The Iron Giant (1999)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Brad Bird

Writers:

Ted Hughes (book)
Tim McCanlies (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

6 August 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Family | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

It came from outer space!

Plot:

A boy makes friends with an innocent alien giant robot that a paranoid government agent wants to destroy.

Plot Keywords:

Government Agent | Paranoid | Prejudice | Small Town | Alien

Awards:

19 wins & 14 nominations

Cast

Jennifer Aniston	...	Annie Hughes (voice)
Harry Connick Jr.	...	Dean McCoppin (voice)
Vin Diesel	...	The Iron Giant (voice)
James Gammon	...	Marv Loach / Floyd Turbeaux / General Sudokoff (voice)
Cloris Leachman	...	Mrs. Lynley Tensedge (voice)
Christopher McDonald	...	Kent Mansley (voice) (as Christopher MacDonald)
John Mahoney	...	General Rogard (voice)
Eli Marienthal	...	Hogarth Hughes (voice)
M. Emmet Walsh	...	Earl Stutz (voice)
Mary Kay Bergman	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Ollie Johnston	...	Train Engineer #1 (voice)
Jack Angel	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Michael Bird	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Devon Cole Borisoff	...	Additional Voices (voice) (as Devon Borisoff)
Rodger Bumpass	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Robert Clotworthy	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Jennifer Darling	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Zack Eginton	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Paul Eiding	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Bill Farmer	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Charles Howerton	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Sherry Lynn	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Mickie McGowan	...	Additional Voices (voice) (as Mickie T. McGowan)
Ryan O'Donohue	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Phil Proctor	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Patti Tippo	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Brian Tochi	...	Additional Voices (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bob Bergen	...	Additional Voices (as Robert Bergen)
Frank Thomas	...	Train Engineer #2 (voice)

Directed by
Brad Bird

Writing credits
Ted Hughes		(book "The Iron Man")
Brad Bird		(story) (Screenplay uncredited)
Tim McCanlies		(screenplay)

Produced by
Allison Abbate	....	producer
Des McAnuff	....	producer
Pete Townshend	....	executive producer
John Walker	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Michael Kamen

Cinematography by
Steven Wilzbach

Film Editing by
Darren T. Holmes

Casting by
Marci Liroff

Production Design by
Mark Whiting

Art Direction by
Alan Bodner

Production Management
Jeannine Berger	....	post-production supervisor
Aaron Parry	....	digital production manager
Laura Leganza Reynolds	....	assistant production manager
Amy Richards	....	production manager
Kathleen Zuelch	....	assistant production manager (uncredited)

Art Department
Viki Anderson	....	storyboard artist
Mark Andrews	....	storyboard artist
Irina Goosby	....	bluesketch artist
Ron Hughart	....	storyboard artist
Scott F. Johnston	....	artistic coordinator
Brian Kindregan	....	storyboard artist
Steve Markowski	....	storyboard artist
Moroni	....	storyboard artist
Teddy Newton	....	storyboard artist
Kevin O'Brien	....	storyboard artist
Fergal Reilly	....	storyboard artist
Harry Sabin	....	storyboard artist
Mercedes J. Sichon	....	lead bluesketch artist (as Mercedes Sichon)
Stephen G. Lumley	....	additional storyboards (uncredited)

Sound Department
Chad Algarin	....	sound recordist
Beau Borders	....	sound effects editor
Yin Cantor	....	assistant sound editor
Tony Eckert	....	foley editor
Andrea S. Gard	....	assistant sound designer
Joanna Laurent	....	assistant foley editor (as Joey Laurent)
Mary Helen Leasman	....	foley editor
Dennis Leonard	....	supervising sound editor
Frank 'Pepe' Merel	....	foley engineer
Preston Oliver	....	dialogue mixer
Curt Schulkey	....	supervising adr editor
Curt Schulkey	....	supervising dialogue editor
Aaron L. Thompson	....	sound engineer
Randy Thom	....	sound designer
Dennie Thorpe	....	foley artist
Jana Vance	....	foley artist
Gregory H. Watkins	....	sound re-recording mixer
Stuart McCowan	....	apprentice sound designer (uncredited)
Troy Porter	....	sound mixer (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Carl Canga	....	special effects inbetweener

