Titan A.E. (Special Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Adventure After Earth
Review: "Hmm. An intelligent guard. Didn't see that one coming."
- Preed

Over the years, there have been dozens of sci-fi epics that have been compared to Star Wars, from Masters of the Universe to Stargate to Independance Day. However, with one or two exceptions, none have measured up.

When it was released in the summer of 2000, Titan A.E. was hailed as "The one that Star Wars fans have been waiting for." And it deserves its praise.

Helmed by Don Bluth (An American Tale, The Land Before Time), and written in part by Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Joss Whedon, Titan A.E. is a bona fide animated sci-fi epic, with a dark edge and a tendancy to not pull its punches (it deserves its PG rating). Set in the 31st century, it shows the destruction of the Earth by the evil and enigmatic Drej, and proceeds to tell the tale of Cale, an outcast among outcasts, and humanity's last great hope.

After a nasty run-in with some assasins, Cale joins forces with a grizzled space captain, a fetching but battle-hardened pilot, and a misfit crew aboard the Valdyrie in a quest to find the Titan, a ship that Cale's father built that could hold the secret to a new world for all humans. However, getting hold of it is not going to be easy; chased by the Drej and endangered by greed, the allies will be tested in every way from a broken moon to a slave colony to the Drej mother ship.

Titan A.E. is, perhaps, one of the best-written animated pictures to come along in a long time. While the plot is not terribly original, it is at least daring, and the characters are written wonderfully (thanks to Whedon), and add true life to the movie. There are some plot indiscrepancies and some questionable plays with reality, but nothing more than what is seen in Star Wars, and the actual dialogue is a LOT better written. In addition to the great writing, all the principal cast delivers great performances, with major kudos going to Matt Damon as the disillusioned hero, Bill Pullman as the mysterious and paternal captain, Drew Barrymore as Cale's love interest, and John Leguizamo, Nathan Lane, and Janeane Garofalo rounding out the crew of the Valkyrie. Leguizamo in particular is utterly unrecognizable, and consistantly hilarious.

However, what Titan A.E. does best is fast, pretty action. Blending traditional hand-drawn characters and environments with CG and computer effects, Titan makes for some fantastic action pieces, including a tense aquatic and arial chase through a planet littered with trees of hydrogen, to a fantastic game of cat-and-mouse in a space ice field. There are rarely, if ever, parts of the movie that drag or seem unnecessary, and the climax of the film is non-traditional and exhilerating at the same time.

However, Titan didn't enjoy success when it hit theaters. Perhaps it was the unorthadox blending of technology and art, or the fact that it took itself so seriously (something that is notoriously dangerous for animated films), but Titan deserves far more. The combination of characters, tight pacing, great, somewhat unorthadox action, and fantastic banter make for a movie that is actually a worthy successor to Star Wars, even if it is over all too soon.

The DVD includes a good commentary, a "Making of" featurette, galleries, trailers, and deleted scenes. The full package is a great value, and the movie is a rare treat for both kids and adults alike.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly written and executed
Review: Once again, I find myself defending the substance of a movie that everyone claims has none.

First off, let me say that this movie has a unique and complex plot. I've seen movies that ended with the end of the world (End of Evangelion, for example), but this is the only one that begins with the end of the world and tells of what happens afterward. The first few minutes after the opening credits are VERY finely crafted, and they thoroughly convince us that humanity has become much like pre-WW2 Jews - i.e., having lost their homeland, everyone else steps all over them because they know they can get away with it. From there, in between a bunch of really intense action sequences, the story becomes a sort of scavenger hunt, driven by Cale's desire to find his father, Korso's desire to get rich, Preed's desire to evade execution by the Drej, and Akima's desire to have a home where two inches of steel aren't the only thing separating you from space. Even the jaw-dropping eye candy is nearly always only shown when the plot is moving ahead, such as the chase through the hydrogen trees that eventually just gets Cale and Akima caught by the Drej. With a steady subtle undercurrent of sexual tension and liberal amounts of comedy to fill the gaps, there is pretty much never a dull moment, although there is that one useless scene with the Wake Angels. The two or three plot twists are genuinely shocking, the blend of animation and CGI is seamless, and Don Bluth once again proves that he is the GOD of all animation.

Secondly, there are no plot holes. There's a reasonable explanation for everything, you just have to pay attention and sometimes use a little logic. For example, to answer that one guy's question about why the Drej didn't destroy the Titan, it is REPEATEDLY stated that the Drej have no fricking clue where the Titan went after they made Earth go boom. The only thing that doesn't make sense is why the moon looks hollow after Australia smashes into it...

