Alright so I wanted to do this Don Bluth film for a while but I haven't been able to do it due to problems at the library, but then I found it on Netflix and so I was able to see it last night. So here's my review for Titan A.E.
Plot: In the 31st century, an energy based alien species called the Drej declared war on humanity and so destroys Earth. But shortly before that, a young boy named Cale is given a ring from his father before he leaves on a ship called Titan. 15 years later, Cale meets a man named Korso who knew his father and reveals that the ring Cale's father gave him is a map to find the Titan and use it to create a new planet for humans. So Cale goes with Korso on his ship,Valkyrie to find Titan and his father before the Drej get do it first.
Alright so part of what made me a little more eager to see this again was when an anonymous commenter commented on how on my review for Atlantis: The Lost Empire, I said that one if it's flaws was how it could be a little too violent for children, and so he pointed out that this film was - and I quote: "probably way too violent to be a cartoon period. My friend Keith even said that it should've been rated PG-13 and I tend to agree." So what he right? Very much so. In fact, this film has been commonly known to be a financial failure because they weren't really clear on what was its target audience. They tried to give some cartooony supporting characters and stuff like that which is where it seems like it's for kids, but then you have all this violence with it being a post-apocalyptic story and you have a fairly big amount of blood and animation that is designed to look realistic then cartoony and some deaths that are not for kids- most notably, a part during the end where a character snaps another one's neck. I mean even if this was meant for teenagers to adults, none of that really sounds like something you'd witness in an animated movie no matter who it's aimed for. But even then, the movie falls due to having a number of cliches - most notably, the hero starting out as some bad boy or whatever after his father's death. And even if that's not the case for Cale, altogether, I just don't think they developed their characters well enough for them to really stand out and make them likeable let alone memorable. I mean I mostly acknowledge the supporting characters and just 'this short alien that's the scientist' or 'that chick that's obviously Cale's love interest', that kind of thing. But at the very least, this film doesn't manage to have some enjoyable things to it. The animation considering its time was good, some of the designing of the ships, aliens and stuff like that were pretty clever (mostly with the Drej leader. I thought he looked really cool.) The story and the setting was a little enjoyable considering the general take they had for Earth being destroyed hasn't been done before (at least with the whole deal with Titan and all that).
And that's my review for Titan A.E. It's very disorganized with trying to display who it's meant for and doesn't do a good job with some of it anyway with the number of cliches and lack of development for its supporting characters. But the whole idea to it along with the design and animation is enough in my opinion, that it's something of a 'meh' movie. Definitely something to watch if you're flipping through Netflix and you don't really care what you watch as along as it's fairly entertaining.
One other cliche I might point out was the fact that Korso just decides to become good towards the end of the film (although my guess as to why that is is probably because Preed ends up turning on him at the end and therefore maybe discovers that the Drej might not have been honest about letting him and maybe even Preed join them). Anyway, great review.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, great review H.A.K. If you don't mind, I'd like to point out something. You know how I said on your Atlantis: The Lost Empire review that I agreed with this one 100%? Well, I kind of take that back to an extent. I was watching an episode of a series called Hewy's animated movie reviews, this one where he reviewed All Dogs Go To Heaven. Anyway, towards the end of this episode, he said - and I quote "when it was first released, it didn't do so well since it was eclipsed by Walt Disney's The Little Mermaid. But at least it was better than what Don Bluth made afterwards, in the case of two exceptions, that is." When he said this, he showed posters of the movies released after All Dogs Go To Heaven (except he forgot to put up Thumbelina). Then when he showed the posters of Anastasia and Titan A.E., those were the ones he said were "two exceptions." Now, based on the fact that you gave Anastasia a higher rating than All Dogs, I'm guessing you would at least agree with Hewy making Anastasia an exception if not Titan A.E. as well. I don't know about you, but I definitely agree with him making Titan A.E. an exception as well (no offense if you don't) mainly because, well, I actually do think it at least has a few enjoyable things to it. And here's why. The movie does talk about the future, the prologue is great, the action is cool, and I like how Cale learns from Korso and the message from his father what the Titan is capable of and he slowly, but surely, starts to care about the ship because of that. I also, like the song that plays at the end of the credits as well (the one called "Not Quite Paradise" that is). Now, are these things as enjoyable for kids as teens and adults? Hard to say, maybe, maybe not. Anyway, I just thought I might point that out though.
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