Visual Effects by
Ray Aragon	....	visual development
Leslie Barker	....	assistant production manager: animation
John Bermudes	....	effects animator
Brad Booker	....	computer graphics animator
Andrew Brownlow	....	computer graphics animator
Felipe Cerdán	....	effects inbetweener
Yarrow Cheney	....	computer graphics character animator
Minhee Choe	....	computer graphics animator
Laura L. Corsiglia	....	visual development
Jesse Cosio	....	effects animator
Stéphane Cros	....	computer graphics character animator
John Dillon	....	effects animator
Adam Dotson	....	CGI animator
Grace Dotson	....	computer graphics animator (as Grace Blanco)
Ricardo Echevarria	....	effects animator (as Rick Echevarria)
Bruce Edwards	....	CGI animator
Marc Ellis	....	effects animator
Kolja Erman	....	CGI technical director
Mark R.R. Farquhar	....	computer graphics animator
Allen Foster	....	effects department head
Michel Gagné	....	effects animator
Tad A. Gielow	....	computer graphics department head
Irene M. Gringeri	....	scanning supervisor
Victor J. Haboush	....	visual development
James Hathcock	....	visual effects
Earl A. Hibbert	....	effects animator
Brett Hisey	....	effects animator
Ron Hughart	....	computer graphics animator
Andrew Jimenez	....	digital artist
Yair Kantor	....	computer graphics animator
Craig Kelly	....	digital background artist
David Lee	....	effects inbetweener
Michael Leung	....	CGI designer/technical director
Sebastien Linage	....	computer graphics technical director
Roger Lougher	....	effects assistant
Dominique Louis	....	visual development (as Dominique R. Louis)
John MacFarlane	....	effects animator
Les Major	....	computer graphics animator
Rob Meyers	....	effects animator
Rodd Miller	....	visual effects
Jem Mirza	....	effects assistant (as Jemshaid Mirza)
Mike Murphy	....	computer graphics animator
Teddy Newton	....	visual development
Kevin Oakley	....	special effects animator
Kevin M. O'Neil	....	effects animator
Susan Oslin	....	computer graphics animator
Volker Pajatsch	....	effects animator
David Pritchard	....	effects animator
Jay Shindell	....	effects assistant animator
Edwin Shortess	....	digital scanner
Gary Sole	....	effects animator
Vincent Truitner	....	computer graphics animator
Ryan Jeremy Woodward	....	effects animator
Alex Neymark	....	technology consultant (uncredited)
Von Williams	....	effects assistant animator (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Mark Dinicola	....	animation camera supervisor (uncredited)

Animation Department
Eric J. Abjornson	....	clean-up animation lead
James P. Alles	....	layout artist
Richard Baneham	....	animator
Richard Bazley	....	supervising animator
Gordon Bellamy	....	clean-up assistant: clean-up animation
Christopher Brock	....	background artist
Adam Burke	....	animator
Tania Burton	....	color model supervisor (as Tania Mitman Burton)
Jennifer Cardon Klein	....	animator (as Jennifer Cardon)
Mike Chavez	....	animator
Ruben Chavez	....	background artist
Greg Checketts	....	animator
Teresa Coffey-Wellins	....	layout artist
Joanne Coughlin	....	additional animator
Devin Crane	....	additional animator
Ricardo Curtis	....	animator
Ruth Daly	....	animator
Bob Davies	....	supervising animator
William Dely	....	background artist
Jean Cullen De Moura	....	additional animator
Marcelo Fernandes De Moura	....	animator
Dennis Durrell	....	background artist
Jeff Etter	....	animator
Carla Fallberg	....	character sculptor
Lauren Faust	....	animator
Ralph Fernan	....	animator
James Finn	....	background artist
Stephan Franck	....	supervising animator
Tony Fucile	....	animation department head
Steve Garcia	....	animator
Frederick J. Gardner III	....	layout artist (as Frederick J. Gardiner III)
Nathalie Gavet	....	clean-up animation lead
Greg Gibbons	....	background artist
Louis Gonzales	....	layout artist
Lennie K. Graves	....	animator
Ann Guenther	....	background artist
Russell Hall	....	animator
Karen Hamrock	....	layout artist
Adam Henry	....	animator
Ken Hettig	....	animator
Kevin Johnson	....	animator
Ben Jones	....	animator
Karenia Kaminski	....	clean-up animation lead
Conor Kavanagh	....	layout artist
Ernie Keen	....	animator
Jae H. Kim	....	animator
Sarah-Jane King	....	ink and paint supervisor
Marty Korth	....	clean-up animation lead
Piet Kroon	....	story artist
Francis Lang	....	layout artist
Phil Langone	....	additional animator
Phil Larsen	....	additional animator
Boowon Lee	....	additional animator
Helen Hee Seung Lee	....	additional animator
Holger Leihe	....	animator
Lane Lueras	....	animator
Greg Manwaring	....	supervising animator
Craig R. Maras	....	animator
Roy Meurin	....	animator
Felipe Morell	....	layout artist
Michael Mullen	....	additional animator
Randy Myers	....	animator
June Myung Nam	....	clean-up animation lead
Mike Nguyen	....	supervising animator
Fabio Novais	....	animator
Melina Sydney Padua	....	animator
Don Parmele	....	clean-up animation lead
Joel Parod	....	background artist
Wendy Perdue	....	supervising animator
Scott T. Petersen	....	animator
Doris A. Plough	....	clean-up animation lead
Shane Prigmore	....	additional animator
Craig Robertson	....	background artist
Ron Roesch	....	layout artist (as Ronald M. Roesch)
Eddie Rosas	....	additional animator
Jonathan Salt	....	background artist
Chris Sauve	....	supervising animator
Andy Schmidt	....	animator
Andy Schuhler	....	additional animator
Mike Shannon	....	additional animator
Kyung S. Shin	....	additional animator
Myoung Smith	....	animation check: 2-D and 3-D department head
Peter Sohn	....	additional animator
Lisa Souza	....	layout artist
Sean Springer	....	animator
Audrey Stedman	....	layout artist
Stephen Steinbach	....	additional animator
Glenn Storm	....	animator
Mike Swofford	....	animator
Derek lee Thompson	....	animator
Bill Thyen	....	layout artist
Michael Tracy	....	layout artist
Bob Tyler	....	clean-up animation lead (as Robert Tyler)
Craig Valde	....	animator
Jim Van der Keyl	....	animator
Michael Venturini	....	additional animator
Roger Vizard	....	animator
Craig Voigt	....	layout artist
Nadia Vurbenova	....	background artist
Dean Wellins	....	directing animator
Dean Wellins	....	story artist
Alexander Williams	....	animator
Mark Williams	....	animator
John Williamson	....	animator
Miri Yoon	....	clean-up assistant
Jennifer Yuan	....	layout artist
Wei M. Zhao	....	background artist
Daryl Carstensen	....	animation checker: 2-D and 3-D animation (uncredited)
Guy Donovan	....	breakdown artist (uncredited)
Cathlin Hidalgo	....	breakdown artist: "Hogarth" (uncredited)
Steve Kindernay	....	ink and paint artist (uncredited)
Steve Markowski	....	animation supervisor (uncredited)
Steve Markowski	....	character designer (uncredited)
Johnny Painter	....	breakdown artist (uncredited)
Dusty Wakefield	....	assistant animator (uncredited)
Ryan Jeremy Woodward	....	animator (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Sheri Galloway	....	first assistant editor
Stephen Schaffer	....	assistant editor
Greg Snyder	....	assistant editor
John Currin	....	assistant editor (uncredited)
Bill Daly	....	post-production executive (uncredited)
Karl Dunne	....	scanner technician (uncredited)

