Rating: 
Summary: Titan A.E., the Star Wars for this Generation!
Review: Titan A.E. is a masterpiece of film making. Using the lastest in computer technology the people at Fox studios have brought a film with the most dazziling effects since "The Matrix". Titan A.E take place in the year 3000 A.D. when mankind has developed a new technological wonder called the Titan. Yet due to mans achievement an Alien race known as the Drej attack and destroy earth. Now fifteen years later a young man named Cal is recruited by a small band of rebels to help and locate the Titan which his father hide. Yet Cals father left a map inside Cals hand so that he could one day find the titan. What happens next is a thrillride that will blow you away. The music to Titan A.E. is very good. The animation is the best I have seen to come out in this country. This by far has been one of the best summer films I have ever seen. Yet I must give a warning to all parents this is not a movie to take small children to see. This film contains scenes of violence, including blood when the characters are shot, and brief nudity. This film is recomended for ages 10 and up.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Animation... but Average Movie
Review: Despite its poor debute in theaters, Titan A.E. is still an enjoyable and visually stunning animated film. The movie sets in the distant future. After an evil alien race destroys the planet earth, a heroic youth named Cale (voiced by Matt Damon) becomes the human race only hope for survival. Cale is the key to find the Titan, an amazing ship that has the power to create a new world for the humans to inhabit. The combination of traditional and 3D computer animation in Titan A.E. is spectacular. The premise seemed interesting but the story doesn't measure-up very well. The characters are okay but not too special. Titan A.E. is a surprisingly good DVD. The picture and sound quality is quite good. I was most impressed with the sound quality. If you own a good home theater system then I recommend this movie. The menus and special features are pleasant. Overall, I give this DVD a B-.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Film - With a Few Minor Exceptions
Review: Overall, I found this to be a fairly well-balanced movie - but not perfect. I found the storyline believable and was pleased that some effort of scientific accuracy was attempted (note to self: empty lungs before entering the vacuum of space). I found the voice acting particularly believable - although it seemed like Nathan Lane's accent shifted toward the end. I found the 2-D and 3-D artwork worked well - although it didn't always cut together well, particularly when shifting from 3-D scenery to the 2-D characters during the Ice Ring segment. Most of the characters were well drawn - but Stith, Janeane Garafalo's character, was bizarrely ill-proportioned (and not in the good Barbie way). The bad guys looked like extras from Tron - I can't decide if that bothers me or not. Graeme Revell's instrumental soundtrack was excellent - but I found the hard rock songs with lyrics broke the mood. The rock video on the DVD *does* work well, but the shifting back and forth from movie to rock video in the film didn't work for me. There are some good extras on the DVD - but the DVD-ROM game didn't work for me (a black crosshair on a black starfield equals an invisible crosshair). The making-of documentary was especially nice. Titan A.E. is a great movie with solid DVD supplements. Your personal preferences may find a few nits to pick, but overall it's an enjoyable experience.
Rating:
Summary: Titan AE: Means well but misses something.
Review: Synopsis:
In the 31st century, humankind has reached a pinnacle of knowledge, but a vicious energy-based race known as the Drej find the creativity of humans to be a threat to their existence. To stop it, they destroy Earth, sending the few human refugees that escape to scatter across the galaxy with little hope left for the future of humanity. Twenty years later, a young man named Cale (voiced by Matt Damon) is pulled unwittingly into an unexpected adventure to find the Titan, the last hope for humankind, and incidentally, the life work of his father. Only Cale has the key to finding. With two other humans, Akima (voiced by Drew Barrymore) and Korso (voiced by Bill Pullman) and an odd alien crew and the interstellar ship Valkrie, he must find the Titan before the Drej find him. About the Movie:
Titan A.E. is an interesting film in that it attempts to blend traditional hand drawn animation with the newer art of computer-drawn 3D animation. Though the effort is something of a novel enterprise, it turned out to work quite well. Titan AE is a beautiful movie with a great deal of animation skill behind it. It couldn't have been easy to so seamlessly integrate 3D and traditional animation, and even harder to make the human characters come off as human, rather than silly caricatures. You feel these characters, rather than just look at them. The 3D adds a lot to the film as well. The very beginning of the movie where the Earth is destroyed is chilling in its effect, especially when the moon gets totaled by a piece of it. You watch that whole sequence and it hits you hard because of the semi realism and impact of the event of our home planet blowing up and destroying the moon. The use of 3D makes the many spaceship sequences fantastic as well, especially near the end. While these sequences could have been done with traditional animation, the impact