The film is based on the 1968 novel, The Iron Man by Ted Hughes.

The Iron Giant (voice from Vin Diesel) falls from the sky and is discovered by Hogarth Hughes (Eli Marienthal). Hogarth is at first scared of the giant but soon learns that he is gentle and intelligent. The Giant however has a taste for steel and it’s hard to keep him fed without people starting to notice. Especially Government Agent Kent Mansley, who is on the trail of the giant in an effort to destroy him.

Hogarth does everything he can to keep the giant hidden and a secret from the town but this is of course a little difficult.

The Giant takes up residence with a friend of Hogarth's at a nearby junkyard where he can munch on all the old cars he likes.

Eventually though the secret gets out!

The film is actually quite reachable by an adult audience even though it is distinctly a children’s film.

So how does the transfer hold up ??

VIDEO
The 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen transfer is nothing short of spectacular, even with a few tiny problems. The colour scheme is bright and vibrant without breaking the boundaries of natural colour as an animation.

The combination of 2D and 3D digital graphics works very well and doesn’t really seem to pose any major problems.
There are no MPEG artefacts, and no film artefacts.
Only one slight case of aliasing marred the transfer.
The entire transfer is sharp and clear at all times with no grain, and the animation shows some very good depth.

This is an impressive transfer, made obvious by animation of course.

AUDIO
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track was also excellent. Dialogue was clear and sharp at all times and there were no problems with synchronization.

The entire soundstage was frequently used to full effect, the surrounds and base channel were very active during the film and gave a great sense of feeling with deep base movements from the giant.

The score from Michael Kamen was also great. Befitting of an animated film it was dramatic and emotional and certainly brought you into the film.

EXTRAS
- Theatrical Trailer
- Featurette: The Making of The Iron Giant.   Not a bad Featurette some interviews with cast and crew, and a good look at the animation techniques of compositing 2D and 3D graphics in the film. You have to laugh at the commercial break intro though as this is obviously made for TV, surely this could have been omitted here.
- Music Video: Cha Hua Hua (Eddie Platt). One of the songs from the film.
- DVD Rom Extras: web site link.