Director: Brad Bird
Screenplay: Brad Bird, Tim McCanlies
Starring:Jennifer Aniston, Eli Marienthal, Harry Connick Jr., Christopher McDonald, Cloris Leachman, John Mahoney, M. Emmit Walsh
John's Review
What a wonderful film. In the mold of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, an alien falls to earth and is befriended by a young boy, who's being raised solely by his mother. The difference here, is that it's not a cute little alien, but a 100 foot tall robot. The Giant, is like a child, he doesn't know how to speak, and has forgotten everything. Hogarth (Marienthal) is a young adventure loving boy who only wants to have a pet. His mother (Aniston), is overworked at the local diner in Rockwell, Maine. She does the best she can and loves her son more than anything.
Then one night, a meteor crashes into the ocean off the coast of Maine, nearly sinks Earl Stutz's (Walsh) fishing troller. He tells everyone in town, of course no one believes the old coot, so nothing is done. One night while home alone, Hogarth is watching T.V. and staying up late, two things his mother told him not to do, since she had to work late. Suddenly there is a thump and the T.V. reception goes bad. Hogarth, being the young adventurer that he is investigates, to find that the antenna on their house has been eaten(?) off.
So off goes Hogarth into the woods to find what did this. To the boys amazement he comes across a metal starved 100 foot tall robot. The Giant, inadvertantly wrecks a power station, and Hogarth saves him. Soon the place is swarming with dastardly feds and lunkhead military types. What ensues is a story of friendship, loyalty, compassion and tolerance.
This is the perfect summer family fare. Even more so than Tarzan. Unlike Tarzan, this movie doesn't beat you over the head with all of the messages it's trying to provide. It's subtlety is it's key to success. The direction is great and the film looks good. Any computer animation is done seemlessly so as to not even be noticeable. The roles are all done very well, and for a change, Harry Connick Jr. plays a role he is good at, a beatnik.
I highly recommend this film, it is one of the best family movies I have seen in the movie theater. Both of my sons thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and so did I.
Grade: A-