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Cast (voices
of)
Cale Matt Damon
Akima Drew Barrymore
Korso Bill Pullman
Gune John Leguizamo
Preed Nathan Lane
Stith Janeane Garofalo
Directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman Written by Ben Edlund,
John August and Joss Whedon, based on the story by Hans Bauer
and Randall McCormick Rated PG for action violence, mild sensuality
and brief language
Running Time: 92 minutes Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Buy
the Poster!
Titan
A.E. is a very creative and gratifying animated feature. The
story takes place in 3028; the Drej, an alien race that is
made of pure energy, has destroyed Earth. The few survivors
of Earth fled on spacecrafts, one of them being the Titan,
which carries the hope of human survival. The story focuses
on Cale (Damon) and the search for the Titan, which Cale’s
father created and hid from the Drej. The audience is introduced
to Cale, while he is working somewhere in space with the low-lifes
of the universe. The character is young, angry and frustrated
because he believes that his father abandoned him. Cale is
soon encountered by Korso (Pullman), who was a former colleague
of his father’s. Korso reveals to Cale that he holds the future
of mankind in his hand. Cale discovers that his father has
place a genetic map of the Titan’s hiding place in the palm
of his hand. The film then turns into the journey of Cale,
Korso and his crew trying to find the Titan before the Drej
destroy it. The race to save mankind is then developed through
many quick and fast action sequences.
I
really enjoyed Titan A.E. It is a different and fresh type
of animated story telling. The film reminded me of a mix between
Heavy Metal and The Fifth Element.
Ben
Edlund, John August and Joss Whedon wrote the script for Titan
A.E. The story is something that everyone has heard before,
which is a race against the clock to save mankind. But the
structure that the writers use to tell the story is what works.
The three writers collaborated on the creation of strong characters,
along with different alien races and societies. The sequencing
and transitions are also clever in shaping the characters
and plot. An example of one the imaginative aspects in Titan
A.E. is the evil aliens, the Drej. The alien race is made
up of total energy and wants to conqueror the universe. The
power of the Drej is reflected by their depth and actions,
not by absurd dialogue (Remember the Psychlo race in Battlefield
Earth). The writer’s target audience for this film is 12-21
year olds, this isn’t an animated children’s film. I don’t
believe that the story and characters would have worked well
if the film was targeted for young children.
Don Bluth and Gary Goldman do an outstanding job of visually
directing the film. The futuristic atmosphere that Bluth and
Goldman created is original and groundbreaking. The directors
also blend animation with some live action effects for more
impact in certain scenes. The technology that Bluth and Goldman
use is incredible. An example in the film is the ice field
sequence, in which computer effects and animation are used
to create an exciting chase scene through the reflections
of the ice. It had to have taken these two directors awhile
to develop and create this movie; Titan A.E. is something
new in the world of animation like this summer’s previous
movie Dinosaur. Lately, it seems that every animated film
I review has new groundbreaking effects in it. The future
is looking very good for the world of animation.
Even
though I believe kids’ eyes will be stuck to the screen will
watching this film, it is a film made for older ages. There
is some blood, death and a lot of action violence, but the
film is rated PG, so almost all ages can see it.
Report
Card Grade: A-
Beastman’s
Movie Reviews
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