The Iron Giant (1999, Brad Bird) (Patreon)

68/100

Third viewing, last seen 1999. "Better than it looks," I briefly wrote at the time (was the trailer terrible? had I maybe heard the Pete Townshend album?), "but not nearly as remarkable as its champions claim—it's basically just a skillful, thoroughly enjoyable variation on E.T., with a little Day the Earth Stood Still thrown in for good measure." That still pretty much sums it up for me, though I now feel deeply nostalgic for the film's (mostly) old-school animation style, and can't help but perceive the Computer-Generated Giant's climactic attack as an unintentional industry metaphor. A certain irony there, since The Iron Giant is quite undistinguished visually, at least by classic Disney standards (compare its forest to Bambi's, for example); were it not part of cel animation's last gasp, I'd likely sigh about how much beauty we've lost due to corners being cut. Instead, the simple, clean lines and pasted-on flatness (notwithstanding some "out-of-focus" backgrounds—a touch of realism that I've never liked in cartoons) feel like home. Regarding the narrative, however, that sense of familiarity...well, it doesn't breed contempt, certainly, but it does perhaps preclude real wonder or catharsis. I'm just too conscious of the various beats (not counting Dean) that Bird is trying to hit, many of which, like the Spielbergian absent father, have been imposed on the source material. And the one genuinely emotional moment ("Sooo-per-man") gets retroactively undermined by the last few shots—it's hard for me to feel weepy about an ostensible sacrifice made by a creature that can readily re-assemble/-generate. See also: Groot.