When a mysterious object crashes into the ocean off the coast of New England, the town of Rockwell is beside themselves with worry. The Russians had just launched Sputnik and the wild speculation about was running rampant. A few days later, a young boy named Hogarth spots a destructive pair of foot prints leading into the woods near his house. As Hogarth investigates, he discovers a giant robot made of iron. Hogarth befriends the giant and attempts to teach him that just because he was made a certain way that he doesn’t have to behave that way.

Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant has been on my “do not watch” list for years. I can’t really remember exactly why, I just know that I didn’t like it as a kid. I think my 4-6 year old self was pretty cynical and didn’t know what he liked. I can say that a contributing factor was that at the time, it looked too polished. I grew up watching the ancient Disney animations from the silver age and those were my favorite. But watching this in 2022, it is clear that The Iron Giant is a really solid movie. But I will die on the hill that Hogarth is a dumb name for an animated character.

The Iron Giant is available to stream on HBO Max.

Update 9/20/2022 – This is # 250 on the current version of the IMDb Top 250 movies list. I watched The Help last night and it is way better at 249. The gap between these two is huge and this has been re-reviewed down to an 81. No further comments.