With the release of the Iron Giant's Blu-Ray nearing, I feel like I should go into why I love and appreciate this film with two points: the Character and Effects animation and the film itself.

The Animation: What I really like about the film’s human character animation and design is how the characters aren't animated like cartoons, but animated like people with only slightly cartoonish reactions (physical and emotional). Big example here is Mansley, who goes from calm and collected to on the edge to completely hysterical through the span of the film. His body language, expressions, and voice during this moments really shows us his fall from emotional grace, and sells us his character through an honest progression. Other characters, such as Hogarth and Dean, are more subdued, but when the moment comes (such as Dean trying to handle himself whilst a squirrel is in his clothes, or when Hogarth is trying to say Grace while keeping an eye on the Giant’s free-walking hand), the body language, voice, and expressions once again sell us the character, but in a honest showcase of reaction instead of progression. The non-human animation, meanwhile, is all about "subdued until breaking point" reactions in the case of the Giant, whose animation is the second biggest example of honest progression; he's able to express himself initially through slight mouth and head movements, and the way his eyelids (or optic covers) close, open, and slightly close. Eventually, as he becomes more aware of Earth, Hogarth, other humans, and himself, he starts to act more human physically and vocally, eventually culminating in him grieving over a seemingly dead Hogarth; he’s bending down near him, simultaneously stretching out an arm and keeping it away from his body, shaking his head a bit and making sounds like a distressed person. What makes this progression stand out is, once again, how honest it is; the growth isn't forced, it is a natural, internal journey for the character (both the character itself and its model) and is presented as such. Another thing I liked about the animation were the effects; from the creation of the tidal wave, to the weaponized energy coming forth from the Giant's machinery, the effects animation doesn't just look alive, it feels alive.

The Film: It is at once a startlingly funny parody of Cold War paranoia, a sci-fi "boy and his dog" story, and a rebuke against violence without knowledge of what you're frightened of. I've never seen a film quite like it, and it is the kind of animated film I wish to make.