The Iron Giant - Signature Edition

What with the unending Hollywood hype machine that constantly floods all media with previews of coming attractions - sometimes now being flogged a year in advance of its release, I feel somewhat chagrined at my immediate implosion of squee at this news:

Warner Bros. and Fathom Events are teaming up to bring The Iron Giant back to life. The beloved 1999 animated film is being remastered and augmented with new footage, and it's coming to select American theaters as what the studio's calling the "Signature Edition" on September 30th. There'll also be an encore presentation in select theaters a few days later on October 4th.

My number-one all-time personal favorite animated film, "The Iron Giant," is slated for a digitally remastered re-release in requisite 3D IMAX extravaganza this coming fall. And since the inestimable talent and stewardship of Brad Bird is behind it (please pardon the fan-boy), we can be confident they won't screw it up by just superimposing a lot of the proverbial sound and fury that clobbers the senses in most contemporary efforts.

This film's the main reason I'm forever left feeling somewhat let down after seeing the overwhelming majority of animated features that have all the aesthetic appeal of a slick marketing campaign that caters to the lowest common denominator in a over-commercialized consumer culture. In all honesty it's one of the very few films I studiously avoid rewatching or have on in the background while in the studio, as I prefer to not dilute the emotional impact, pure wonder and gleeful joy I get from it. If it doesn't run in a participating theatre here in Fairbanks I'll be renting a van and doing a carpool road-trip down to Anchorage. Or Seattle.