Touches You

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

People are voting emotionally.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Animation great, it follows the style of Heavy Metal or Cool World. Problem is a weak cast, poor character development, and just plain boring. I knew what it suppose to be, but there is no story. Totally uninteresting

Titan AE is one of the best 2D animation ventures out there that isn't Disney. Science Fiction and animation just seem to inherently go hand in hand (affirming my belief that Treasure Planet is the best one that Disney ever churned out, but that's another story), perhaps because of the dazzling possibilities in a form of creation like that, tools which make the visual patterns of the artist's dreams and beautiful renditions of the cosmos a reality. This one nails the visual aspect, but it was story that hooked me ultimately. Along with the artwork there is a boundless creative surge, a very human plot line that's relatable to anyone who's ever felt lost or like they don't fit in. In the year 3028 A.D., a marauding race of aliens called the Drej decide that us humans are a threat, and obliterate earth, leaving few survivors. Dark way to kick off an animated movie, amirite? That's another great thing about it, it's not exactly for kids and reaches for themes that are a little more than your standard animated flick, getting fairly intense in the process. One of the few human survivors is young Cale (later played by Matt Damon), whose scientist father (Ron Perlman) was working on an idea that could have greatly advanced our civilization. In the years following the destruction, Cale has been left to wander the galaxy with the sparse, impoverished remains of the human race, now looked down upon by other alien tribes for essentially being homeless. When human Captain Joseph Korso (Bill Pullman) comes to him telling of a mysterious device created by his father long ago, Cale is reluctant, resenting his him for disappearing on the Titan ship so many years before. Soon it becomes clear that Perlman's device is the key to creating a new earth, and reuniting humanity. Thus begins an epic race across the universe to find it before the Drej do. Drew Barrymore lends her sassy voice talents to Akima, Korso's tough lieutenant, and there's also work from John Leguizamo, Nathan Lane, Janeane Garofalo, Charles Rocket, Alex D. Linz and rapper Tone Loc who has a perfect voice for this kind of thing, playing a kindly alien mentor named Tek. This one is timeless, feeling fresh and vital with each passing decade it's allowed to age through. A celebration of imagination and the creative force of will that lies inside each and every one of us humans, no matter how dire our situation. Classic stuff.

The name "Don Bluth" doesn't mean anything to a generation of kids raised on the previously unimaginable visual beauty and thematic potency boasted by each Pixar release every year, but prior to that, Bluth's animated works were an oddity of their own. In the 1980's and 1990's, Bluth's projects, no matter how strange or out of place, always seemed to be greenlit. He's responsible for giving my generation beloved home video classics like The Secret of NIMH, The Land Before Time, and even All Dogs Go to Heaven. Despite those films not boasting record box office office numbers initially, they went on to be classics and have spawned their own line of sequels, particularly The Land Before Time.Bluth's formula seemed to be "give it time;" eventually, his films would find their desired audience once that same audience convinced their parents to rent or buy the VHS tape after having failed to live up to their promise of taking them to see the respective film during the initial theatrical run. This is likely what kept Bluth working into the new century after repeated box office failures; despite costly studio efforts that have the ability to roll eyes just by titles like Rock-A-Doodle and Thumbelina, Bluth kept on pursuing his visions, most likely with studio-heads still possessing the mindset that Bluth's films would be hits in due time.With the inception of Fox Animation Studios by Bluth and frequent collaborator Gary Goldman, Bluth had a whole new playground on which to operate. His next move and the studio's debut would be Anastasia, Bluth's first box office hit in years, one strong enough to make his studio look to have a lot of potential. That's when his fate was sealed with Titan A.E., debatably the biggest cinematic risk in his filmography. Titan A.E. was stylistically, thematically, and fundamentally different from his previous films; unlike the music-heavy, cartoony look of his previous works, this was a darker, more violent film that combined the slick palette styles of anime with the traditionalist principles of hand-drawn animation to create something that was visually unique and resembled a graphic novel.Fox was convinced the project was promising enough to funnel more than $90 million into the production alone, plus God knows how much in the marketing department. Bluth's biggest risk ended up being a devastating financial blow to the studio, barely meriting a third of its production budget back, and scaling Bluth's studio far enough back before it was shuttered later in 2000. Bluth's studio closed basically as soon as it opened and Titan A.E., as well as Bluth in some respect, went on to be a curious piece of history.Titan A.E. isn't a mind-blowingly elaborate animated film, but its charm and its energy is undeniable. Taking place in 3028 A.D., humankind has found a way to perfect space travel and intergalactic communication with an invention called "Project Titan." When the device is first used, however, it awakens the Drej, an energy-based alien species who begin to attack Earth with intent on wiping out the human race. When the Titan's lead scientist is killed in combat, he sends his son to the evacuation ship to seek safety.Fifteen years later, the story focuses on the son, Cale (voiced by Matt Damon), who is working in a salvage yard. He is eventually found by Joseph Korso (Bill Pullman), the captain of the Valkyrie spaceship, who reveals that a map to his father's original project. In order for humanity to regain control of its planet, or at least have the means to start a new one, all the fate lies in Cale obtaining the Titan, and after being joined by the beautiful Akima Kunimoto (Drew Barrymore), it's difficult for him to refuse, especially when the Drej have turned to using incredible violence in roder to remain in control.As mentioned, the animation in Titan A.E. is slick and stylish; characters are drawn sharply and in a manner that highlights their physical features with great artistry. It reminds me of Atlantis: The Lost Empire, which would open theatrically under Disney's impenetrable umbrella to mixed reviews and middling box office returns, that also showed extreme desire to break free from the time-specific confines of animation to be something new, exciting, and impacting. These kinds of films appealed to another kind of young child, but that young child didn't seem to discover these respective films until they were much older, perhaps even college-aged, like myself.With that, nothing about Titan A.E. is particularly special; its characters are painfully average archetypes, its plot-points are foreseeable, and its character-chemistry is forced in many aspects, particularly the love interest between Cale and Akima. The reason I'm recommending it, however, is that this film features some seriously skilled art direction and enthralling action sequences that remind us why animation is such a wonderful medium. Bluth and Goldman work to remind us that the ostensibly unimaginable can be achieved through the medium, and effectively make most of the film's weight rest on the competence of the animation team rather than the screenplay by a trio of writers (one of them, Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Joss Whedon).Needless to say, with the challenge the animators had presented in front of them - make an action-adventure film with the visual depth and potency of a computer-generated project in-line with Pixar under the guidelines and abilities of traditional, hand-drawn animation - they did a wonderful job. Titan A.E. is far from narratively perfect, but it's a beautiful film in size and scope, and works to remind many of us, especially Bluth, who has had a fairly dormant film career since the closing of his studio that is looking to be revived with a Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaign, interesting failures will always be more fascinating than modest or unambitious successes.

