From rec.arts.sf.reviews Sun Jun 11 09:44:36 2000 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!news.maxwell.syr.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams From: Christopher Null Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Titan A.E. (2000) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 9 Jun 2000 16:21:41 GMT Organization: filmcritic.com Lines: 82 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <8hr5il$ddci$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer30.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 960567701 439698 (None) 140.142.17.35 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #24858 Keywords: author=null X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer30.u.washington.edu Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:23967 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2741 TITAN A.E. A film review by Christopher Null Copyright 2000 filmcritic.com filmcritic.com Good Will Hunting goes to space in Titan A.E., an ill-conceived and overambitious animation blowout (courtesy of 20th Century Fox) that makes recent Disney fare look like thinking men's movies. Matt Damon's voice stars as Cale, an eager-beaver twentysomething in the year 3028 who would be just like any other next-millennium Gen made of pure energy, natch -- have blown up the earth. Talk about a bummer! Cale's scientist father has vanished along with his mysterious "Titan" spaceship project, and Cale seems doomed to life on a crummy salvage station. But in walks renegade space dude Korso (Bill Pullman) to rescue Cale from his life of welding, convincing the lad to go on a quest to find the Titan before the Drej do... and thus save all of humanity! A bit of Independence Day and a lot of Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan, Titan A.E. owes so much of its plot to other movies that I'll be surprised if a copyright infringement lawsuit isn't slapped down any day now. Not that an "homage" can't be fun, even good from time to time, but unfortunately, Titan is so unoriginal and lackluster in its script and plotting that it really drags you down. With animated fare, really crack visuals tend to outweigh asinine plots (though they didn't in Disney's recent Dinosaur nor in Fox's last big animation attempt, Anastasia). While Titan's spacescapes are often out of this world (no pun intended), the character animation slapped on top of them is wretched; an old-style, Scooby Doo-looking bunch of people slapped atop the background of a dystopian future is just not a good idea. But while the animated people are only so-so, it's the cast of animated creatures that really look pathetic. As this is a Don Bluth production, one expects there to be a talking menagerie. In Titan, this means talking space hyenas, talking space turtles, and a horribly ill-conceived talking space kangaroo/vulture inexplicably and embarrassingly voiced by Janeane Garofalo. Altogether, precious few of the other voices in this movie match their characters. While Damon and Cale are clearly doppelgangers, the whiny Pullman as the rough-and-tumble Korso is laughable, and Drew Barrymore as the vaguely Asian Akima is simply perplexing. In fact, everything about Titan is just plain strange, from the 80s-ish hard rock/power ballad soundtrack that thumps through the whole movie to the fact that the characters can move around in zero-gravity by "swimming" through the air. Rock on, Will. RATING: ** |------------------------------| \ ***** Perfection \ \ **** Good, memorable film \ \ *** Average, hits and misses \ \ ** Sub-par on many levels \ \ * Unquestionably awful \ |------------------------------| MPAA Rating: PG Director: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman Producer: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, David Kirschner Writer: Ben Edlund, Randall McCormick, Joss Whedon Starring: Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore, Bill Pullman, Nathan Lane, Tone Loc, Jim Breuer, Janeane Garofalo, John Leguizamo, Ron Perlman, Alex D. Linz http://www.afterearth.com/home.html Movie Fiends: Check out Amazon.com's Top 100 Hot DVDs! To unsubscribe from filmcritic.com's Breaking Reviews mailing list, reply to this e-mail with UNSUBSCRIBE as the subject. E-mail address changes via reply with both old and new addresses. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Jun 12 13:55:40 2000 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!newsfeed.direct.ca!news.u.washington.edu!grahams From: Ssg722@aol.com (Susan Granger) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Titan A.E. (2000) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 11 Jun 2000 20:34:53 GMT Organization: None Lines: 31 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <8i0t5d$464m$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer01.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 960755693 137366 (None) 140.142.17.39 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #24872 Keywords: author=granger X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer01.u.washington.edu Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:23989 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2744 http://www.susangranger.com/ Susan Granger's review of "TITAN A.E." (20th Century-Fox) Apparently, Bill Mechanic, chairman of 20th Century Fox, wanted an animated movie for 13-14 year-old boys, a group that hasn't shown much interest in cartoons other than comic books. So this is the result. Set in the year 3028, the Earth has been blown apart by a vicious alien race made of pure energy called the Drej. The hero, predictably, is a cynical teenager (voiced by Matt Damon), a rebellious drifter who works on a grungy salvage station. His life is changed when he finds his father, a brilliant scientist who built the Titan (a mysterious spaceship that has the power to create a planet), has left him a genetically encoded ring with a map. With "I happen to be humanity's last hope," he's off on an adventure on the Valkyrie with its captain Korso (Bill Pullman), who once worked with his father, along with fighter pilot Akima (Drew Barrymore), plus the sarcastic First Mate Preed (Nathan Lane) and Gune (John Leguizamo), the Peter Lorre-like navigator - with the ruthless, villainous Drej in hot pursuit. There are plot-holes enormous enough to fly a space craft through, perhaps because so many writers were involved - and the formulaic concept reminded me of the old TV series "Battlestar Galactica" with a touch of "Wing Commander" thrown in. And what's with Stith (Janeane Garofalo), a kangaroo-like weapons expert? Animator Don Bluth combines 3-D and 2-D which is visually disconcerting - except for two sequences. One involves the Ice Rings of Tigrin where one spaceship chases another through giant, reflective crystals and the other with vibrating, brightly colored hydrogen trees. