Here is a brief... but stunning review of IRON GIANT. It seems that the people that have seen this film... well... it seems they tend to have religious experiences... You know those film experiences that make you go back to the theater, plop another tape in, buy a laserdisc or DVD player. The ones where you buy a soundtrack, the making of book, magazines for interview pieces, mark the calendar for the director commentary edition with the behind the scenes 30 min docu... Ya know... it's scary to me, the sort of anticipation I have for this film. I've talked to people that have seen STAR WARS EPISODE ONE and I've spoken to people that have seen IRON GIANT. And I've talked to both types in person with a dead in the eye mano to mano manner. The folks that have seen STAR WARS are filled with glee because they are so happy that it is what it is supposed to be... a fantastic film. But the IRON GIANT people... well... They act as though they have beheld the burning bush, like their necks have been drilled after walking on the otherside of the sand dune. They are not only passionate about the movie, they have gone Elmer Gantry on my ass. They speak with fire, gesturing and getting all emotional.
Now I have an unsubstantiated explanation for this, and I think it's that the folks that have seen STAR WARS EPISODE ONE know that they don't have to convince me to see the film. They know I'm expecting some sort of trancedental OHMYGOD experience that evolves me from the one-celled blob that I am to some sort of amphibian and all they are doing is affirming that, Yes, that is what is going to happen. BUT the IRON GIANT observers... they're excited and fervant and driven by another animal all together. I believe they have seen a Classic film. A movie that deeply effected their every pore. BUT they fear that the movie will be lost in the wind by a Warner Brothers hierchy that won't say... put the trailer with MATRIX, but will put it on THE KING AND I. That it's owned by a company that's treating it like a cartoon and not a GREAT film. And these witnesses of IRON GIANT are afraid... afraid that folks like you won't be convinced to have their religious experience because you'll be so caught up in seeing STAR WARS the 49th time. Well... for me, I'm sold, I so want to see this film though. If the movie is what is being communicated to me, and believe me Moriarty has gone beyond possessed by the experience he's had with this movie, then I want that experience. I love movies that make me want to not only see them again, but to find people out on the street and drag them to see the movie. A film that feels like your personal discovery. But then... spreads until it is no longer a discovery, but a communal joint memory that becomes a shorthand for life. Where you can say 5 words or hum a bar of music, or move just so, and those that know... know what you are doing. Rumor has it... this is one of those. God I hope so.
I just had one of the greatest film experiences ever! This afternoon I had the pleasure to view a close to compelet print of IRON GIANT and can safely say that, if warner Brothers markets it right, it will be their highest grossing film ever. The film not only restored my faith in the movie business (which I work in) but showed me the true potential of animation; it is not to clone Disney fairy tales, but rather to tell great, heart wrenching, inspirational and excting as hell stories such as IRON GIANT. The humor, the characters (I thought the little boy was alive, and breahig) the script and the animation, along with one of the greatest final five minutes in film history, puts IRON GIANT in the same category as STAR WARS, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, CASABLANCA, GONE WITH THE WIND, E.T., and BEN-HUR, as entertainment masterpieces that shall live on forever. The irony is that, I bet Warner Brothers does not know what it has on its hands.
The irony in my case is that, I got to see IRON GIANT by default. A friend of mine had invited me to see a near compelte print of Disney's TARZAN (the same they showd at SHOW WEST) and only after we finished viewing TARZAN (a positive review to come soon), he suggested that we watch Warner's latest attempt a animation. As you might anticipate, I was not to thrilled, but life's best pleasures have a way of catching you by surprise. To put it simply, IRON GIANT is why we all go to the movies. Do yourself a favor Harry, if you have not seen it already, see it and believe in miracles.
Regards,
Kirk
