|
|
Titan A.E.
Click box
cover art above, to order this DVD
The Film :
The sci-fi animated feature Titan A.E. involves the distant future, when human technology has
reached its peak. A secretive prototype starship called "The Titan
Project" has a race of villainous aliens so spooked, they've decided
to destroy the entire planet Earth, before the device can ever be used!
These "Drej" are a race of pure energy, and the Titan invention is
not the type of (peaceful) energy they want to have around. So, the Drej mother ship
attacks with a giant wave that engulfs the Earth in flames, as millions of
Earthlings attempt to flee. Surviving humans of this Armageddon begin to
mark later years as being "A.E."...After Earth.
Among such survivors is Cale (voice of Matt Damon), whose father headed
the Titan Project. With the help of Akima
(Drew Barrymore), Cale sets out to find his long lost father, as well as
the Titan project...with the evil Drej in hot pursuit! This pursuit includes space scenes that are totally computer-generated,
leading to some of the film's strongest points.
One of the most memorable scenes includes a final battle, in a field of
ice crystals that reflect the images of the battling spacecraft. Star Trek
fans have compared this scene to Star Trek II, though I
think that's pushing it. It's a great scene, either way.
One of the better ideas of the film is to not delve into any musical
dance numbers. I know that I often qhine whenever a Disney film lacks such
music, though let's just say Don Bluths films have no such track record of
top-notch music, so they'd be better off without them! Quest for Camelot
would have
been exceptional if not for its lackluster musical
numbers dragged into the film kicking and screaming. Titan A.E.
, fortunately, doesn't have a bunch of big-eyed aliens humming a Hakuna Matata
rip-off after Earth's destruction. The background music does have
some excellent songs, and yet they are very effectively put in the background,
in a style not unlike 1980's Flash Gordon (or perhaps, the
cult classic Heavy Metal). Good idea.
If there's one flaw with the film, it's typical of a Don Bluth animated
feature. As hard as he tries, Bluth can make a comedic cartoon, or a
serious looking cartoon, yet has trouble mixing the two concepts. Examples
of the former include An American Tail, where the characters
were cute, yet too cute to make you take anything seriously.
In Anastasia, Bluth succeeded in delivering an epic animated
tale, yet failed when trying to bring in comic
relief in the form of "Bartok." Similarly, Titan A.E. grips the audience with its
dramatic tale of life "After
Earth," yet fails in any attempt at comic relief : a goofy
scientific lizard, and a
talking, giant mole. Whatever. Even with such flaws, the CGI artwork more than enhances the film. This might become a
very major classic to sci fi fans, and will definitely be shown on the
Sci-Fi channel for many years to come. To me, it was probably one of the
best sci-fi cartoons since classic Japanese anime, like Space
Cruiser Yamato and Battle of the Planets. It's not
as good as those prior sagas, and yet it is still enjoyable to see another
sci-fi animated epic...finally! The
DVD : Most Bonus Materials for
this DVD seem pretty standard on animated feature DVDs these days,
including the original theatrical trailer, production notes, a still
gallery of conceptual artwork, and the film itself in widescreen
anamorphic format. There's also a music video of the feature song for the
film. It's the additional bonus materials,
however, that I'll review in more detail
here. The first is the infamous
promise of "deleted scenes." Such a promise is amusing when
talking about animated features, because very rarely do animated features
ever have a scene taken out of them; it takes to long to animate the scene
in the first place! Even more intriguing, most of the animation was
already completed in these scenes, so there's no el cheapo "flipping
through the storyboard stills" in the 4 deleted scenes offered
(although, admittedly final coloring of a few moments of each scene was
never completed). The four scenes include "Green Drink," when
Cale tries to repair a defective water cooler of sorts aboard the ship;
"Akima's Rescue," when an alternate version of that scene shows
she needs even less help than expected; and uncut versions of both the ice
crystals battle and the final battle. For anyone who even slightly liked
the film, these deleted scenes are pretty intriguing, even if it does seem
pretty understandable for their deletion from the final cut. There
is also a behind the scenes featurette, from a Fox Kids special about the
film. This is interesting if just to see the steps it took to make the
film, and why the film was so very expensive! It's still a shame that this
film, allegedly, only brought in around one-tenth (or so) of what it
cost to make it. Agreed, it was no Anastasia.
Regardless, was it truly that bad? I personally never thought so, and
still don't.
Click
box cover at left, to order this DVD.
| All text, Title
graphics, and pix not of reviewed product, are created by Techtite,
copyright 2000; all rights reserved. For further "legalese"
& disclaimers, click here... |
|
Burnout
Near
Miss
Small
Crater
Large
Crater
Deep
Impact