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Titan A.E." is a weird, action-packed 4 - unless you're a teenager. Then, perhaps, it might just be a cool sci-fi trip set to edgy, electronic rock music. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Jun 19 15:22:13 2000 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.ida.liu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!uninett.no!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.wirehub.nl!cyclone2.usenetserver.com!news-out.usenetserver.com!traffic.uncensored-news.com!news-in-la.newsfeeds.com!newsfeeds.com!sea-feed.news.verio.net!news.verio.net!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: bobbloom@iquest.net (Bob Bloom) ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews ~Subject: Review: Titan A.E. (2000) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies ~Date: 16 Jun 2000 16:19:33 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 87 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <8idk2l$m3sg$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> ~Reply-To: bobbloom@iquest.net NNTP-Posting-Host: homer36.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 961172373 724880 (None) 140.142.17.38 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #24910 Keywords: author=bloom X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer36.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:24030 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2746 Titan A.E. (2000) 2 stars out of 4. Featuring vocal talents of Matt Damon, Bill Pullman, Drew Barrymore, Nathan Lane, John Leguizamo and Janeane Garofalo. Story by Hans Bauer and Randall McCormick. Screenplay by Ben Edlund and John August and Joss Whedon. Original score composed by Graeme Revell. Directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. Decent concept, uneven presentation. That about sums up "Titan A.E.," a new animated science fiction feature from Don Bluth. After the technological advances displayed in such recent animated and computer-generated movies as "Tarzan," "Toy Story 2" and "Dinosaur," "Titan A.E." looks relatively quaint — a rough meld of Saturday morning cartoon and computer effects. And while the story is interesting and has possibilities, its execution is flawed. The moviemakers appear to be hedging their bets, trying to create a product that will attract both a younger audience as well as a more sophisticated older youth demographic. Unfortunately, the two don’t jibe. "Titan A.E. "follows the model of an epic quest: A young man on a journey to find his Holy Grail, in this case a super-advanced spacecraft created by his father. Dad disappeared years earlier in an effort to save the ship from the dreaded Drej, an energy-force life form out to destroy mankind. The story also is a classical search for home. Earth has been destroyed by the Drej, and the remnants of humanity have been scattered across the galaxy. Only one force can reunite mankind, the mythical ship, Titan A.E. And only one person holds the secret to its whereabouts, Cale, the son of its creator. But Cale is a reluctant hero, bitter over being abandoned by his scientist father. He does not want to get involved, and only does so when the Drej set out to kill him. The screenplay by Ben Edlund, John August and Joss Whedon, based on a story by Hans Bauer and Randall McCormick, borrows a bit from "Star Wars" and a smidgen from "Star Trek." Some of the alien characters are in that cute childish Jar Jar Binks mode, while others appear more adult and believable. At times, you feel like you are watching scenes from two different movies. Directors Bluth and Gary Goldman maintain a nice pace, diverting from the story to show off some opulence with scenes of hydrogen trees and space angels. The vocal talent, unfortunately, is rather bland. Matt Damon lacks the charisma needed to voice mankind’s new messiah. He is rather flat and rarely conveys any real emotion. Drew Barrymore is more fiery as Akima, the young woman who believes in Cale (of course) and aids him in his journey. Others lending their vocal talents include Bill Pullman as Korso, a Han Solo-like rogue; John Leguizamo as Gune, the cute, cuddly alien who is sure to be a favorite at whichever fast-food joint has a tie-in contract with the film; Nathan Lane as Preed, the sarcastic, immoral alien co-pilot; and Janeane Garofalo as Stith, the sharp-shooting weapons master. Overall, "Titan A.E." is a letdown. It is cold and has that by-the-numbers, been-there-seen-that effect. It’s not a bad film, some of the sequences are colorful and exciting. But it has a rather worn, dated feel. "Titan A.E." is merely OK, but it could have been much more if some more originality and effort had been put into the story as well as the direction of the characters. Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN . He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or at bobbloom@iquest.net Reviews by Bloom can be found on the Web at the Internet Movie Database at: http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Jun 19 15:22:13 2000 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.ida.liu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!news-peer-europe.