and power of them would have been deeply undercut if done that way. 3d added a futuristic feel and a touch of realism that traditional animation can't match. Perhaps this sort of thing is the future of animation, hybrids. It's hard to tell. Pontificating about the beautiful animation aside, this film is marred by its poor plot progression. It's not the plot itself that is bad, it's how the story was put together. They try to do too much in too little time. For instance, the director tried to jump the audience to too many locales. If you watch many of the other major sci-fi films out there, the formula is to go to no more than 4 locales in the film. Star Wars sticks to 4, as do almost all of the Star Trek movies. In the course of Titan AE, we have at least 7 major locales that the heroes visit. The audience is jumped around to so many alien places that it's hard to keep your feet on the ground. As a result you start to lose track a little. Another issue is the characters. There are 6 major characters in the movie. Three of them get fleshed out, but the other three do not, leaving the audience wondering why we should care about them, especially when something bad happens to any of them. What are their motivations for risking it all on this crazy quest? It's obvious for the humans, but not the others, not even in a general way. The last issue I have with it is the casting of Drew Barrymore in the female lead as Akima. For some reason, her voice doesn't seem to fit the character. Maybe it's because her voice is so distinctive that it's hard to separate the actress from the voice. The end result is a movie that drags and loses its initial impact. For all of Titan A.E.'s spectacular animation, it ends up being a slightly subpar film. About the DVD:
Titan AE comes in a standard hard case on a single sided DVD in anamorphic widescreen format. It has multiple audio tracks, including Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby DTS, and Dolby surround. It is contains a French audio track and subtitles are available in both English and Spanish. The Picture quality is pretty good with few artifacts, though there is some noticeable grain on high resolution screens. The color seems muddy at times, but I think that might be the color style used in the movie. The sound quality is excellent overall, though I was only able to test the Dolby 5.1 sound. The Titan AE claims to be the Special Edition, even though there never was a regular edition (unless you count the video release). It does, however, qualify as one as a DVD release loaded with special features. Among them include a Director's commentary, a making of featurette, deleted scenes, a music video based on the movie, a still gallery, Trailers, and a DVD-ROM game link for computer users. The Director's commentary for this release is quite good, giving an animator's view of the production was put together and how 3D animation was used to enhance the film. It certainly helps to explain some of the decisions made in the artistic design of the movie. While this isn't the best commentary I've heard, it's sufficiently interesting enough to make it worth a listen. Bottom Line: An attractive though somewhat sub-par film on a feature loaded DVD release. 3 star movie on a 4 star DVD. 4 Stars.
Rating:
Summary: Shiny Production But For Younger Viewers
Review: * At the beginning of TITAN AE, an animated science-fiction film by
Don Bluth and associates, early in the 4th millennium humanity is
working on a super-project, codenamed TITAN, that brings down the
wrath of the Drej, a race of energy beings, on humankind. The Drej
destroy Earth but the TITAN spaceship escapes, as does Cale (voice of
Matt Damon), the son of the project's leader. Much later, after dispersed humanity has been reduced to a gypsy-like
underclass in galactic society, Cale is working in an alien scrapyard
when he is contacted by Korso (Bill Pullman), one of his father's
associates, who captains a starship with the girl Akima (Drew
Barrymore) and a group of alien flunkies. It seems that Cale has,
unknown to him, possession of the secret of the TITAN project, which
could restore humanity's fortunes. Cale then embarks on a quest to
find the lost TITAN, with the Drej in pursuit. While TITAN AE is action-packed, well-paced, and fully of snappy
animation and computer graphics, the script is unimaginative, with
nothing much new or interesting in terms of ideas, plot, or character
development; it seems to be focused on a grade-school audience. While
that is usually the target audience for Disney animated features,
Disney usually likes to throw a few bits out to keep the adults happy
-- but TITAN AE has little in it for grown-ups, with the writing maybe
somewhat better than typical Saturday-morning cartoon fare. As far as the animation and graphics went, I had to admire the work
put into them -- but as far as I was concerned, I saw little memorable
in terms of visuals, either. They came across as more busy than
stylish, failing to put across any sense of wonder or mystery or much
cleverness. The soundtrack, mostly based on rock tunes, was just as
forgettable as the rest. What struck me most about TITAN AE was that it seemed to have been put
together by people who really weren't science-fiction fans. I had
to laugh a bit, because it has one of the usual giveaways: Planets are
just kind of floating around out there, and the heroes stumble on to
them almost haphazardly. In sum, I would judge this a fun movie for
kids, but I can't recommend it to older viewers.