Music Department
James Austin	....	music consultant
James Seymour Brett	....	music programmer: electronic score
Christopher Brooks	....	score producer
Robert Elhai	....	orchestrator
Michael Kamen	....	conductor
Michael Kamen	....	orchestrator
Michael Kamen	....	score producer
John 'Juke' Logan	....	music consultant
Blake Neely	....	orchestrator
Preston Oliver	....	music arranger: songs
Michael Price	....	music programmer: electronic score
James Seymour Brett	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)
James Seymour Brett	....	music co-producer (uncredited)
Stephen McLaughlin	....	music score producer (uncredited)
Michael Price	....	music co-producer (uncredited)

Other crew
Brett Achorn	....	technical director
Mark Andrews	....	workbook designer
Will Bilton	....	acme digital specialist
Cathy E. Blanco	....	software engineer
Alyson Brown	....	production accountant
Daniel Bunn	....	technical director
Steven Burch	....	technical director
Sandro Mario Corsaro	....	production associate
Zack Eginton	....	additional voice
Will Eisner	....	creator: "The Spirit"
Babak Forutanpour	....	technical director
William H. Frake III	....	layout/workbook department head (as Bill Frake)
Brian Gardner	....	technical director
Corey Hels	....	technical director
Rhonda L. Hicks	....	acme department head
Ted Hughes	....	consultant
Roger Huynh	....	technical director
Hiroki Itokazu	....	technical director
Conor Kavanagh	....	workbook designer
Darren Kiner	....	technical director
Andy King	....	technical director
Keith Kobata	....	technical engineer
Lureline Kohler	....	clean-up department head
Michael Leung	....	technical director
Stephen G. Lumley	....	workbook designer
Jeffrey Lynch	....	story department head
Mike Meckler	....	technical director
Emil Mitev	....	workbook designer
Felipe Morell	....	workbook designer
Lyle S. Nojima	....	technical director
Kim Patterson	....	scene planner: final scene
Brian Schindler	....	technical director
Joe Shuster	....	creator: "Superman"
Jerry Siegel	....	creator: "Superman"
Freddie Vaziri	....	digital specialist
Dennis Venizelos	....	background department head
Steven Wilzbach	....	scene planning department head
David F. Wolf	....	technology supervisor
Teddy T. Yang	....	technical director
Bill Baggelaar	....	editorial engineer (uncredited)
Tanya Calderon	....	production assistant (uncredited)
Katherine C. Concepcion	....	training and artist development manager (uncredited)
Lem Davis	....	technical director (uncredited)
Liza Dodson	....	assistant: Ms. Abbate (uncredited)
Dustin Ellis	....	production assistant (uncredited)
Tim Keon	....	development (uncredited)
Camille Leganza	....	intern (uncredited)
Jose Molina	....	production assistant (uncredited)
Laura Leganza Reynolds	....	technical liaison (uncredited)
Xandy Sussan	....	production assistant (uncredited)
Larry Whitaker	....	development artist (uncredited)

