10 years since The Iron Giant

Wired points out that it’s now been a full decade since the release of the sadly underrated movie, The Iron Giant. In a tender and thoughtful essay, writer Scott Thill explains his love of the movie and why he thinks it has endured.

Remember, though, that The Iron Giant was near-ignored when it first came out, and it only found sort of a cult following after release on VHS and DVD. Thill says it’s still “the most intellectually and emotionally moving science-fiction tale in recent history” — especially when you consider that recent sci-fi movies have tended towards the dumb and the dumber:

The Iron Giant was anything but dumb. In fact, it was an intelligent and moving satire of paranoia, weaponry and innocence that was as decidedly antiwar as it was pro-tech. Its robot overlord — a giant, metal machine that falls from space during the height of the Cold War — is, after all, breathtakingly cool. It’s indestructible, fully loaded, can fly and even remotely piece itself back together after being blown to bits.

If you haven’t seen The Iron Giant, you should. And it’s something you should probably keep around to show your kids. Yes, I think it has that kind of staying power. It’s kind of like the Brave Little Toaster in that way.

Here’s the original trailer for The Iron Giant. (Wired also linke to this eight minute-clip near the end of the film) Like too many trailers, this one shows a little too much of the story, in my opinion, but it doesn’t give everything away.