When I first heard about "The Iron Giant," I wasn't very impressed because Warner Brothers was doing it. "Quest for Camelot" was a huge disappointment - it's a cheap imitation of a Disney movie. I have nothing against Warner Brothers. On the contrary, I wanted them to become a major animation force. Although I love Disney's animation features, I wish that they would depart from their formulaic productions for once. Unfortunately, Disney only makes one kind of movies: musicals for kids. Disney's emphasis seems to be more on technology rather than story. With "Lion King," it's how they achieved the stampede scene; With "Hunchback," it's how they achieved the crowd shots, and recently with "Tarzan" it's the 'deep canvas' technique. As far as technology is concerned, Disney is king. No doubt about it. Storywise, they use the same formula over and over again but with different variables.

I wanted other studios to jump into the animation market, do something different, and succeed. DreamWorks was successful with "Prince of Egypt," but with all the musical numbers, I felt like I was watching another Disney production. Enter Warner Bros. with "The Iron Giant" - no musical numbers and no annoying sidekick for comic relieve. On the technology side, it's not even close to Disney's "Tarzan," but as a movie "The Iron Giant" is the best of year so far.

What makes it great is not the story, but everything else. The story is actually quite predictable: space alien befriends earthling kid, government thinks it's dangerous and must destroy it, space alien tries to prove in vain that it's harmless. The script took its time to introduce and develop its characters. We are first introduced to the robot with a spectacular crash landing in the ocean where a nearby boat was overturned by the resulting waves. I think most of the budget went into this spectacular introduction. We have a hint that the robot is good because the sailor from the overturned boat is safe. We are introduced to three key players in a hilarious bit between the kid (Eli Marienthal), his mom (Jennifer Aniston), a salvage car shop owner (Harry Connick Jr.), and a squirrel. The humor here is sharp and unforced. The characters are real and likable. The story, although predictable, is touching without being overly sentimental.

The movie also took its time unloading the secrets of the robot. We learn lots of things about the robot as the film progresses: some good, some bad, but all cool. The robot also learns lots from its human friends too. Near the end, the robot almost becomes too human. This is one of the coolest robot on screen. It out-cools Alien and Predator. I don't want to spoil the film for anything, but the robot can do lots more than fly.

I don't know what else to say, but GO AND WATCH THIS MOVIE. "The Iron Giant" not only lives up to the hype, it surpasses it. It's one of those movies where you uncontrollably stand up and clap when the credits start rolling. It's that good! It's the best movie of the year so far, and my favorite animated movie of all time (And no, Warner Bros. didn't slip me a blank check).