Product: The Iron Giant
Company: Warner
Review By: Byron Hinson
Price: $17:49

Aspect Ratio	Regional Information		DVD Disc Details
1.85 : 1 Anamorphic Widescreen Pan & Scan	1 : USA	NTSC	Closed Captioning: CC Master format: Film Sides: 1 (DS-SL) Chapter stops: Average Bit Rate: 6.5 Running Time: 86 Mins

Sound:	English
	5.1
Subtitles:

I remember reading the book "The Iron Man" by Ted Hughes when I was much younger, it was one of the few books that I have read that I can actually remember anything about. The Iron Giant was somehow largely overlooked on by the viewing public when it was released in cinema's in the US and Europe (Recently went on release here in the UK). The Iron Giant did open to critical acclaim everywhere though.

The story is basically about a boy who befriends the large robot "The Iron Giant", the young boy teaches him how to talk and they become great friends, but of course the adults who are on the look out for him are not convinced that he is friendly at all. The movie is set in the 1950's during the cold war, so the government believe that the robot is some kind of killing machine sent over from Russia.

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed the movie, the animation is first class and the story is excellent, a mention must also go out to all of the voice actors (M. Emmet Walsh, John Mahoney, Harry Connick Jr., Jennifer Aniston) as each one does an excellent job.

How It Grades
		Picture Quality: 90% Sound: 89% Special Features: 65% Movie Overall: 91% DVD Overall: 85%

Now onto the DVD, the picture quality is yet again excellent, as it should be for an animated release. There are two aspect ratios to choose from, Pan & Scan or the Widescreen Anamorphic 2.35:1 aspect ratio, obviously if you have the TV go for the Widescreen one as the Pan & Scan version, although not as badly butchered as some releases doesn't show the whole picture. I did have a few problems with a couple of scenes that showed up some artifacts on the picture, but they were hardly noticeable. Soundwise The Iron Giant also excels right from the start, the musical score is great and can be heard really well right alongside the well integrated dialog.

Unfortunately the extras leave a little to be desired, which is a real shame considering the rest of the DVD. There are the usual trailers, behind the scenes footage and a music video, but little else to grab the attention. So what can I say, if you haven't seen the movie at the cinema then I can wholly recommend it to both adults and children, it is a great story and an excellent DVD.