History YMMV / TheIronGiant

* ValuesResonance: In a day and age where gun control is a much more fiercely debated topic, the film's messages about weapons and killing aren't just relevant, they're ''important''.

** Dean getting a [[WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb squirrel in his pants]].

** Some fans see it as an incredibly ''awesome'' display of firepower that is very cool to watch when [[spoiler:Hogarth's apparent death]] drives the Giant past his RageBreakingPoint as he unleashes all his weaponry onto the army in a CurbStompBattle. This, despite the fact that the Giant explicitly does not want to become a weapon because of his kind nature, the fact that characters could've been seriously hurt, and combined with he movie's intended "guns kill" message (born from the fact that Bird wrote this film in memory of his sister who died due to being shot no less), means anyone who sees it as cool is entirely missing the point. This is to the extent that the film version of Ready Player One features the Giant acting as an actual laser gun in the climax.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: The movie can be interpreted as having either a liberal or libertarian political message. Liberals like the movie for its anti-gun message and critiquing the idyllic 50s as popularized by many conservatives. Conversely, libertarians like the film for having an individualist message, with the titular Iron Giant carving out his own identity outside of being a weapon and for showing government forces and bureaucrats as antagonists seeking to destroy something they don't understand, something spectacular. Brad Bird denies that the film is libertarian (which his other films have been interpreted as), nor is it a defense of Communism (which some conservatives actually argued when it was first released).

* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: The movie is intended to have a "guns kill" message, and the Giant's decision of "I am not a gun" reflects this. However, when [[spoiler:Hogarth's apparent death]] drives him past his RageBreakingPoint and he unleashes all his weaponry, it is an incredibly ''awesome'' display of firepower and very cool to watch as he engages the army in a CurbStompBattle.

* MisaimedFandom: Like a lot of Brad Bird's works, the film has been co-opted by some libertarians as being an anti-government/Objectivist piece of work, all the while ignoring the "guns kill" message that Bird was really trying to convey.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: While ''Giant'' was a box office flop in the US that gained a CultClassic status over time, it is ''very'' popular and highly-acclaimed in Japan. One of the ex-presidents of Studio Gainax had this to say about it:

-->'''Iron Giant''': Superman..."

* InferredHolocaust:
** During the Giant's battle with the Army, some of the tank crews are shown escaping from their tanks prior to being hit by the Giant's weapons, but others are not. As some of these tanks are flipped upside down by the impact, the odds of survival is quite low.
** The end of the movie has a fairly major one regarding the Giant's origins and fate. As WebSite/{{Cracked}} points out, what happens after the ''other'' members of his kind [[EarthShatteringKaboom show up on Earth?]] Also, the Iron Giant only became [[IAmNotAGun benevolent]] due to having an accident that gave him amnesia. What happens if the ''nuke'' that exploded in his face ended up doing the opposite? Due to the fact he was self-repairing, he could have accidentally been restored back to his [[KillEmAll factory settings?]]

* SignatureLine: "You are who you choose to be"/"Superman..."

** During the Giant's battle with the Army, some of the tank crews are shown escaping from their tanks, but others are not. No prize for guessing what probably happened to them.

* SignatureLine: "Superman..."

* LoveToHate: Kent Mansley is a total {{Slimeball}} who makes things worse for everyone. However, his [[LargeHam over the top antics]] and [[ButtMonkey recurring misfortunes]] combined with Creator/[=ChristopherMcDonald=]'s performance results in a hilarious {{Jerkass}} and antagonist.

* LoveToHate: Kent Mansley is a total {{Slimeball}} who makes things situation worse for everyone. However, his [[LargeHam over the top antics]] make and [[ButtMonkey recurring misfortunes]] makes him a hilarious {{Jerkass}}, whether he's acting loathsome or pathetic.

* {{Adorkable}}: Hogarth Hughes is an enthusiastic, brainy, curious kid who loves comic books. Also Best proven when he gushes over "having his own giant".

* AdaptationDisplacement: This movie was a loose adaptation of a book called ''The Iron Man'' by acclaimed writer and Poet Laureate Ted Hughes, which still remains as a pretty obscure work in comparison with the CultClassic status of its animated adaptation.

** Kent Mansley, for not realizing that the giant's current location was where the missile is locked to, and how many lives he doomed in Rockwell.

** In addition, the Superman references become ironic as Christopher [=McDonald=], who plays the Kent Mansley, had voiced Superman's father Jor-El in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' as well as ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'' and later a middle-aged Superman in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond''. Similarly, in the Brazilian dub, Mansley is voiced by Guilherme Briggs, who would later come to voice Superman in almost all of the character's appearances starting in 2001.

* {{Adorkable}}: Hoharth Hughes is an enthusiastic, brainy, curious kid who loves comic books. Also Best proven when he gushes over "having his own giant".

* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: The movie is intended to have an anti-nuclear-weapons message, and the Giant's decision to lead a peaceful existence reflects this. The thing is, when he ''does'' switch into his weaponized form to defend Hogarth, he looks ''awesome'' doing it.

* {{Adorkable}}: Hoharth Hughes is an enthusiastic kid who loves comic books. Also Best proven when he gushes over "having his own giant".

* AssPull: Dean's realization about the Giant's reaction to Hogarth's toy gun can come off like this. Dean looks up just as the Giant finishes his first eye-blast at Hogarth and as he tackles Hogarth to avoid the second blast he saw that Hogarth was pointing his gun at the Giant. However, it requires a considerable deductive leap for Dean to conclude that the Giant was only reacting defensively to the gun.

* AssPull: Dean's realization about the Giant's reaction to Hogarth's toy gun can come off like this. Dean looks up just as the Giant finishes his first eye-blast at Hogarth and sees that Hogarth was pointing his gun at the Giant just as he tackles Hogarth to avoid the second blast. However, it requires a considerable deductive leap for Dean to conclude that the Giant was only reacting defensively to the gun.

* AdaptationDisplacement: The film is (''very'') loosely inspired on the children's book ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iron_Man_(novel) The Iron Man]]''. How loose? Well, there was an alien dragon, for starters, the size of Australia. Not to mention that [[spoiler:the iron man doesn't "die" at the end]].