Rating:
Summary: Visually Stunning Artwork
Review: I caught this underrated movie on FLIX Channel, and it was a
visually stunning effort. Some of the opening violence may
upset the younger set, but all in all, it is an involving movie.

I would personally, in my opinion, consider this to be very close, if not at the top, of the arts of animation. By far and
away the best animation I've seen in years.

Dialogue is a tad on the convoluted side, but stick with it, the
ending is a hair-raising race to the finish, and the ending is
one of hope, something the world could certainly use.

Scifi-wise, it was involving, as we don't really know who else
is out there, nor do we know if they are friend, foe, or a mor-
tal enemy. Excellent visualization of the Drej, including tran-
slations at the bottom of the screen. Good piece of speculative
fiction. And well worth adding to your library.

Rating:
Summary: Criminally underrated
Review: Ok, so at age 24 I'm a bit out of the intended audience for this show, but I still found myself greatly enjoying it. The plot doesn't hold up very well, but it's simply a very fun and fast paced movie (which, if I'm thinking correctly, is what most films are supposed to be.)

The soundtrack is a bit grating, but overall, just enjoy this one. But don't think too hard about it.

Rating:
Summary: A real space gem.
Review: i love this film & i hope they do more like these . i actually wanted to see this film in the theaters, but i never got around too it i wish i would've it really would've been fun since i'm a don bluth fan . the guy that created dragons lair , space ace , braid dead 13 , an american tail , secret of nimh,land before time gives you titan A/E what a cool concept for a film the casting is absoultely perfect matt damon , drew barrymore , nathan lane , bill pullman & few others, a delightful ride of pure excitement so strap yourself in for the ride of your life.

I do hope that fox makes more films like with don bluth at the healm what a genius he is . stay healthy don take care & to the team that helped in making of titan coming life, thanks you guys you did an awsome job what trip to watch & the sound is just wonderful . the dts audio track will blow you away & picture will too. if you like star wars & just all around sci-fi than this for you . i'd recommend this for safe fun family viewing .

Highly Recommended , What a Winner!

Rating:
Summary: Revolutionary Animation At Best
Review: It calmly came and went in theaters a couple years ago, and maybe that's why Titan A.E. is so appealing: it doesn't try to outdo itself or copy others work, and is both eye candy and classic characters in one simply wonderful package.

Titan A.E. follows the tale of an ambitious young space rogue named Cale Tucker, and is set in the 31st century. After the earth is destroyed by alien Drej, Cale is embedded by his father as the savior of all earthlings in the universe, a savior to construct a second earth for all the earthlings; earthlings now living on drifter colonies space ships scattered through the galaxy. However, this is not an easy task: the Drej scum want Cale killed before he can establish a new humanoid planet, and this turns Cale into a human McGuffin. This movie basically follows Cale on his adrenaline rush search through the Galaxy to find the means to rebuild this Titan 'After Earth,' and the plot is rather structurally simple: get from point A to point B before the badguys do first.

This does not, however, diminish from the fun. It never appears to be simplistic on the surface; indeed, it would just be annoying to analyze every plot twist to fit to the basic plot structure. This movie is designed to distract you away from that increasingly annoying display of average movie range.

One of the ways these distractions may happen is the simply beautiful background design, based off of photos courtesy of the Hubble Space Telescope. I couldn't help but utter "cool..." at some scenes, especially the ending sequences. I'm telling you, this movie is sheer eye candy.

The character interaction between the key players in the movie is well done, and there is also a little touch of a love story in the movie as well. The crew on board the ship, the one Cale uses to travel about in, ranges from sour to creepy to just plain cool in the characteristic aspect, and layers of medium-toned character development are present from beginning to end. A definite strong point of Titan A.E.'s storytelling is the ability to have more than adequate storytelling right off the bat. For example, in the movie Cale has an old alien friend that watches after him. All it takes is 30 seconds for you to begin liking that rather 'incidental' character. This is one of the things that have levitated this movie to it's popularity: when this friend of Cale's is put in potential danger five minutes into the movie, you fear that certain friend is going to be hurt.

This movie could be said to be based off 'Treasure Island,' because of definite same plot twist proportions. For instance, Cale has a map that everybody's vying for, resembling Jim Hawkins won map, and another character called Korso could be said to based off of Long John Silver. Completely coincidental or not, it works without a doubt and provides clever fun comparing the movie with the famous book.

This movie isn't really violent. There was a scene at the beginning were our hero Cale is clipped by wild blaster fire, and there is a gash in his arm, but the whole movie isn't like this. Mostly the heroic characters are blasting Drej, and Drej are blue and shiny and break similarly to the way a crystal would if dropped. So this movie isn't really violent or offensive. There is a scene of brief, coy nudity, but besides that not much is not suitable for the whole given family.

