Selected by the Animation Branch.

Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille) made his feature directing debut with this lively and moving animated adventure loosely inspired by an illustrated children’s novel by poet Ted Hughes. The life of a young boy (voiced by Eli Marienthal) in 1950s Maine is turned upside down when he finds a new friend in a 50-foot-tall alien robot. Bird evocatively recreates the visual iconography of ’50s genre cinema while presenting a humanist message, and his film has developed a devoted fandom in the near quarter-century since its release. 

Academy Museum film programming is generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation.