Review of Titan A.E.

Introduction

This was the movie that reputedly killed off the Fox Animation studios, so I was always interested in how this movie would look. Since its release in 2000, Final Fantasy if just purely on looks, has superseded it in the animated Sci-fi genre. However, I am of the opinion that this is one of the superior animated movies to have come from Hollywood.

Titan A.E. is set 1000 years in the future, when the Alien Drej have destroyed the Earth and the survivors are scattered in a hostile universe. A young asteroid worker, Cale is recruited by a motley group of starfarers to search for the Titan, a ship that Cale`s scientist father built. Cale is reluctant to help, believing himself to have been abandoned by his father, but agrees when the Drej turn up trying to kill him. Thus begins an amazing adventure, as the intrepid group search for mankind`s last hope, guided by a genetically encoded map in the palm of Cale`s hand.

Video

The film is given an immaculate anamorphic transfer onto DVD, the colours are vivid and striking. The production process of this film went through several directors and lasted several years. When you look at the end credits, you get an interminable list of animators and animation studios to which scenes and aspects of the movie were delegated. Such a conglomeration of talent certainly is apparent in the final movie. The styles of animation vary and the film tries valiantly to marry 2D and 3D animation. Hence you get the animation of pre-destruction Earth varying greatly from say the animation of the Drej or the Wake Angels sequence. You would think that the eclectic nature of such varying techniques would be jarring but the exact opposite is true. The quality of the animation varies from very good to visually stunning and since the character animation styles are constant, it all becomes greater than the sum of its parts. There are moments where the characters don`t fit in properly with the backgrounds but those are few and far between. Having said that, the Drej animation is very good and the ice ring sequences were truly groundbreaking.

Audio

You get a DD 5.1 transfer of the sound and it is very well done. All the action is well represented and dialogue is clear. There is another dichotomy in the music soundtrack. Some scenes rely on orchestrated pieces and are very well done. On the other hand, there are some scenes set to contemporary soft rock songs, perhaps verging on the Nu-metal. This seems a deliberate attempt to play to the "youth" audience. My fear is that such music can badly date a movie, and I wonder whether this film will be watched in the same way in 10 years. Such music can be an acquired taste, and it`s one that I seem to have acquired.

Features

Extras fanatics are well catered for. There are some well-designed menus. You get the usual raft of trailers, 4 in all. There is a stills gallery where you get dozens of concept drawings. Lit provide a music video, which is quite fun to watch. There is a short 20-minute making of documentary that is informative and entertaining. There are some deleted scenes. Different here as, in an animated movie, not all the frames are completed, so you get a mixture of animatics and animated pencil drawings. Not only do you get an idea of what was cut from the film, but also at what stage. Finally you have the director`s commentary, in this case, the final directors, Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. I must admit, this was a breath of fresh air. Most commentaries are a subtle sell for the movie, or the directors talent`s, but Titan A.E, was pretty much a flop at the box office, and here the directors have to face up to that. What you hear is a critical, maybe even harsh assessment of their movie. You can hear how the studios and the test audiences shaped the film. They talk about scenes they were disappointed with, and what they would have preferred to do with a greater budget.

Conclusion

The film`s cast is excellent, as they actually bring life and truth to the characters they portray. Matt Damon voices the cynical Cale, Drew Barrymore is outstanding as the tough Akima. Bill Pullman plays Korso, the captain of the Valkyrie and Janeane Garofalo voices the belligerent Stith. Special mention must be made of the characters of Gune and Preed. John Leguizamo gives voice to the scientist Gune, and brings an almost Peter Lorre quality to the character, but also adds a sense of wonder. Nathan Lane is outstanding as the mercenary Preed and steals the show with many of the best lines.

I have a soft spot for Disney, somewhere in a putrid decaying compost heap. The closer animated films get to Japanese anime, the happier I am. This got pretty close. Admittedly, the characters in this film were very Disneyesque in appearance and movement, but the story and style were far from anything the Mouse excretes. American animators believe that animation means motion, and there is always movement in a scene or character. There is something to be said for the power of stillness in an animated movie and that is lacking here. The story is pretty stereotypical Sci-Fi, but the script does take chances with the characters, there are some deaths and destruction that you would never see in Dumbo.

It is a valiant attempt at an adult animation, they attempt to put in some tension between Akima and Cale, and there is significant betrayal. The Drej as bad guys don`t quite come off and I would have liked there to be more character development and motivation. So this film is pure heaven for the eyes and ears, the story is far better than the pap that was Final Fantasy, and it`s definitely a Disney beater. The script was a little weak, but enjoyable nonetheless. It`s a shame that Fox Animation died because of this. With films of this calibre, they could have gone on to bigger and better things.