The Iron Giant (1999)

Note des utilisateurs:

7.9/10   

Réalisateur:

Brad Bird

Writers:

Ted Hughes (book)
Tim McCanlies (screenplay)

Release Date:

6 août 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Aventure | Family | Sci-Fi

Accroche:

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

Avis des utilisateurs:

A delightful surprise

Ensemble

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)

Autre(s) titre(s):

Le géant de fer (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]

MPAA:

Rated PG for fantasy action and mild language.

Durée:

86 min

Pays:

USA

Langue:

Anglais

Couleur:

Couleur (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Son:

Dolby Digital | DTS | SDDS

Classification:

Hong Kong:I | Canada:G (British Columbia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Iceland:L | USA:PG (certificate #36640) | South Korea:Tous | 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

Anecdotes:

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: The stock of Hogarth's gun changes in appearance. When Marv Loach hands it to Kent Mansley, the "HOG" of "HOGARTH" is almost directly over the "HUG" of "HUGHES". When Kent looks at the gun in the car, the "HUG" has shifted the equivalent of two letters to the right.

Guillemet:

Kent Mansley: Please, Sir, I've got a feeling about this one.
General Rogard: That's nice, Mansley, but let me explain how things are supposed to work. If you had, say, a footprint, I might be able to send over an expert to make a plaster cast of it. Hell, you get me a photograph of this thing, I can send some troops down there! But you tell me you've got a feeling...
Kent Mansley: All right... you want evidence? I'll get you evidence. And when I do, I'm gonna want a memo...
General Rogard: That's just swell, Mansley.
Kent Mansley: And I'm gonna want that memo carbon copied and distributed...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in DVD (2006)

Soundtrack:

Honeycomb

A delightful surprise

"The Iron Giant" is the kind of animated film you wish there was more of. It respects the audience's intelligence, it has genuine emotion without resorting to schmaltz, and best of all it balances fantasy (well, science fiction) with believability. I think Warner Brothers animation has out-Disneyed Disney by adding thoughtful writing to clean, understated animation. What a concept!

The story is deceptively simple: Iron Giant falls from the sky at the dawn of the Space Race and befriends a young boy. But within that framework we get a double story, one for the grown ups and one for the kids, but the message is essentially the same one: paranoia and violence begets violence. I appreciate very much, as others who have commented, that no one burst into incongruous song and that there were no cutesy animal sidekicks. I should add that there were no clever yet implausible plot twists, nor were there any stock characters. The bad guy gets a little overheated, true, but he is never the embodiment of all things evil. The townspeople are your average small town Americans, not bumpkins. Mom is, well, mom-ish, caring but neither shrewish nor prone to whimpering outbursts. And our hero is plucky but not annoyingly precocious.

A BIG plus for this film is how well it weds the computer animation to the hand-drawn animation, a feat that the Big Mouse hasn't mastered yet. Even as recently as "Tarzan" it is glaringly apparent what parts are computer graphics and which aren't, and the contrast is very distracting. "The Iron Giant" makes a virtue of streamlined animation that draws your eye to the beauty of its color and motion.

It was a very VERY distinct and unusual pleasure to be treated to a film such as this. Give us more . . . please!