The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
Back to trending 
The Iron Giant
Animation · Drama · Family · 1999
In the small town of Rockwell, Maine in October 1957, a giant metal machine befriends a nine-year-old boy and ultimately finds its humanity by unselfishly saving people from their own fears and prejudices.
Movie details
The Iron Giant
“It came from outer space!”
1999 Animation · Drama · Family 1h 26m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
8.1 / 10
257.2K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
96 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
85 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
8.0 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
In the small town of Rockwell, Maine in October 1957, a giant metal machine befriends a nine-year-old boy and ultimately finds its humanity by unselfishly saving people from their own fears and prejudices.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over The Iron Giant?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Nimona
Animation · 2023
A knight framed for a tragic crime teams with a scrappy, shape-shifting teen to prove his innocence.
The Fox and the Hound
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When a feisty little fox named Tod is adopted into a farm family, he quickly becomes friends with a fun and adorable hound puppy named Copper. Life is full of hilarious adventures until Copper is expected to take on his role as a hunting dog -- and the object of his search is his best friend!
Treasure Planet
Sci-fi · 2002
When space galleon cabin boy Jim Hawkins discovers a map to an intergalactic "loot of a thousand worlds," a cyborg cook named John Silver teaches him to battle supernovas and space storms on their journey to find treasure.
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
Animation · 2022
The unlikely friendship of a boy, a mole, a fox and a horse traveling together in the boy's search for home.
The Transformers: The Movie
Animation · 1986
The Autobots must stop a colossal planet-consuming robot who goes after the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. At the same time, they must defend themselves against an all-out attack from the Decepticons.
The Secret of NIMH
Adventure · 1982
A widowed field mouse must move her family -- including an ailing son -- to escape a farmer's plow. Aided by a crow and a pack of superintelligent, escaped lab rats, the brave mother struggles to transplant her home to firmer ground.
Titan A.E.
Animation · 2000
A young man finds out that he holds the key to restoring hope and ensuring survival for the human race, while an alien species called the Drej are bent on mankind's destruction.
G.I. Joe: The Movie
Animation · 1987
G.I. Joe faces a new enemy as an ancient society of snake people known as Cobra-La try to forcefully take back the earth from those who drove them underground eons ago.
Where it lives
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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.
Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Brad Bird
Written by
Tim McCanlies · Brad Bird
Jennifer Aniston
Annie Hughes (voice)
Harry Connick Jr.
Dean McCoppin (voice)
Vin Diesel
The Iron Giant (voice)
James Gammon
Foreman Marv Loach / Floyd Turbeaux (voice)
Cloris Leachman
Mrs. Lynley Tensedge (voice)
Christopher McDonald
Kent Mansley (voice)
John Mahoney
General Rogard (voice)
Court is in session
Put The Iron Giant on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.