Rating: 
Summary: Wasted potential
Review: This is what happens when the guy who did "Pebble and the Penguin" ventures into "Heavy Metal 2000" territory. In the beginning I actually liked this movie. Visuals were nice, and storyline seemed promising: earth has been destroyed and humanity has spread out among the stars while being persecuted by the Drej, a race of pure energy, because they fear what we might become and also the construction of the Titan AE. Yet there were some problems I noticed that put the film on thin ice: cliche, archetype characters. For example: the brave, handsome hero and the tough, independant woman. And of course they hate each other, because after all two people can't fall in love unless they hate each other's guts first. Things start to go downhill in the storyline though. For example, the Drej are not scary at all, nor are they dangerous. Characters are continually saying through out the film, "You can't defeat them!" Yet through out the film their fighters and ground troops are killed with one shot. And this includes one shot with a PISTOL! I don't care if its a laser pistol, its still a freggin' pistol versus a giant fightercraft. The plotholes get bigger in the next thirty minutes. Some examples:
1) How did the hero know what the Drej lord was saying? Did he read the subtitles?
2) Do you know the hero breaks out of prison by going through the electric shield door? You're telling me one of the most advanced civilizations in the universe can't come up with a better way to imprison people?
3) Why could the hero fly the Drej plane? Where did he learn to fly it? Did he read a "Drej Plane for Dummies" in a cut scene?
4) The hero and heroine find out the captain is in league with the Drej by peeking through the door. OK...why the hell did he leave his door open if he's talking with his race's archenemy?! Didn't he think that a little bit of secrecy was in order? And then he gets mad at they heard him...he should be mad at himself!
5) So our two main characters just convinced an entire colony of people they didn't know to help build a busted spaceship, make it work, and cheer them on as they left? And how long did it take them to do this because they make it seem like it was less than a few days.
6) They didn't really flesh out why the Drej hated us so much. They keep saying "It's because of what we may become." Well all right, but isn't every race capable of being great? Why doesn't the Drej just kill every one? The Drej's despise of Titan AE seems to hold the answer until it's revealed at the end that Titan AE is meant to rebuild earth after it's destroyed. OK that explains why the Drej want to destroy it...but it doesn't explain why they hate us so much.
7) How did the little annoying green guy survive an explosion point blank? The turncoating of the captain through out the film was totally unconvincing. He's suddenly gone from the nice, father-like figure to "I AM GOING TO KILL THEM ALL" villain stereotype. Then near the end he suddenly sacrifices his life to let the hero and heroine go, saying, "No! It's better this way!" I seriously doubt they thought that character out, instead going for every side-character cliche in the book. The voice acting in this wasn't too great either. I wonder why? I wonder who came up with the idea that Drew Barrymore would be a great choice to play an Asian chick. And Jeanine Gerafelo's voice couldn't be any more monotone. I'll admit Nathan Lane's character had some class, although it seemed to add needless humor to a character that becomes serious in the second act, adding yet again more bad character continuity in the film. This film had a lot of potential considering the basic storyline and the budget/artists involved. Unfortunately, it's marred by the poor script that doesn't take itself seriously at all. It's pretty much over by the end when the hero calls the new Earth "Bob." Wow what a great way to end a movie. I'm surprised Stanley Kubrick didn't have a clown instead of superhuman baby at the end of "2001." Wait a minute...the writer of the "Buffy the Vamprie Slayer" TV series wrote this? THAT'S YOUR PROBLEM!
Rating:
Summary: Titan After Earth: TAKE THAT DISNEY!
Review: Ok, so the film bombed, and killed ANY chance to see another spectacular film like this from Fox Studios ever again. I hope it will get much more attention on DVD then it did in theatres. Hopefully it will also have alot of fun and cool features for the fans. This movie shows that Disney isn't the only ones with animation talent. But unlike Disney Fox isn't afraid to market to an older audience. The characters are all very cool, with an original plot to boot! Some neat plot twists along the way, and VERY VERY VERY cool animation mixed BEAUTIFULLY with the best special effects you'll ever see in an animated film. This movie wasn't predictable, and kept me guessin HOW it was gonna all end. The ending is a stretch of the imagination. I did notice someone mutter how "impossible" it was. But this is science fiction! who cares! My only problem is that it ended too quickly, I would've enjoyed it even more had it been 2 hrs. The voice talents are great, but at times unrecognizable (I didn't know John Leguizamo was in it till I saw the credits.) I also wanna mention the AWESOME music! Its all rock and you'll be moshing in your seat as it keeps the movie rolling along smoothly. My favorite scene is when Matt Damons character is flying the ship along with the wake angels. That was pure eye candy, and I can't wait to see this movie again on video! I'll be first in line to get it on DVD! Way to go FOX! Too bad this movie will be the last of it's kind.