"Titan A.E." has some interesting ideas but there are too many characters that simply aren't interesting and the plot isn't involving enough to make you care. The premise is that Earth has been destroyed by the Drej, an evil race of aliens. The remnants of humanity are now scattered across the stars, doing their best to survive among the multitude of other species found in the infinite galaxies. Our hero Cale (voiced by Matt Damon) is the son of an inventor who promised to deliver a way to fight back against the Drej, but disappeared right after Earth was destroyed. When he meets a crew of explorers, including Captain Joseph Korso (Bill Pullman), love interest Akima (voiced by Drew Barrymore) and the aliens Preed (Nathan Lane), weapons expert Stith (Janeane Garofalo) and inventor Gune (John Leguizamo), they embark on a journey that is full of danger, but is humanity's only hope.With the earth being destroyed and humanity clinging on only the smallest shreds of hope in a galaxy where the friends are scarce, the stakes here are high. Somehow though, there's not a lot of tension because the characters aren't really developed. The main villains hate humans and want to destroy Earth for no reason. They're literally just bad guys that show up, attack Earth Death Star-style and are never explored any further. Do any of the other alien cultures object to their behavior? Did the humans stumble upon some kind of weapon that could be used against the Drej? You never find out. When it comes to the crew of the ship that comes looking for Cale, they don't have much personality beyond the surface. The nerdy looking Gune, the one with glasses, is socially awkward and wacky. The strong aggressive female Stith is... strong and aggressive. The human female is (predictably) the love interest, which means she is cold towards our hero at first but warms up to him as the plot moves on. My problem isn't the romance angle. I don't fault the characters for being attracted to each other almost immediately because all of these aliens are pretty ugly. It's just that this movie's story is pretty bland and that the characters are just way too familiar to get you very invested. Take the reluctant protagonist. He's told that he holds the key to saving humanity! He could be a hero and get out of the dumpy space station where nobody likes him! Is he excited at the idea? Not at all. His "too cool" attitude means he's always making snarky remarks until he finally gets into the spirit of saving the world (but only after some pretty big disastrous developments). It's not all bad. If you look in the credits you might notice that Joss Whedon worked on the script and once in a while you can recognize some hints of what this movie could have been. It's just bogged down with too many typical 90's sci-fi moments and tropes.On the plus side, there are some alien worlds that are pretty creative and make for some cool moments. On the planet Sesharrim, these hydrogen-filled plants and it's bat-like inhabitants work really well for example. There are also some exciting chases scenes throughout. Most impressive by far are the scenes set in the ice rings of the Andali Nebula. They play with the idea that the place is filled with reflective surfaces and that there's so much debris that at any second they could all be crushed very well. The visuals are quite good and there are many moments where they look genuinely inspired. The film uses computer animation extensively and most of the time I thought it blended well, but once in a while, it clashed badly. It looks like most of the teams working on the film were really talented and one just wasn't very good at all because there is one particular scene towards the end where the CGI looks downright awful.Overall I have been saying mostly mixed things about the film. The ratio of good to bad segments is about 3:2. It makes the movie more of a disappointment than an actual bad movie because I can see what people like about it. My biggest problem is that there are many plot conveniences or moments that don't make any sense. I have to ask once again how come there are no consequences to this alien race wandering around and destroying alien home worlds without provocation? Why is it that with the dozens of different alien species we see, none of them have banded together to fight off such a huge menace? Why is an incredibly crucial artifact, one so important the fate of the human race depends on it, given to a four year old without any instructions? Why, when there is a secret plan that could really create some turmoil within the crew, are only a few members aware of it? Why is it that the Drej use prisons that don't keep anyone in or out of them? Visually the movie has a lot going on and it gets props for not pulling its punches and actually showing characters get hurt, bleed and die but often that's all it has going. While young audiences that may not question the plot so much will enjoy the film, adults will find it flat. I really wanted to give the movie a shot, having seen it once and not finding it particularly special, but even upon repeat viewings, with lower expectations I just kept finding more problems with it. The music used in the film for example, is downright terrible. Just generic 90's pop over and over. No big orchestral score to get us pumped for the action at all. I'm going to give the film a 2,5/5. Higher than my previous rating because honestly, the movie is fun to watch, it's just not particularly memorable. (2,5 / 5, May 16, 2014)(2/5 DVD, January 11, 2013)