If you can overlook the film’s rather simplistic "Kiss a Commie" political message, The Iron Giant is one of the best animated films in memory.

Based on "The Iron Man" by English poet Ted Hughes, the story is set in Rockwell, Maine. The date is October 4, 1957, as the Soviet space satellite Sputnik circles in orbit.

We are introduced to the main character, 9 year-old Hogarth Hughes (voice of Eli Marienthal). He lives in Rockwell with his single mother, Annie (Jennifer Aniston), a waitress at the local diner. Hogarth has a wild imagination that is fueled by his comic book collection and the monster films he watches on TV.

One night while his mom works late, Hogarth is led to the woods by a giant metallic creature that has eaten the rooftop TV antennae. The 100 ft. tall space creature has become trapped in the power lines at the local electrical plant. Hogarth turns off the juice and saves the Iron Giant.

They begin a friendship in the woods. Hogarth has to hide the Iron Giant from everyone, but at the same time must find scrap metal for it to eat. The problem is solved when they show up at the local junkyard run by a beatnik (Harry Connick Jr.). That meeting leads to the movie’s funniest scene, when the Iron Giant jumps into a lake after Hogarth and proceeds to engulf the beatnik in a flood. The kids in the audience all laughed in glee.

Meanwhile, paranoid government agent Kent Mansley (Christopher McDonald) has been snooping around in search of the Iron Giant. The 1950’s Cold War comes to mind. The film has a pacifist message that might as well be saying, "Why can’t we be friends?" Easier said than done. Keeping things in context, it need be remembered that all of the nuclear missile silos dotting the upper Midwest landscape didn’t end up there by accident.

The Who’s guitarist Peter Townshend is the film’s executive producer. I’ve always liked his work, and this film, released by Warner Brothers, is no exception. What’s most memorable about The Iron Giant is the top-of-the-line animation, right down to the intricate details, and its intelligent storyline. This is no ordinary children’s feature.