TiTanAe

Titan AE

Yes, the visuals are cool. The character animation is great (for an American studio), and anyone who says the female lead looks too much like Mulan thinks so only because they're both animated and Chinese. The male protagonist looks just like a dozen other dumb Caucasian comic book dudes, and no one's complaining there. Anyway.... Some of the early scenes on Earth, before it explodes into a million pieces (oops, spoiler...) have truly amazing landscapes, and of course there are tons of special FX everywhere. Overall, good eye candy.

The CG stuff is way overdone though, with no attempt fit it in with the cell animation. With computer graphics pushing so hard toward "photo-realism," this gives a sort of Roger Rabbit look to the movie. They really could have stuck with hand-drawn ships and scenery: less spectacular, but much better overall aesthetics.

Voice acting is good but not exceptional. The use of music and sound effects are mediocre. And damnit, can't we have a decent sci-fi movie (other than 2001) with space scenes that are silent? I swear, a good director could make this work really well. Sigh... <cough> Akira <cough>

The story is a ridiculous collection of sci-fi cliches, crammed into a really short hour and a half. Should have spent more of the budget on time to develop the plot and the characters, and less on special effects. On the other hand, it does have much better comedy than the latest Disney offerings. Lots of good one-liners, and the alien characters (while unimaginative) are pretty good comic relief.

Recommendations

• MattBrubeck: Not a great movie, but still a decent way to kill an afternoon with some friends. Worth a matinee ticket if you're bored and have nothing better to do.

• JoeFrosh: The scene where they were flying through the gas cloud was exceedingly cool, the rest was...well...far less so.

• LucasBaker: Not the greatest movie ever. But loads of fun. And the story is cool. And it is one of the few movies I have ever seen that actually held my attention. No, you don't understand. Movies very rarely keep my interest long. This one did. WELL worth the price, even the expensive evening show.

• AlexBobbs: The story is pretty silly, but the character development is decent for this type of movie and the action scenes make it all worth it. Lots of fun for the kid in you.

• ChrisPries: I was thouroughly disappointed by the simplification of physical principles. If fact i think this movie is even self-inconsistent. Why can't a children's movie have some resemblance of truth? other than purpetulizing the commmon stareotypes of our time, this movie is fine for kids, as long as you don't mind subjecting them to half-hazard semi-truth lie of a reality the propose. So the hero is supposed to be hiding and moving through a ship made entirely out of energy, with aliens made out of pure energy... and they can't find him. grrrr... the dumbing down of our society angers me so. and it starts at such an early age. who's with me? who's ready to Rage against the oppressive brainwashing of the man?
  • I dunno about you, but I'd kind of like to oppressively brainwash the man...

• LizzieKadison: One of the aliens looks like my Spanish teacher from senior year. Just thought you all should know.

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CategoryMovie