Titan A.E.
"Titan A.E.", with the voices of Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore, Bill Pullman, Nathan Lane, Tone Loc, John Leguizamo, Janeane Garafolo and Ron Perlman. Written by Randall McCormick and Hans Bauer, directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. MPAA rating PG for violence, sensuality and language (and some cartoon dorsal nudity). Run time 96 minutes.
At first blush, it looked as though "Titan A.E." might be aimed strictly at the Middle School boys' crowd, but after watching the story unfold, wrapped in smooth computer graphics, and overlaid with traditional cel animation, I stand corrected. "Titan A.E." is very nicely done, well thought out and has a broad appeal.
Way off in the distant future, the Earth is destroyed to make room for a hyperspace bypass or a Taco Bell, or something. Before the planet gets blasted into its constituent atoms by an evil (duh!) race of glittery pure-energy aliens called the Drej, or Drege or maybe Dredge, -they should have a logo, maybe with their name spelled out - a scientist (Perlman) says good-bye to his young son, Cale (Damon) and launches his pet project, code-named Titan, into interstellar space, and just in the knick of time. Cale and the rest of humanity become space-refugees, hitchhiking around the galaxy looking for a place to settle. Think "Grapes of Wrath" with rockets instead of Model A Fords.
Cale falls in with a space ranger-type named Korso (Pullman) along with his bug-eyed crew - Preed, (Lane) a foppish Dr. Smith type; Stith, (Garafolo) a mutant kangarooish thing with massive backward thighs; the requisite comic relief, Gune (Leguizamo) a fat little nerdy Yoda-esque egghead with eyes like headlights on a '37 Chevy and Akima (Barrymore) a totally hot animated intergalactic babe with an attitude. Lara Croft meets Princess Leia.
It soon becomes apparent that Cale holds the secret (in the palm of his hand) to the location of the Titan Project, whatever that is, and the space adventure takes off. There are space battles, good aliens, bad aliens, treachery, deceit and good, old fashioned family values in the emptiness of interstellar space. (What?)
Eventually, Cale and company discover the secret location, as well as the nature of the Titan project, an analog to the Genesis machine in "Star Trek" - a sort of planet-making engine that gives the human drifters a place to call their own.
If "Star Wars, Episode 1" had been half the moovie that "Titan A.E." is, it would still be at the theaters. Of course, there would still be the JarJar Binks problem, but we've overcome adversity before, right? "Titan A.E." has its own JarJar in the dumpy over-the-top persona of Gune, but frankly, it's the only real weak spot in the whole moovie. This is the nature of comic relief in most moovies, anyway - too much, too often.
It's hard for me to imagine how difficult it must be to develop characters in an animated feature, but director Don Bluth does an amazing job of creating a reality that we can care about. The moovie is well written and visually exciting, blending traditional cel animation with top shelf 3D CGI to create worlds beyond belief. The highest praise I can give "Titan A.E." is that after the first fifteen minutes, I stopped thinking of it as animation, and settled in for a first-class sci-fi moovie. "Titan A.E." owes a lot to the "Star Trek" moovies as well as "Star Wars", but stands on its own quite well.
"Titan A.E." may be a shade too intense for really small kids, but the rest of the family will probably enjoy it - there may be a few titters and giggles from the younger crowd when Cale shows his cartoony backside in the ship's infirmary, but if animated buttocks are going to keep you away from the moovies, you might want to consider staying indoors altogether. (For crying out loud, don't you dare go near a mall - apoplexy awaits you there.)
Settle in with a barrel of popcorn and enjoy "Titan A.E.". I did. I might again.
Three and a half cows.
At first blush, it looked as though "Titan A.E." might be aimed strictly at the Middle School boys' crowd, but after watching the story unfold, wrapped in smooth computer graphics, and overlaid with traditional cel animation, I stand corrected. "Titan A.E." is very nicely done, well thought out and has a broad appeal.
Way off in the distant future, the Earth is destroyed to make room for a hyperspace bypass or a Taco Bell, or something. Before the planet gets blasted into its constituent atoms by an evil (duh!) race of glittery pure-energy aliens called the Drej, or Drege or maybe Dredge, -they should have a logo, maybe with their name spelled out - a scientist (Perlman) says good-bye to his young son, Cale (Damon) and launches his pet project, code-named Titan, into interstellar space, and just in the knick of time. Cale and the rest of humanity become space-refugees, hitchhiking around the galaxy looking for a place to settle. Think "Grapes of Wrath" with rockets instead of Model A Fords.
Cale falls in with a space ranger-type named Korso (Pullman) along with his bug-eyed crew - Preed, (Lane) a foppish Dr. Smith type; Stith, (Garafolo) a mutant kangarooish thing with massive backward thighs; the requisite comic relief, Gune (Leguizamo) a fat little nerdy Yoda-esque egghead with eyes like headlights on a '37 Chevy and Akima (Barrymore) a totally hot animated intergalactic babe with an attitude. Lara Croft meets Princess Leia.
It soon becomes apparent that Cale holds the secret (in the palm of his hand) to the location of the Titan Project, whatever that is, and the space adventure takes off. There are space battles, good aliens, bad aliens, treachery, deceit and good, old fashioned family values in the emptiness of interstellar space. (What?)
Eventually, Cale and company discover the secret location, as well as the nature of the Titan project, an analog to the Genesis machine in "Star Trek" - a sort of planet-making engine that gives the human drifters a place to call their own.
If "Star Wars, Episode 1" had been half the moovie that "Titan A.E." is, it would still be at the theaters. Of course, there would still be the JarJar Binks problem, but we've overcome adversity before, right? "Titan A.E." has its own JarJar in the dumpy over-the-top persona of Gune, but frankly, it's the only real weak spot in the whole moovie. This is the nature of comic relief in most moovies, anyway - too much, too often.
It's hard for me to imagine how difficult it must be to develop characters in an animated feature, but director Don Bluth does an amazing job of creating a reality that we can care about. The moovie is well written and visually exciting, blending traditional cel animation with top shelf 3D CGI to create worlds beyond belief. The highest praise I can give "Titan A.E." is that after the first fifteen minutes, I stopped thinking of it as animation, and settled in for a first-class sci-fi moovie. "Titan A.E." owes a lot to the "Star Trek" moovies as well as "Star Wars", but stands on its own quite well.
"Titan A.E." may be a shade too intense for really small kids, but the rest of the family will probably enjoy it - there may be a few titters and giggles from the younger crowd when Cale shows his cartoony backside in the ship's infirmary, but if animated buttocks are going to keep you away from the moovies, you might want to consider staying indoors altogether. (For crying out loud, don't you dare go near a mall - apoplexy awaits you there.)
Settle in with a barrel of popcorn and enjoy "Titan A.E.". I did. I might again.
Three and a half cows.