I was in the midst of writing my review of TARZAN in my hotel room at the Universal Sheraton when the phone rang. The red light flashed, and my hand darted to the receiver.
It was.... Moriarty.
“Pitiful soul,” he called me, “I have decided to bestow mercy upon your thick hide.”
Being the intelligent master of verbal dueling I said, “Uh huh”
“Harry, there will be a driver outside your hotel in 5 minutes. He is to take you to a place you dare not speak of. Once there, walk through the double doors, go into the women’s restroom. Knock 3 times on the center mirror and then stand with your arms to your side.”
I remember being especially spooked by this, so I just answered with a threatening, “Uh huh.”
I did as I was told, and I found myself surrounded by minions and underlings. Bizarre and twisted, foul and fiendish. This was obviously the staging grounds from whence Moriarty would set out to rule the world. And there... in the center of it all was the white haired rotund one. Three piece suit, monocle and gold chained watch intact.
He whispered, “Pula Farrell,” into my right ear and I awoke in a theater. My arms were at my side and... a flicker of light came from behind me.
What happened next stilled my beating heart. It was... THE IRON GIANT.
Now, we’ve seen a lot written about THE IRON GIANT here at AICN, and I had a great deal of trust in the man known as Moriarty.
He was speaking of this as a Great film. A classic. A film devoid of dating. A movie made for all times and all generations. Superlatives became his only writing ability. And when he talked verbally of the film with me he had a giggle... like he knew something that he could never fully explain to me... he’d simply have to show me.
I was not alone in this theater. Somehow Copernicus was there. Last I had heard he was in West Texas observing the collisions of galaxies. And his Agent Scully was with him. And... Bless my soul it was Orson Welles. He was there too.
Each of us had our own row, and ya know. I’m glad. I needed that distance, I needed my bubble... because me and my whole universe disappeared into THE IRON GIANT.
This is the first film I have seen that has honestly learned everything you should take from E.T.... but then improved on every single point. You see, in E.T. That little alien was wise, he knew what harm was, he knew what an ‘Ouch’ meant. Here... In this film, Elliot aka Hogarth becomes the teacher... Not just of words, but of ideals, dreams, right and wrongs. And it works. It really works.
The Steven Spielberg that made E.T. has been abducted for the last 18 years. Where did he go? What happened to him? Well... Here in Brad Bird I see him. And, he’s improved.
Watching this film I saw something Fresh. And that’s a bit remarkable nowadays. But then it scared me.
Why? Well, because I have almost zero faith in Warner Brothers as a marketing company. Watching their trailer, then watching the film, I realized that they completely do not understand what it is they have.
Right now the movie is being pitched as a cartoon. It’s being pitched as something fun for the kids. And ya know what? Kids are gonna eat this film up... But the market for this movie is soooooooo much larger than that.
The one thing I kept wishing while I sat in that auditorium was that my father was there. Dad is 54 years old. And while watching this film I got the idea that Hogarth was not only a great character, but he’s how I imagine my father must have been as a kid.
He read Mad Magazine, Spirit and Superman. He went off into the woods to have adventures. He stayed up late at night to watch movies like FIEND WITHOUT A FACE or THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS. He had a cigar box filled with survival items he would need when the A-Bomb inevitably hit San Antonio. He had to practice the “duck and cover” drill in school.
He went out and captured rattlesnakes, raccoons, squirrels, etc. Well... You know, I’ve only heard tales about my father as a kid. Stories he used to relate to me when I was a kid... To help me see that the problems I was having were not unique or new... but rather age old problems that plague each new generation.
And you know what? This is a film that opens up that dialogue. It made me want to talk to my dad about growing up in this era. And ya know... I did... It’s great.
The characters in the movie are a beatnik junk metal artist with a cool goatee, Hogarth is the precocious kid, Chip Mansley a government man obsessed with the RED SCARE and Nuclear War, a reactionary general, a paranoid populace and lastly a gun that doesn’t want to be a gun anymore... The Iron Giant.
This movie has soul, and so does every character that lives in this universe. The kid is smart in a very realistic ‘kid’ way. The mother is the exasperated single parent who is working the waittress gig, getting very tired, and hasn’t enough energy to wrangle little Hogarth.
This is the sort of film that you take over major telecommunication firms and then place one gigantic phone call to everyone in the world to alert them of this movie.
This is a film to discover. One that you don’t go to because it’s a ‘Must See’ movie, but one you go to cause someone said, “You need to see IRON GIANT.” They stare you in the eye, their voice is sincere... and that strange ‘I have seen something you need to see’ look is there upon their brow.
I don’t know what to do about my TARZAN review now... it vexes me. I really enjoyed the film, I had a blast with it... but to see a movie... and animated film that doesn’t have characters created strictly to pander to one group or another. To see a film that betters it’s live action counterparts. To see Brad Bird create a perfect story with the perfect amount of heart and earnestness... Well... Ya know... It makes me look at TARZAN and HERCULES and MULAN and HUNCHBACK and POCAHONTAS... and it makes me wonder what these films could have been had a corporation not been involved.
They might have been as heartfelt and honest as THE IRON GIANT. Perhaps they could have had the cross-generational appeal that I felt with this movie. And perhaps they would not have felt so much a part of the time in which they were made.
IRON GIANT is timeless. It’s a film that adults can watch and feel like they aren’t “doing time” with their kids.
It is a film with a very strong message about harm and violence... And in the world we exist in today... It’s nice to see a film take a hard look at the soul of someone behind the trigger. It’s a message that should reach every person in this country.
Go see this movie. See it, and make your friends go... Folks... be prepared to be disarmed by this movie. You will find yourself enthralled and time will disappear. This isn’t a film about the latest ‘tricks’ of the trade... Or the latest hot ‘voice’. It isn’t about a gimmick. It’s about storytelling, and folks... it just doesn’t get better than this.
What a wonderfully magical night. Afterwards, Moriarty had to get his print back to those within the NRG that had to test the film on Tuesday. We can’t interrupt the screening process can we?
A note about the state of the film. It didn’t have the final score, and a few parts here and there were still pencil animation. But in this rough state it had all the magic in the world. Oh... Kamen, write a classic please... the material deserves your best.
