The Iron Giant (1999)

[Movie 176 / Day 193]


Based on Ted Hughes' childrens book, The Iron Giant is the story of a massive robot falling to earth from outer space in 1950s America. As it roams around the countryside, a comic-book obsessed young boy (Hogarth) goes looking for it. Whilst he watches it grabs hold of part of an electricity substation and receives a huge electric shock. Hogarth runs over and throws a big switch, saving the Iron Giant.

After that, the two become friends; Hogarth helping the Giant to hide in a local scrap yard whilst avoiding the suspicions of both his mother and an overzealous government agent who has been sent to investigate the strange sightings.

The animation is a beautiful mix of traditional hand drawn and computer generated and the voice work is very well cast.

One of my favourite animated movies.

My rating: 7.8 / 10
IMDB rating: 7.9 / 10
Running time: 86 mins
IMDB link

Babylon A.D. (2008)

[Movie 67 / Day 39]


Vin Diesel is a mercenary who is hired to transport a girl from a convent in Russia to New York. Lots of sci-fi stuff happens, the girl turns out to be genetically modified in order to have the history of the world in her head and to think like a computer and is supposed to be a miracle that will cement the status of a religious sect.

Plotwise, it's all a bit wierd, with lots of holes and jumps. The directors cut is apparently 160 minutes rather than 90, so I'm not really surprised it doesn't flow particularly well if that much has been taken out of it - but I imagine the 160 minute version will get bogged down in too much detail.

The action scenes, when they happen, are actually quite good - as you'd expect for a movie with both Diesel and Michelle Yeoh in it. Some of the special effects are also really nice - especially the slow motion explosion around Aurura, the genetically modified girl. There's just not enough action to make up for the muddled plot.

And I really hope Gerard Depardieu's nose is a plastic prosthetic, because it really looks like it.

EDIT: Having now read the trivia pages on IMDB, which make lots of reference to the arguments between director and studio, I'd actually be interested to see the directors cut. Also, it's a shame Vin Diesel chose this over Hitman, as he'd have been brilliant in that (Timothy Olyphant wasn't quite right for the role).

My rating: 5.2 / 10
IMDB rating: 5.3 / 10
Running time: 90 mins
IMDB link