep. The Giant’s arrival awakens him and once again, Hogarth runs away. But the Iron Giant remembers what Hogarth had done for him. Hogarth asks him questions, but the Giant doesn’t seem to know where he came from or who he is. Hogarth notices the dent in his head, which he thinks might explain his not knowing.

The Iron Giant finds Hogarth.

Hogarth teaches the robot the difference between a rock and a tree. He’s beside himself with glee, but knows he can’t tell anyone since they might start shooting.

The Iron Giant learns from imitating Hogarth.

Meanwhile, Mansley tells the city council his theory about the sightings and the odd occurrences.

It’s getting dark and Hogarth knows he needs to get home, but the Iron Giant doesn’t seem to understand Hogarth’s command to stay. Like an orphaned dog, the robot follows him home. The Giant is hungry (he’s always hungry) and the railroad tracks they pass over on the way to Hogarth’s house are too tempting to pass up.

But Hogarth is alarmed at the sound of the incoming train and tells the giant to fix the tracks. It isn’t perfect, but the Giant is fascinated about making the rails line up and takes too long, causing the train to collide with his head. The train doesn’t derail, but the Giant has busted up into bits. When the engineers stop the train and call, Hogarth takes the Giant and hides him in the barn behind his house. The Giant, to Hogarth’s amazement, seems to be self-repairing as the various parts follow a radio signal back to the Giant and put themselves in place. All, that is, except the Giant’s left hand.

The Giant takes too long to piece the railroad track back together.

Mansley is at the Mayor’s office when the call about the train wreck comes in. Borrowing the mayor’s car, he drives out to investigate. The engineers tell Mansley that they collided with a giant metal man. Mansley needs to use a phone and is pointed to Hogarth’s house. Meanwhile, inside, Hogarth is saying grace when the Giant’s hand suddenly appears inside the house. Hogarth tries to sneak the hand out, but Mansley shows up at the door to use the phone.

He calls General Rogard (John Mahoney) and reports about the power station and the train wreck, but he gets laughed at. But Rogard tells him to get evidence before he can commit troops. When he’s driving away, Mansley realizes that Hogarth Hughes is the name on the BB gun he recovered and goes back. But the hand has gotten into the bathroom and flushes the toilet and Hogarth runs away to investigate.  He manages to sneak the hand out before anyone sees.

Mansley calls General Rogard about what he's found out.

Annie tells Mansley about the story Hogarth has been telling her. Later that night, Hogarth takes a bunch of comic books with him back to the barn and reads to the Giant. The Iron Giant is most impressed with Superman, but distressed when he finds a comic book about Atomo, an evil robot. But Hogarth tells him that he gets to choose what kind of robot he wants to be.

Hearing the Giant’s stomach growl, Hogarth takes him to look for metal. When they pass Rockwell, the Robot wants to go to town, but Hogarth has to convince him the town isn’t ready. They find an abandoned car for the Giant, but before he can eat it, Dean McCoppin Scrap tows it away. But taking the Giant to the scrap yard, he starts to pig out. He makes such a commotion that Dean comes out to investigate. Hogarth learns that Dean is into scrap so he can make it into art.

Dean makes him coffee, which makes Hogarth hyper. Dean gives Hogarth the same advice about choosing who he wants to be that Hogarth gave the Giant. When the Giant makes more noise, Dean goes out to confront him. Dean balks at putting the Giant up but relents to let him stay the night. Hogarth makes it home just in time to get ready for school. Annie surprises him with news that Mansley has rented the room.

An unhappy surprise. Mansley moves in with the Hughes'.

The next morning, Dean calls Hogarth to come get the Giant, but Hogarth can’t shake Mansley, who keeps peppering him with questions. Meanwhile, Dean tells the Giant to stop eating the art and only eat the scrap metal.

Dean tells the Giant not to eat the art.

To get rid of Mansley, Hogarth feeds him a chocolate laxative, which allows Hogarth to escape. When he finally makes it to the scrap yard he finds Dean has gotten the Giant to help him with his art. But Hogarth would rather play than do arts and crafts. But Dean gets worried that they’re too out in the open. When Hogarth suggests the lake, Dean goes.

Hogarth breaks up a chocolate laxative into Mansley's shake.

Meanwhile, between trips to the restroom, Mansley interviews locals about their encounters with the robot. While out in the woods, Mansley finds Hogarth’s camera.

Mansley uncovers the truth in between trips to the bathroom.

At the lake, Hogarth does a dive and makes a big splash. Ever impersonating his host, the Giant does the same dive, but the splash is so big that it empties the water from the lake and deposits Dean miles away in the middle of the road.

The Iron Giant makes a really big splash.

Mansley develops the photos from the camera and discovers a photo of Hogarth with the Robot behind him.

Meanwhile, out in the woods, Hogarth and the Giant witness a deer being shot and killed by hunters. When they go investigate they chase the hunters away. Hogarth doesn’t notice the Robot’s reaction to the rifle, the sight of which causes changes in him, which Hogarth interrupts. Hogarth has to explain death to the Robot.

When Hogarth makes it home, Mansley is waiting for him. Annie is working late, so Mansley interrogates Hogarth as if being a government agent gives him carte blanche. He threatens to take Hogarth away from his mom. Scared, Hogarth tells him where the Giant is hidden. Mansley chloroforms Hogarth and then calls the General. The army will arrive the next morning and Hogarth knows he has to warn Dean. But Mansley has other ideas and doesn’t let the boy out of his sight. The question is who will fall asleep first.

The next morning, Hogarth’s already up before Mansley wakes up. So by the time the Army arrives at the scrap yard, Dean is ready. He explains to the General that the giant metal man is really a sculpture he’s created and has sold to a wealthy industrialist for the lobby of his company.

