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Titan A.E. (2000)

post #1 of 22
2/14/10 at 12:12am
Thread Starter 
Titan A.E. died a sad death at the box office and seemingly shut down Don Bluth for good. Is it bad, though? I think not. It's a clever, well-acted, beautifully animated piece of sci-fi animation, and every time I watch it I think, "Man, why can't we have more of this in American animation?"

There's just a lot of good stuff in this movie.The hand-drawn animation is lovely, although the CGI is a bit wonky aside from the Drej and the ice crystal maze. While the voice acting contains a number of name actors, they all acquit themselves quite well, especially Matt Damon, Nathan Lane and (surprisingly enough) Drew Barrymore. The script by Ben Edlund, Joss Whedon and John August is pretty good as well, with an irresistible premise, witty dialogue and clever twists such as a scene involving an intelligent guard that I highly suspect was Whedon's idea.

The movie's not perfect: aside from the aforementioned wonky CGI integration, Korso's motivations flip-flop with almost no explanation, the soundtrack has some truly awful "flavors of the month" (Creed? Really?) and the Star Wars parallels are pretty easy to spot. Still, it's fun, exciting and deserves more love. What say you, fellow Chewers?
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post #2 of 22
2/14/10 at 12:19am
I remember catching this (was interested in it for the Damon and the trailers looked good) back in the theaters and just feeling like it the plot didn't make a lot of sense. I wouldn't mind rewatching it to change my opinion.

I seem to remember that like half the movie was CGI and half was traditional. I haven't seen it since it came out though so my memory is pretty fuzzy at this point.
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post #3 of 22
2/14/10 at 12:24am
I quite like it. I never quite understood the hate. Sure, it's not one of the all-time greats, but there's nothing particularly terrible about it, and it has some good moments. Really, really could have lived without the pop songs though.

I actually own the DVD, but I haven't watched it in quite some time.
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post #4 of 22
2/14/10 at 12:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Spider View Post
(Creed? Really?)
Ha! The second I saw the thread my very first thoughts were "Can you take me highaahhhh?"

I was 12 when this came out and saw it in theaters. Was really excited to do so. I don't remember a whole lot about it, but I liked it well enough. There's been a couple chances to revisit it over the years but I've never been up to the task. The aforementioned weird CGI integration is remembered, though. It made for some weird visuals at times, but I did like the overall look of the film. Plotwise, all I really remember is Planet Bob. Man, now I might have to see this again.
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post #5 of 22
2/14/10 at 12:36am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Coombs View Post
Ha! The second I saw the thread my very first thoughts were "Can you take me highaahhhh?"

I was 12 when this came out and saw it in theaters. Was really excited to do so. I don't remember a whole lot about it, but I liked it well enough. There's been a couple chances to revisit it over the years but I've never been up to the task. The aforementioned weird CGI integration is remembered, though. It made for some weird visuals at times, but I did like the overall look of the film. Plotwise, all I really remember is Planet Bob. Man, now I might have to see this again.
That damn song was in almost EVERY ad for the movie. I forgot exactly where it is in the movie (it's been a while), but it and the other butt-rock songs clash horribly. The score by Graeme Revell isn't great, but it fits the mood a hell of a lot better.

Honestly, the CGI really isn't that bad, but there are a few weird moments where the framerate on the CGI drops while a 2-D character is interacting with it. Otherwise, it's fine, and the Drej being CGI adds to their "alien" feel.
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post #6 of 22
2/14/10 at 12:43am
There are also a couple of writing issues that drag things down. The Drej being pure energy should really have been dropped in earlier. It's brought up just before it becomes the keystone to resolving the plot. It's cheesy.
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post #7 of 22
2/14/10 at 12:53am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg David View Post
There are also a couple of writing issues that drag things down. The Drej being pure energy should really have been dropped in earlier. It's brought up just before it becomes the keystone to resolving the plot. It's cheesy.
Yeah, I guess this is true, as is the Korso's motivation flip-flopping thing. Otherwise, the writing is really quite strong, and I was impressed at how much they committed to the premise: the reality of homeless humans in space isn't watered down and there's a real sense of persecution. I also like that Cale is almost his own worst enemy through his anger and reluctance to believe in what his father was doing.
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post #8 of 22
2/14/10 at 1:06pm
I saw this in the theater. As the lights went up two teens behind me turned to each other and one said "Hm..kid's movie!"