Thanks
Ted Hughes	....	in memory of

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. Animation
• Warner Bros. Feature Animation
• Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1999) (USA) (theatrical)
• Argentina Video Home (Argentina) (video)
• Varus Video
• WB Television Network, The (2002) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Warner Bros. (Argentina)
• Warner Bros. (Germany)
• Warner Bros. (France)
• Warner Bros.
• Warner Home Video (2000) (Spain) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Czech Philharmonic Orchestra  orchestra
• Rhino Records  soundtrack published by

MPAA:

Rated PG for fantasy action and mild language.

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS | SDDS

Certification:

Hong Kong:I | Canada:G (British Columbia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Iceland:L | USA:PG (certificate #36640) | South Korea:All | Germany:6 | Taiwan:GP | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Chile:TE | Finland:K-8/5 | France:U | Ireland:PG | Netherlands:AL | New Zealand:PG | Norway:7 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:U

Company:

Warner Bros. Animation

Trivia:

In the scene where Kent is using the Hughes' phone, the humorous oven mitt hanging on the wall beside him appears to be a stylized version of the "family dog" from Brad Bird's animated short of the same title which appeared on "Amazing Stories" (1985). (Season 2, Episode 16: Family Dog, 16 February 1987).

Goofs:

Continuity: When the jeep pulls up to shoot at the Iron Giant in the intersection, the ammo box on its machine gun is on the gun's right side. When the gunner shoots at the Iron Giant, the ammo box is on the gun's left side.

Quotes:

Hogarth Hughes: So we can't call Ripley's Believe it or Not, because... they wouldn't believe it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in More Making of 'The Incredibles' (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

Blues Walk

An Absolute Wonder Which Cherishes Its Influences - The Best Animated Feature Ever !

Animated movies have long been considered strictly for children. The old Disney classics that started it all are indeed aimed at kids, but are still very watchable, even for adults. With the advent of TOY STORY and its countless mimics, animated feature films have taken long strides to be considered worthy of serious attention. THE IRON GIANT is just such an animated piece. The 87 minute wonder is, to put it mildly, incredible. Everything about it is good. I've also never seen so many influences and references in an animated film before.

This is a movie with a heart the size of the title character. A gentle, gigantic robot is rocketed to earth and befriends a 10 year old boy. The kid has a single mother (voiced nicely by Jennifer Aniston) and he is just looking for a friend, whether it be a squirrel, or even a 50 foot tall machine. The familiar premise is obviously out of Spielberg's E.T. One scene even has the giant reaching out his finger to the boy in much the same way ET did to 10 year old Elliott when he departed this earth. E.T. was an out of this world fantasy that took place on this earth. Here, it is animated and almost just as effective.

IRON GIANT takes place during 1957 in a small town in Maine. The 1950's was a time when the American public was fearful of atomic bombs and the possibility of alien life off the earth. Live-action sci-fi films of the 1950's always depicted the arrival of "dangerous" alien life and our efforts to destroy it. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL is an influence on this film for evident reasons. Ultimately, the characters in that classic learn from the extra-terrestrial being and realize the dangers of the A-Bomb. It is amazing to see an animated feature which can relay this same type of message some 50 years later.

A beautiful and touching ode to BAMBI is witnessed about halfway through. It also brings back some tearful moments from the key scene in that great, hand-drawn film. Here, we see both hand-drawn imagery coupled with a computer-generated "iron giant". The title character is actually a 3D composition done digitally, mixed with the 2D action surrounding him. There are some highly imaginative shots of the robot mixing in with the film's environment. At one point, he appears to be a lighthouse until the lights begin to blink. I guess robots must blink too.

Enough analysis. I loved this movie. It is ranked #81 on the top list by other user authors for a reason. Not only is it escapist, fantastic entertainment for kids, adults, and seniors alike, it is an animated picture like no other. It combines the joy of SNOW WHITE and PINOCCHIO, the commentary of 1950's science fiction, and the wizardry and laughter of TOY STORY and its sequel. Do not miss this enchanting flick.

RATING: ****