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: MBVS2@aol.com (Mac VerStandig) ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews ~Subject: Review: Titan AE (2000) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films ~Date: 16 Jun 2000 16:52:24 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 26 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <8idm08$l2b8$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer04.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 961174344 690536 (None) 140.142.17.35 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #24943 Keywords: author=verstandig X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer04.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:24041 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2747 Titan AE 1 Star (Out of 4) Capsule Reviewed by Mac VerStandig critic@moviereviews.org http://www.moviereviews.org June 15, 2000 USA Release Date - June 16, 2000 --- A copy of this capsule review can be found at http://www.moviereviews.org/titan_ae.htm --- A post-apocalyptic look at endangered bands of humans roaming an alien-dominated universe, "Titan AE" would be perhaps better suited for its Generation-X audience as a video game where attention spans can dictate length rather than the already overlong 90 minute production it currently is. Yet, America's youth would likely discard such a game if for no reason other than the extraordinarily inconsistent and oftentimes poor graphics. While the galactic images are quasi-mouth-watering, the species portrayed are more crude than those pictured in the recent "Pokemon: The First Movie," hardly a testament to the abilities of 21st century computer animators. The plot has many holes - not the least of which is a scene where the protagonist seems to be able to read the subtitles the film's editors have inserted to aid the audience in understanding a gibberish language. Indeed, so little is original with all the key concepts being recycled from previous works that a grand finale of "I am your father,. . ." would come as little surprise. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Jun 19 15:22:13 2000 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!newsfeed.direct.ca!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: FilmFan16@aol.com (Dustin Putman) ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews ~Subject: Review: Titan A.E. (2000) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies ~Date: 18 Jun 2000 18:41:17 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 67 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <8ij54d$i0oc$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer11.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 961353677 590604 (None) 140.142.17.37 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #24948 Keywords: author=putman X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer11.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:24066 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2749 Titan A.E. * * (out of * * * * ) Directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. Voices: Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore, Bill Pullman, John Leguizamo, Nathan Lane, Janeane Garofalo. 2000 - 95 minutes Rated PG (for violence). Reviewed by Dustin Putman, June 17, 2000. Don Bluth's and Gary Goldman's "Titan A.E." is an unusual and decidedly uneasy hybrid of animation and live-action intentions. A sci-fi picture that heavily borrows from "Star Wars," and its countless other clones, the film offers intermittent excitement during some of its action sequences, but the weak characters and tiresome screenplay ruin whatever chance it has to be a worthwhile endeavor. Littered with violence and even a little bloodshed, as well as a quirky (for animated standards) rock soundtrack, an attempt has clearly been made to attract preteen and younger teenage boys between the ages of 9-15. While it may very well do just that, and is certainly a nice change of pace to have an animated movie targeting others outside of the Disney crowd, "Titan A.E." is basically a stillborn production, and amidst all of its splashy special effects is a story that is painfully behind the times. Set in the year 3033, fifteen years after the Earth has been destroyed by a powerful alien race known as the Drej, the remaining humans have been drifting about space, setting up home at various nearby space stations. 19-year-old Cale (voiced by Matt Damon) is a lonely young man who was torn apart from his father as a child when Earth was being evacuated, but has kept up hope of seeing him again based on his father's promise. Working at a salvage space station, Cale meets Korso (Bill Pullman), who tells him that the Titan Project, his father's invention that has the power to create an entirely new planet, can be found far way on Planet Ice, with the ring Cale's father gave him long ago having the power to act as a map to the humans' savior. Joined by the parentless Akima (Drew Barrymore), Cale sets off in a race to find the infamous Titan before the Drej do. The one thing "Titan A.E." has going for it is its live-action feel. At certain key moments, I found myself imagining how effortless much of it could be with real actors, and how well-directed it was, in that respect. With no singing characters and an action-oriented storyline, the film is reminiscent in many ways of anime movies. Many of the action scenes are, indeed, rousing, particularly a spaceship chase through a mass of broken ice that turns the surroundings into a sort of Maze of Mirrors carnival attraction. The animation, like the film itself, is wildly uneven, with the settings and backdrops at times awe-inspiringly real. The characters, however, are a different matter entirely, looking like pure television kiddie fare. Poorly structured and drawn, their lack of any real life, along with the utterly forgettable voice-over work from all involved, renders the picture, as a whole, cold and distant. Try as Don Bluth and Gary Goldberg might, "Titan A.E." is an ambitious animated film that at least attempts to aim for something different, but is impaired by its hackneyed plot, much the same way the inferior "Dinosaur" was. Without any well-developed characters or a satisfying arc, but with several qualities of its own, "Titan A.E." falls into the trap of many movies of its ilk--it knows the dance, but has forgotten the tune. - Copyright 2000 by Dustin Putman Http://www.young-hollywood.com Http://www.atnzone.com From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Jun 20 23:41:03 2000 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!nntp.primenet.com!nntp.gblx.net!