The Iron Giant (Special Edition) (DVD)

I had absolutely no interest in seeing this film when it was released back in 1999, but since then I have read several glowing reviews for The Iron Giant and when the opportunity to review a special edition release of the film came up, I jumped at the opportunity to view this film for the first time.

Directed and adapted for the screen by The Incredibles director, Brad Bird and packed with a huge cast of voice actors including Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr., John Mahoney and Vin Diesel as the Giant, The Iron Giant is not your conventional story as a huge robot crash lands on Earth and befriends 11-year-old Hogarth, a young man who finds himself having to protect the gentle giant from an out-to-kill government agent. I immediately fell in love with the story as well as the amazing animation that certainly makes The Iron Giant a film everyone should see.

As far as this Special Edition DVD is concerned you get a brand new digital transfer of the movie and a boatload of great special features.

Although all these features are great I was most pleased when listening to the audio commentary with director Brad Bird, animator Tony Fucile, Story Department Head Jeff Lynch and supervising animator Steven Markowski. When I was watching the movie there was one scene that particularly caught my attention. Hogarth finds his TV antenna has been broken off his house and sets out to find the culprit. As he sets out on his mission and his flashlight lights the dark forest Brad Bird mentions that the scene almost didn't make the film. This scene has some of the best animation I have ever seen and the rest of the film does an equally good job of incorporating the use of lighting into the feature.

Along with the commentary comes some really good deleted scenes along with an alternate opening to the film. While the scenes are still in their rough form they do add a little more to the film and a couple of them really would have worked had they actually made it to the film.

As far as featurettes go there are several options including one that plays along with the film that pops up an icon 13 times throughout the film and when you push Enter it goes into a behind-the-scenes look at the specific scene you are watching. The branching segments cover everything from the animation of the Warner Bros. title, the score, storyboarding and more.

There are also a couple of kooky features that covers the film's Creative Consultant Teddy Newton who was the creator of the goofy little Nuclear Bomb training sequence during the film. The features show an extended look at the Nuclear Bomb training video and a goofy little cartoon that shows an extremely exaggerated look at Anne and Kent's first date.

Overall, this is a great movie that will hopefully be enjoyed by more than enjoyed it at the theaters. The quality of the film is evident in the fact that Warner Bros. was confident enough to release a special edition and they were correct in doing so. If you aren't sure about buying this one at the outset, or based on my review, definitely rent it you won't be sorry.