The Iron Giant
A warm, big-hearted animated film about a boy who befriends a towering alien robot in 1950s Maine, set against a backdrop of Cold War paranoia. The friendship is genuinely lovely, but the climax is emotionally intense and the military action scenes are loud and prolonged.
Most comfortable for kids 6 and up, with a parent nearby for the final act.
If you’d rather skip
A fishing boat is thrown about in a violent nighttime storm with lightning and high seas; the fisherman is washed overboard (he survives) and the Giant makes its first looming appearance.
Hogarth watches an old black-and-white sci-fi horror film on TV, complete with spooky music and a disembodied animated brain crawling across the floor.
The Giant bites into a power station and is electrocuted in a very noisy, visually chaotic scene with bright flashing electrical effects.