All these reasons add up to a great movie that shouldn't be passed up if you find it. It isn't worth renting, because even in the unlikely event you find yourself consistently hating the plot, characters and animation, the special effects and sound effects, mixed with the catchy music and background modeling make this movie a piece of animation worth having.

Rating:
Summary: Save a planet, lose a job...
Review: 'Titan A.E.' is a fun movie. I enjoyed it thorough, despite being well outside the demographic to which this sort of movie was intended to appeal.

--Basic plot--
Don't do any heavy analysis on the plot on this one. It won't stand up to expert scrutiny. But it is a reasonably good tale. The earth has encountered a powerful enemy which threatens, and eventually does, destroy the planet. During the course earth's destruction, various spacecraft escape, including one legendary, perhaps mythical craft, named the Titan. No one is quite sure exactly what this vessel is, save that it contains the hope of all humankind, for their survival in a hostile universe.

Enter our hero, Cale (voiced by Matt Damon). A child on earth, he has grown up in space to young adulthood as a person without a home, without a planet, and thus without respect. One drifter among many, as what remains of the human race have become cosmic gypsies and vagabonds, who live as best they can while travelling around, interacting with alien cultures. As with all human beings, some are good, and some are not, and it isn't always easy to tell the two types apart. And, as with all aliens, the same is true for them.

Our hero, Cale, being the son of the Titan commander, contains within himself (unbeknownst to himself) the key to locating the Titan. Thus, the cosmic chase is on! Befriended by some who try to help, relentless pursued by the dastardly alien foes, the Drej, betrayed by those he trusted, he finally finds the Titan. Will he be able figure out the key to its operation before its destruction? Will he be able to save the human race?

--Basic plot holes and other criticisms--
This review would go on far too long if I tried to go into all of these. One must remember that the intended audience for this movie is supposed to be early teenage boys. However, one thing that the producers of this movie failed to neglect is that many teenage boys will pay sufficient attention to realise the plot deficiencies. Suffice it to say, an enemy powerful enough to destroy earth in the first place would certainly be able to destroy the Titan solution. And given the unlikelihood of our hero even surviving to adulthood, where would the human race have been left in such an occurrence? Etc., etc. As I said earlier, the movie won't stand up to such scrutiny. But for those of us who like some scientific method with our science fiction, it becomes a problem. So, strike one for the movie.

Alas, we know nothing of the energetic alien enemies - why they are enemies, why they continue to be enemies even after earth's destruction, and how it is that this all powerful enemy is wholly contained within one ship, whose destruction signals the destruction of them all. Oh well, again, I'm thinking too much for this film...

Strike two comes from an under-promotion of the star power of the film. I know many who might have gone to see this had they known, for instance, that Drew Barrymore, Bill Pullman, Janeane Garofalo and Nathan Lane were character voices.

--The movie that saved the human race and lost a job--
Strike three comes from the targeting. The intended, intentionally-developed market for this was to be early teenage boys, a lucrative movie audience target. However, to produce an animated film for this group, who are just freeing themselves of being thought of as children, and thus leaving things like 'cartoons' behind for being child-ish, was a monumental miscalculation.

Bill Mechanic, chairman-CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment (the studio behind this film) lost his job because this miscalculation (among a few others that summer). In 1994 he spearheaded the creation of the very expensive Fox Animation Studios. While they produced the wonderful and successful Anastasia a few years ago, 'Titan A.E.' ended up being a box-office flop. Costing nearly $80 million to produce, it opened to less than $10 million the first weekend, and went steadily downhill from there.

Alas, Fox Animation Studios is now completely closed. And Mechanic is out. Which is too bad really.

--Stunning special effects--
Even for an animated film (which often gives more flexibility in doing such things as defying gravity, etc.) the effects were great. The cat and mouse game between the spacecraft in the ice region of space, with so many reflective surfaces and crashing/breaking sound effects was truly breathtaking, worthy of acclaim among any science fiction film.

In all, Titan A.E. is a good film for its genre, poorly targeted and somewhat lacking in the execution. However, if one is willing to overlook the plot holes (in the name of suspension of disbelief), this can be enjoyed. And yes, a teenage boy will most likely like it, despite it being a 'cartoon'.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT
Review: i love this movie, and the DVD format is great.

sometimes though, the animation just doesnt seem "finished" and when you listen to the commentary, it seems as though they could have used another year or so to finish their artwork.

HIGHLY BELOVED DVD THOUGH

Rating:
Summary: Very good movie A+
Review: Great sound track, Good story line, Good C.G anime

Rating:
Summary: Really good
Review: Love the story line. The animation is great and some scenes are just wonderfully animated. Having watched it multiple times i still want to watch it again. Hope they come up more in some kind of series.