THE IRON GIANT

This 1999 movie is a cute animated feature that takes us on a flight of imagination into the "what if" of a young boy's life. Eleven year old Hogarth Hughes discovers a giant metal man, The Iron Giant, and befriends it. The giant has forgotten his original purpose for landing on earth from another planet, so he is taught new values by the boy.

As in all such stories, the monster is misunderstood by many and indeed does have his drawbacks, but we grow to care for it almost the way we'd care for a child or a pet who's just learning his way in the world.

I liked the fact that they show the single mom and her son at the dinner table, praying over their dinner. The most unforgettable line in the movie, to me, is when Hogarth tells the giant, "It's bad to kill, but it's not bad to die." And goes on to explain to him about immortal souls.

It's rated PG for Fantasy Action and Mild Language. It's all pretty harmless, though.