The Iron Giant, posing as a piece of sculpture, fools the Army.

The General rips Mansley a new one while Annie flirts with Dean. She seems to take an interest in Dean’s art. After the army departs, the boy and robot play. Hogarth wants play to Atomo, but the Giant wants to be Superman. When Hogarth pretends to attack the robot with a toy gun, he inadvertently causes the robot to activate a weapons system in retaliation and shoots a destructive ray at him. Dean saves Hogarth and angrily commands the robot to leave, but Hogarth, believing the robot never meant to harm him, gives chase. Dean sees the toy gun and realizes that the robot cannot control its self-defense reaction. He catches up with Hogarth on his motorbike and they chase after the robot before it can reach the town.

The Iron Giant wants to be Superman.

After the Giant has run away, Dean realizes the Giant was reacting to the gun and helps Hogarth go after him. In Rockwell, the robot saves two boys who break through a balcony while watching him. The Army convoy sees the Giant in Rockwell and goes back. But before they get there, Hogarth shows up. The Army starts shooting and Hogarth tells the Giant to run away.

Dean tells Mansley the Giant has Hogarth with him, but Mansley lies and tells the General that the Giant has killed the kid. The Army goes to code red and F-86 jets are scrambled. The Giant, with Hogarth in hand, is chased over a cliff and, while falling, discovers he can fly. But when one of the jets shoots him out of the sky, the Army moves into investigate just as the Giant is looking after Hogarth’s unconscious body. He thinks the boy is dead and enraged activates its weapons and attacks the Army, who are no match for the advanced firepower.

The Army is no match for The Iron Giant's firepower.

But Hogarth recovers and succeeds in pacifying the Giant, reminding him that it is bad to kill and that he can choose not to be a gun. The Giant seems to be scared of what he’s become. Even though the General has readied a nuclear ballistic missile from the USS Nautilus, he is about to tell them to stand down when Mansley grabs the walkie talkie and orders the strike. Realizing the deadly mistake, Rogard lambasts Mansley and informs him that not only the robot, but everyone in Rockwell, will be destroyed when the missile hits. Mansley tries to escape Rockwell to save himself, but the robot stops him and he is arrested by the Army.

Hogarth convinces The Iron Giant that he is not a weapon.

With the missile launched, Hogarth explains to the Robot that once it falls, everyone in Rockwell will die. The Giant decides on its own to intercept the missile. Thinking of itself as Superman and with a smile of satisfaction, he intercepts the missile, causing a massive explosion in the atmosphere. He saves the town, but is destroyed in the process. Or is he?

The Iron Giant flies to intercept a polaris missile aimed at Rockwell.

Months have passed. The people of Rockwell recognize the giant as a hero, but everyone, especially Hogarth, is deeply saddened by the robot's sacrifice.

Annie and Dean are now a couple. Dean has erected a statue in honor of the Giant. Hogarth receives a package from General Rogard, a screw from the giant, the only part they recovered. But that night, reacting to the Giant’s radio message, the giant screw starts off in search of the robot. Hogarth realizes the Giant is still alive and lets the screw out of the house. The part starts out on a trek that will take it and other parts of the robot to the Icelandic Langjökull Glacier, where the Robot still lives.

The Iron Giant waits for his parts to find him so he can reassemble.

Having gotten the origin story out of the way, the film seems to be setting up for a potential sequel, say the return of the Giant to Rockwell and reuniting with Hogarth. But alas that’s one that got away. The film, unlike the ballistic missile launched in the movie, was a dud. The film with a budget at between $50 and 70 million earned a very disappointing $32 million worldwide.

Which is a terrible shame as the film may be, as the International Gaming Networks (IGN) once called it, the best non-Disney animated film. Unlike, say the films from Pixar and Dreamworks Animation, the film is a mix of traditional animation and computer generated imagery, which was employed for rendering the Giant.

The movie is very different from the original book, The Iron Man, written by Ted Hughes, a British  Poet Laureate and published in 1968. Not to be confused with Iron Man, the Marvel comic book character (which is why the movie is called The Iron Giant). The book takes place in England and tells the story of a giant metal man. Like our Giant, the metal man devours farm equipment and befriends a local boy. But in the book, the metal man protects Earth from a monster from outer space. In the film, the Giant saves us from our own overworked paranoia.

The book, The Iron Man by Ted Hughes, on which the movie is based.

All the voice acting is good, including Eli Marienthal, a 12-year-old who voiced for Hogarth. But the voice of the Giant is very important. Originally the role was offered to Peter Cullen, best known as the voice of G1 Transformers Optimus Prime, but Cullen was unavailable. This is why they went with a then virtual unknown named Vin Diesel (back when it was okay to like Diesel), who has gone on to star in a series of Fast and Furious films. Diesel’s deep voice works well for the Giant Robot.

The score for the film is good, but it is the soundtrack which really helps to set the mood for the film and help it seem true to the time period. The songs have an easy jazz feel, the sort of music I imagine Dean himself would probably listen to as he drank his espresso.

The film has almost everything you would want in a movie. The characters have depth to them, which is more than you often get with many films. The story has a universal quality to it, telling everyone that you are who you choose to be, a lesson we can all apply to our everyday lives. While there is a real sense of peril at the climax, the film does end on a happy and even hopeful note. Overall, this film has heart and humor.

I cannot recommend a movie more than I would recommend The Iron Giant to anyone who hasn’t seen it. This is an animated film that children should like, but that has enough meat on its bones to appeal to adults as well. It’s only too bad that the film could not take its own advice and decide to be a big hit the first time it was released.