I can see where some might consider The Iron Giant too sad or too scary for little kids.  But my little kids have taken to it.  After all, it does feature a boy's relationship with a giant robot from outer space, which a story that kids really want to hear.  I find it inexpressibly tragic, but my kids do not, and I'm happy about that.

The Iron Giant was Brad Bird's first film, a few years before The Incredibles and Ratatouille.  It's based on The Iron Man, a story that Ted Hughes wrote for his kids to comfort them after their mother's suicide.  Their mother was, incidentally, Sylvia Plath, who was never too good at math, according to noted scholar Peter Laughner, who knew a thing or two about premature death.  The Iron Man is different in some important ways from The Iron Giant.  For instance, the titular metal character fights a space-dragon instead of vintage Cold War fear. 

The movie was originally put into production as a version of the stage production of Pete Townshend's rock opera The Iron Man.  Brad Bird apparently fought to remove Townshend's songs, and thank goodness for that.  I say this with all love for the bulk of Mr. Townshend's ouevre: they're not very good.  Bird's artwork is all autumnal, beautiful, two-dimensional pastels, and there's not much continuity between the way that these characters are drawn and, say, The Incredibles, with its blobby roundness. 

The plot centers on the unlikely friendship between Hogarth, a latchkey child of the 50s in Maine, and the Iron Giant, who is both metal and huge.  A self-centered government agent arrives in Maine looking for the robot, and Hogarth has to enlist the help of a local beatnik to hide the robot from the government agent and his single mother.  Eventually, the military is called in, and things go all klaatu barada nikto.  Excuse me!  I mean, things go awry based on humanity's penchant for violence.

My kids love the message of the movie, which is that anyone can choose who they will be.  The Iron Giant learns about superheroes from Hogarth, and in the climax, chooses to emulate Superman rather than follow his programming.  Superman Returns, which ground our noses in the symbolism as if we were naughty puppies, could have used a similar take on the meaning of sacrifice.  

The Iron Giant's sacrifice is where the waterworks come in.  For me, I mean, not my kids, who are way tougher.  Also, they've seen the movie, so they know that there's a fairly happy ending in the near future.  Parts of the movie are certainly pitched over their heads, but the humor in it is gentle and broad enough that even the preschool set finds it funny (of course, they'd find it funnier with more poop jokes).  And the tragic parts don't seem so tragic to them, so no harm/no foul.  Do yourself a favor for the next family movie night!  It beats the holy heck out of another talking animal movie. 

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