Rating:
Summary: Visuals!
Review: Some of the most beautiful visuals of any movie to grace the screen. Should appeal to fans of Star Wars style action. Too intense for the wee ones though.
Rating:
Summary: Wasted potential
Review: This is what happens when the guy who did "Pebble and the Penguin" ventures into "Heavy Metal 2000" territory. In the beginning I actually liked this movie. Visuals were nice, and storyline seemed promising: earth has been destroyed and humanity has spread out among the stars while being persecuted by the Drej, a race of pure energy, because they fear what we might become and also the construction of the Titan AE. Yet there were some problems I noticed that put the film on thin ice: cliche, archetype characters. For example: the brave, handsome hero and the tough, independant woman. And of course they hate each other, because after all two people can't fall in love unless they hate each other's guts first. Things start to go downhill in the storyline though. For example, the Drej are not scary at all, nor are they dangerous. Characters are continually saying through out the film, "You can't defeat them!" Yet through out the film their fighters and ground troops are killed with one shot. And this includes one shot with a PISTOL! I don't care if its a laser pistol, its still a freggin' pistol versus a giant fightercraft. The plotholes get bigger in the next thirty minutes. Some examples:
1) How did the hero know what the Drej lord was saying? Did he read the subtitles?
2) Do you know the hero breaks out of prison by going through the electric shield door? You're telling me one of the most advanced civilizations in the universe can't come up with a better way to imprison people?
3) Why could the hero fly the Drej plane? Where did he learn to fly it? Did he read a "Drej Plane for Dummies" in a cut scene?
4) The hero and heroine find out the captain is in league with the Drej by peeking through the door. OK...why the hell did he leave his door open if he's talking with his race's archenemy?! Didn't he think that a little bit of secrecy was in order? And then he gets mad at they heard him...he should be mad at himself!
5) So our two main characters just convinced an entire colony of people they didn't know to help build a busted spaceship, make it work, and cheer them on as they left? And how long did it take them to do this because they make it seem like it was less than a few days.
6) They didn't really flesh out why the Drej hated us so much. They keep saying "It's because of what we may become." Well all right, but isn't every race capable of being great? Why doesn't the Drej just kill every one? The Drej's despise of Titan AE seems to hold the answer until it's revealed at the end that Titan AE is meant to rebuild earth after it's destroyed. OK that explains why the Drej want to destroy it...but it doesn't explain why they hate us so much.
7) How did the little annoying green guy survive an explosion point blank? The turncoating of the captain through out the film was totally unconvincing. He's suddenly gone from the nice, father-like figure to "I AM GOING TO KILL THEM ALL" villain stereotype. Then near the end he suddenly sacrifices his life to let the hero and heroine go, saying, "No! It's better this way!" I seriously doubt they thought that character out, instead going for every side-character cliche in the book. The voice acting in this wasn't too great either. I wonder why? I wonder who came up with the idea that Drew Barrymore would be a great choice to play an Asian chick. And Jeanine Gerafelo's voice couldn't be any more monotone. I'll admit Nathan Lane's character had some class, although it seemed to add needless humor to a character that becomes serious in the second act, adding yet again more bad character continuity in the film. This film had a lot of potential considering the basic storyline and the budget/artists involved. Unfortunately, it's marred by the poor script that doesn't take itself seriously at all. It's pretty much over by the end when the hero calls the new Earth "Bob." Wow what a great way to end a movie. I'm surprised Stanley Kubrick didn't have a clown instead of superhuman baby at the end of "2001." Wait a minute...the writer of the "Buffy the Vamprie Slayer" TV series wrote this? THAT'S YOUR PROBLEM!
Rating:
Summary: Almost perfect
Review: This is a fun movie. The animation is pretty amazing. I only have two issues. First the hard rock video-like segments are embarassing to listen to. Not to mention pointless to the plot. Second, a sense of time is very much missing here; the entire plotline seems to take only day or two at most, but then there it seems like those would be an exceedingly busy couple of days. Personally, a comment or two along the lines of "Why did it take you a whole week to track me down and free me from these slave traders?" would have given me a better sense of pacing. However, these are minor complaints. I enthusiastically recommend getting your hands on a copy, especially cause you can find them really cheap; I saw a copy at Target for $6.99 last weekend.
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