The Iron Giant

If you've enjoyed "The Incredibles" and "Ratatouille," you need to go back and watch Brad Bird's first move "The Iron Giant."

"The Iron Giant" came out in 1999 to little fanfare, but the preview caught my eye and I went to see it with my oldest son who was just 4 and my mom who was visiting at the time.

Kids will enjoy this movie for the fantasy of having a giant robot for a friend, but just like Brad Bird's other movies, there is so much going on here, the movie is so rich.

We see the red scare paranoia of the time, the reckless actions of someone who is arrogantly certain of themselves, and yet we also see military people who are sensible and can listen to reason. Questions about the meaning of life, about the idea of having a soul come out of the boys relationship with the giant.

Add to that great visuals, and one of the earliest mixes of hand painted and cgi animation and it's not just a great story, but presented beautifully as well.

But the biggest message, and one that I love this movie for, is the exploration of the idea that you choose your actions and define yourself by them. That you do not have to be what others have tried to define you as.

Unfortunately the trailer available online at IMDB is not the original trailer, and I didn't care for it. If I can find the original trailer I will link it. (Found it, here's the original trailer, much better than what's on IMDB now Iron Giant original trailer.)

If you get a chance to watch it, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It's also worth reading about why Hughes, the author of the original story this is based on "The Iron Man," wrote the story in the first place. I leave that to the reader to explore.