I remember it being a reasonably pleasant movie watching experience, but damn if I can remember much about it or want to revist.
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post #9 of 22
2/14/10 at 1:43pm
I saw this with my dad when I was a kid and picked up the dvd for $5 at Best Buy a few months ago. Minor plot problems aside I like it and love the visual style. My older brother didn't think much of the film, but that was mostly because he was expecting something like Heavy Metal and was disappointed with the rating.
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post #10 of 22
2/14/10 at 7:03pm
Well in fact, it is a kids' movie. And like most kids' movies, it's only going to appeal to kids or to adults who have regained an appreciation for them. Teenagers rarely have an appreciation for kiddie films, because they're busy trying to impress everyone with how adult they are.

That's why I never get into cinematic discussions with teenagers.
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post #11 of 22
2/14/10 at 10:35pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg David View Post
Well in fact, it is a kids' movie. And like most kids' movies, it's only going to appeal to kids or to adults who have regained an appreciation for them. Teenagers rarely have an appreciation for kiddie films, because they're busy trying to impress everyone with how adult they are.

That's why I never get into cinematic discussions with teenagers.
Honestly, I just avoid labels like "kids' movie" altogether, though that's partially out of frustration that animation is STILL regarded as "kids' fare" by most people and the artform has so much more to offer than that.
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post #12 of 22
2/15/10 at 12:49pm
I always enjoyed this movie as well. It's clunky in spots but its definitely one of those movies that when it's on TV it sucks me in.

As for the music I associate Lit's "Over My Head" with this movie moreso than "Higher". Not that Lit somehow raises the poor music quality of the movie.
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post #13 of 22
2/15/10 at 2:01pm
I don't remember much about this one except for some very clunky, very Bluthy rotoscoping and the fact that in many scenes the lips don't synch at all. I read later that animators were surprised when seeing the movie in theaters that entirely new dialogue had been recorded over their completed scenes.
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post #14 of 22
2/15/10 at 2:27pm
I didn's catch this till very recently. I don't think it deserves half the hate it gets, I quite enjoyed it for what it was.

Totally agree on the whole hopelessness of the human race aspect, that was one part of the film that really worked for me.
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post #15 of 22
2/15/10 at 2:30pm
I thought about humanity's situation in this film while playing Mass Effect 2 and visiting the Quarian Migrant Fleet.
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post #16 of 22
2/15/10 at 2:33pm
Rather liked it when i saw it (i swear they were trying to make this a "young adult" animation as a traget audience); its a bit iffy in parts, but loved how earth is destroyed in the opening and humans end up as the migrant, hated minority of the universe....loved the Bird/bat people planet, which seemed straight out of pulp sci-fi.
It deserved better.
Also, it had a few brutal moments; hell, a character gets his neck broken and twisted around quite graphically, if i remember right.
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post #17 of 22
2/15/10 at 2:46pm
The ice crystal sequence at the end of the film is an exceptionally well done sequence. Apart from that, the movie is pretty unremarkable. It doesn't deserve the outright hatred that some people bestow upon it, but it's also not some 'hidden gem' that everyone needs to see.
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post #18 of 22
2/15/10 at 3:47pm
Oh hey look, a movie written by Joss Whedon featuring a ragtag group of witty, sarcastic space pirates. SHOCKED.
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post #19 of 22
2/15/10 at 3:56pm
Wasn't this going to be 100% computer generated at one point?
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post #20 of 22
2/19/10 at 4:56am
The best thing about Titan A.E. is that Tone Loc is in it.

Not a terrible movie, but for me, it's one of those that I might watch on TV while making and eating dinner or something. Not something I need to own or would go out of my way to revisit.
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post #21 of 22
2/19/10 at 5:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MoonBaseNick View Post
Wasn't this going to be 100% computer generated at one point?
Not to my knowledge. I can't imagine that Bluth would have gone that way.
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post #22 of 22
2/19/10 at 5:47am
Pretty decent little movie. Had not seen it in years and caught it recently on TV. I enjoyed it and my 4 year old loved the hell out of it.
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