Subject: Review: Titan A.E. (2000)

From: [email-masked] (Frankie Paiva)
Date: 26 Jul 2000 05:48:51 GMT

Titan A.E.

rated PG
94 minutes
20th Century Fox
featuring the voices of Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore, Bill Pullman, and Nathan 
Lane
written by Ben Edlund, John August, and Joss Whedon
directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman

A Review by Frankie Paiva

Cale is a young man with muscles to spare. His father invented the Titan, a 
machine that would create an entirely new planet where humans could live. An 
evil alien race called the Drej destroyed earth, afraid of what might happen 
if the Titan worked. Even though they speak in subtitles, it is obvious the 
Drej mean business. Many years later, Korso, a spaceship captain, has found 
Cale, for whom he has been searching the galaxy. It turns out Cale's father 
left a map to the secret location of the Titan in a ring his dad gave him as 
a young child. So he joins the Korso and his crew, which also includes an 
attractive woman named Akima. The two strike up a relationship during the 
search for the Titan. The Drej are never close behind, especially since 
someone on the ship is a Drej spy. It is a classic race against time with 
limited resources as humanity's last hope attempts to foil bad guys and 
create a new planet for mankind.

Titan A.E. (A.E. stands for After Earth) never fails at being visually 
appealing. All characters were hand drawn, but are put into computer 
generated backgrounds. The result does look a bit awkward, yet it works 
surprisingly well. The movie would not have been as fantastic with hand drawn 
backgrounds. Likewise, computer created characters would have seemed strange. 
The finale, which takes place in a large belt of floating ice orbs, looks 
incredible. The script sets up many chances for interesting alien species 
too. Each seems to come from an animal of the earth. A space professor looks 
strangely like a turtle on two legs, and Stith (voiced by Janeane Garofalo) 
is a strange kangaroo mutation with large grasshopper legs. Yes, you read 
that correctly. Janeane Garofalo voices an alien. That's the first problem 
with the movie. It is painfully apparent who the voices are. Normally this 
would not be a problem, but the voices fit clumsily with the characters. 
Rather than watching Cale and seeing him as a distinct person, Matt Damon's 
face keeps coming up. The same goes for Drew Barrymore's Asian Akima. Even if 
the directors were casting against type, it feels strange. I said to myself, 
"Wow! That alien sounds just like Nathan Lane!" This is not a good thing.

The script may be the reason so much attention goes to the voices. The 
derivative text is an accumulation of patches from different science fiction 
films. Even so, it never fails to be entertaining. It has the same quality of 
a bad Nickelodeon cartoon. You know what is going to happen, but you enjoy it 
anyway. A few twists seem forcefully added into the string of events. These 
plot turns are never very exciting though. With three minds coming together 
for the screenplay, it should have been better. Especially since Joss Whedon, 
creator and writer of the smart television program Buffy The Vampire Slayer, 
was on the team. The story always seems focused on the big picture, and never 
stops to add in a joke or two. The soundtrack is also a blunder. Rock songs 
like Creed's overplayed "Higher" accompany most action and non-action scenes. 
Random tracks seem added just to get a good list of artists on the 
soundtrack.  

This movie is stupid and cheesy in ways only a sci-fi movie can be. It tries 
to mix traditional stuff of the genre with supposed new material, and will 
probably succeed with young males, the main audience for science fiction. The 
images presented are of high quality, generic screenplay aside. Titan A.E. 
always seems rushed to reach its conclusion, but the trip there is fun and 
exciting.

B-

Frankie Paiva
[email-masked]
http://www.homestead.com/cinemaparadise/mainpage.html