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Titan A.E.
http://www.ram.org/ramblings/movies/titan_ae.html

The year is 3028 A.D. The Drej, a race of pure-energy aliens who fear
humanity, have just destroyed Earth as space ships flee the devastated
planet.  Among the fleeing are humanity's last hopes of rebuilding
Earth, one of which is in the form of a gigantic spaceship, Titan, and
the other is the form of a young boy, Cale (voiced by Matt Damon), who
possesses the location of the ship.

After Earth is destroyed, the surviving humans become drifters in
space. The Drej, knowing of Titan's existence, search the universe for
Cale so they can use the information he possesses to destroy Titan.
For the same reason Korso (Bill Pullman), a friend of Cale's father,
and his crew, Akima (Drew Barrymore); Preed (Nathan Lane); Gune (John
Leguizamo); and Stith (Janeane Garofalo); are after Cale. The
surviving humans want to find Titan and restore Earth to its
glory. The Drej want to stop them and destroy the last vestige of
humanity.

The movie's animation is breathtaking. A lot of art is not just about
technical prowess, but mostly about imagination. With great
imagination, even the least technical bit of creativity can look
amazing. That's how it is with Titan A.E. (though the animation
quality is superb).  The style of the animation is unique, but not
entirely novel: it is a combination of Japanese Anime and the style
pioneered in traditional animation by studios like Disney.

Titan A.E. takes its time reaching the conclusion and that simply
means more time for eye-popping visuals. There's an incredible
sequence involving "wake angels", where Cale learns to pilot a ship
and these creatures dance along on the ship's energy wake.  The final
cat-and-mouse sequence in the Ice Rings of Tigrin where reflections on
collapsing ice crystals confuse and threaten is
awe-inspiring. Throughout the film, the visualisation of what space
beyond what we can currently observe is bold and daring.  With respect
to the plot, which is generally straight-forward, the way in which
Earth is preserved is quite clever.

However, the entire notion of the human spirit winning against all
odds wears a bit thin, especially as the outcome is highly
predictable.  The animations of the characters themselves are okay and
the actors do a superlative job with the voices.  Directed by Don
Bluth and Gary Goldman, the movie features a sound track that is
incongruous. Rather than searing instrumentals to match the raucous
audio of the sound track, we're presented with alterna-pop that is
extremely weak and out of place.

/Titan A.E./ is a grand space-epic that is all the better because of
the imaginative use of animation to tell a story.  Don't miss this
one.

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