The Iron Giant Signature Edition Extra Scenes: A Giant Blunder?

Brad Bird’s directorial debut, the modern masterpiece The Iron Giant (1999), is being rereleased as a ‘Signature Edition’, to be screened at selected cinemas in the US later this month. That’s the good news. The news that follows isn’t *bad* as such but it doesn’t instil me with confidence: The rerelease will feature two newly animated sequences produced by Duncan Studios, both of which were storyboarded by Bird prior to the original release but cut due to time and budgetary restraints. At first this sounds like an intriguing idea, giving us an insight into how Bird initially intended the film to look. But is it really what we want to see?

Essentially what we’re getting, according to these reports, is a director’s cut of the film, presenting the ‘lost’ scenes that initially never made it beyond the storyboarding stage. On the one hand, this is interesting – as interesting as it always is to discover lost or abandoned footage. But therein lies the issue – it was evidently abandoned for a reason. Extending the film now would easily disrupt its pacing – if the film can do without the scenes, why include them at all?

The Iron Giant is certainly not the first animated feature to be rereleased containing extra footage. Needless to say, this is a trait Disney is guilty of, having repeatedly distributed classic films with extra songs and scenes. The 2004 release of The Lion King: Special Edition contains the song ‘Morning Report’, performed by Zazu. Although present in the Broadway adaptation, the song was absent from the original 1994 release, for the sole reason that it serves very little purpose. Likewise, Pocahontas (1995) was re-edited for its 2005 Special Edition release to include ‘If I Never Knew You’, a recurrent, ‘motif’ song initially assigned to the credits. Naturally, its presence in the film disturbs the pace, and drastically at that. The only alteration to a Disney film that was vaguely justifiable was the ‘Human Again’ sequence added to the 2002 re-release of Beauty and the Beast (1991). Unlike the other additions, it serves a purpose to the narrative, in that it provides development to the inhuman characters and their yearning to be human, not to mention acting as a subtle tribute to the late Howard Ashman. That said, its positioning in the film remains rather jarring, being as it is sandwiched between two other musical sequences, providing a logical and just reason for its removal.

Now, Warner Bros’ The Iron Giant will likely not be adding a musical sequence (unless Bird bears a strong desire for the inclusion of a severely ill-placed show-tune), but my point remains valid. All of these scenes were initially cut for a particular reason, and the film’s pacing, as it is, is faultless. Depending upon the magnitude and length of these scenes and the events that occur within them, Bird could risk tarnishing an otherwise near-flawless masterpiece. In any case, there’s nothing to do besides wait it out and see for ourselves, but by tampering with what is often regarded as a modern classic, Bird could be making a giant blunder.

View the trailer for the rerelease below:

Sources:

Variety: http://variety.com/2015/film/news/iron-giant-new-scenes-remastered-edition-release-date-1201601135/

Image Source:

The Iron Giant. [DVD] (2000) Warner Bros Family Entertainment, Burbank, California.