The Iron Giant (1999) |
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The Iron Giant (1999) |
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| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Animation |
Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-Making Of-The Making Of The Iron Giant (22:09) Theatrical Trailer-2:09 Music Video-Cha Hua Hua-Eddie Platt (2:23) DVD-ROM Extras-Web Site Mirror |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 1999 | ||
| Running Time | 83:03 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (76:12) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | Brad Bird |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Warner Home Video |
Starring |
Jennifer Aniston Harry Connick, Jr. Vin Diesel James Gammon Cloris Leachman Christopher Macdonald John Mahoney Eli Marienthal |
| Case | Amaray-Transparent | ||
| RPI | $36.95 | Music | Michael Kamen |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) Dutch Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English French German Dutch German for the Hearing Impaired |
Smoking | Yes |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
The film's plot revolves around The Iron Giant (Vin Diesel), and the fight to keep him undiscovered by Government Agent Kent Mansley (Christopher Macdonald), followed by a huge climax. The film's storyline is intriguing because you don't know where The Iron Giant is from. No information regarding his background is presented, which lets you make up your own mind as to what you think of him. This adds a very human feeling to the Giant as a character.
The film is well-voiced by actors Jennifer Aniston as Hogarth's mum, Harry Connick, Jr. as the classic 50s artist Dean and Eli Marienthal as Hogarth Hughes. Special credit goes to Vin Diesel for his voice as the Iron Giant. Vin actually does the voice with no distortion effects or post-production processing added, which was a surprise.
The film is mainly 2D but the actual giant is completely 3D with 2D rendering to make him fit in with the rest of the characters. At times, 3D work is used in the film, such as during the final scene where the screw is going through the grass. In this case, the grass is completely 3D and reminds me a lot of A Bug's Life.
All-in-all, The Iron Giant is a fun film for the whole family which I highly recommend.
The Iron Giant is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.
The transfer is razor sharp at all times with well-defined lines and great depth. The clarity and detail of the image is amazing, although this would be helped by the fact that it is animation. The only problem I noticed was that the black level was not quite right during the opening credits, being a tad too high. No low level noise was present.
Colour was vibrant throughout the feature, especially towards the end when the Giant attacks with all of its multi-coloured weapons.
There are no MPEG artefacts. I spotted only one case of aliasing at 7:51-7:54 on a broken antenna.
This disc is RSDL formatted with the layer change occurring at 76:12. This would have to be the best placed layer change I have seen to date. It occurs as soon as the film finishes and the credits start to roll.
| Sharpness |  |
| Shadow Detail | |
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| Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
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| Overall | |
There are four audio tracks on this disc. The default is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. There are also French, German and Dutch Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks included. I listened to the English track only.
The dialogue was clear and understandable at all times.
Audio synchronization was perfect at all times except that in a couple of scenes, the facial expressions of characters didn't match the dialogue, but this is only to be expected in an animated film.
The musical score by Michael Kamen was very suited to the film. Not unlike a Disney film, the score changed to suit the movie, from somewhat of a mysterious tone at the start to the triumphant finish.
The surround channels were used extensively and were very good at creating a full 360 degree soundfield. A good example of this is when the Iron Giant first crashes into the Earth - surround effects envelop you nicely at this point.
The subwoofer was very active, especially when the giant walked which created a very deep and satisfying effect.
| Dialogue | |
| Audio Sync | |
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| Surround Channel Use | |
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| Overall | |
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The video quality is almost perfect, with just a couple of minor flaws stopping it from attaining reference quality status.
The audio quality is excellent.
The extras are disappointing.
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Extras | |
| Plot | |
| Overall | |
| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Pioneer DV-626D, using Component output |
| Display | Toshiba 34N9UXA. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to DVD player. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Yamaha CX-600 Pre-Amp, Yamaha MX-600 Stereo Power Amp for Mains, Yamaha DSP-E300 for Center, Teac AS-M50 for Surrounds. |
| Speakers | Main Left and Right Acoustic Research AR12s, Center Yamaha NS-C70, Surround Left and Right JBL Control 1s |