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: "Mark O'Hara" ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews ~Subject: Review: Titan AE (2000) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies ~Date: 20 Jun 2000 16:16:12 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 65 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <8io5cc$bc5k$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer08.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 961517772 372916 (None) 140.142.17.40 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #25004 Keywords: author=o'hara X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer08.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:24090 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2751 Titan AE (2000) For my money – and cinemas are taking more of it all the time – Fox’s new animated release TITAN AE is the best animated film in a couple of years, at least since Dreamworks’ THE PRINCE OF EGYPT. The plot has its derivative elements. It’s a story about an orphaned male hero named Cale Tucker (voice of Matt Damon). We watch as Cale’s brilliant father gives custody of his young son to an alien friend named Tech, and then takes off in his master creation – the ship of the title, a vessel that could insure the survival of Homo sapiens. The marauding aliens (the Drej, pronounced phonetically) quickly dipatch Earth, blowing it into chunks that destroy many ships full of escaping humans, as well as the Moon. After the instant lapse of fifteen years, we see the grown Cale doing menial labor; he also experiences the discrimination that several aliens heap upon species that do not have a native planet. The main thrust of the plot involves a renegade captain drafting Cale into the attempt to revivify humanity. The captain (Bill Pullman) shows Cale a glowing map genetically imprinted upon Cale’s hand. The map displays the location of Titan, stowed years ago before it could be deployed by Cale’s now-dead father. How Cale will salvage Titan and cope with various complications along the voyage is the stuff of the plot. The plot is certainly not stodgy. Although some scenes are reminiscent of other science fiction flicks, the film’s pace is fast. But the real star is the animation. As any film buff could predict, chase scenes take up several minutes of the story’s run. In one scene we are given a sort of poetically beautiful release, in which beings known as wake angels pursue the ship piloted by Cale. It’s pure computer-engineered action, the ship and angels weaving their way through reddish clouds and formations. In the chases involving real danger, the animation is even sharper. Drej ships dive and fire, as Cale and his fellow adventurers continue to elude almost all attempts at capture. The whole deal’s been done before – just not in this precise, engaging manner. Matt Damon does a solid job voicing Cale Tucker. He brings to the role no distracting verbal mannerisms, only a straight and very efficient character. Drew Barrymore as the female hero Akima does carry along her distinctive slow and smooth voice. This is not a problem except that it is easy to recognize her, and hard to match the voice with the Asian features the directors (Don Bluth and Gary Goldman) have chosen to give Akima. Bill Pullman does perhaps the strongest work in giving a dynamic character to the captain that risks his life to save Cale from the eerie blue aliens, the Drej. Pullman’s voice conveys a nice edge, a savviness that we find memorable, especially after the character undergoes swift and drastic changes. Now that most schoolchildren are out for the summer, a good movie is often a desirable way to spend an afternoon. I’d recommend taking children as young as seven to see TITAN AE. There are some violent scenes, and some horrid examples of betrayal , but nothing graphic enough to inspire nightmares (unless they involve the faceless, evil Drej!). Best of all, the film reaches into the adult range because of its quick pace, its intelligence (there’s even a scene that parodies sci-fi conventions), and its outstanding animation. ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Jun 20 23:41:03 2000 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!news-peer-europe.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: "Berge Garabedian" ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews ~Subject: Review: Titan A.E. (2000) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies ~Date: 20 Jun 2000 16:17:04 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 64 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <8io5e0$ecem$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer33.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 961517824 471510 (None) 140.142.17.35 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #25011 Keywords: author=garabedian X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer33.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:24085 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2750 TITAN A.E. RATING: 7/10 --> Good movie For more reviews and movie screensavers, visit http://www.joblo.com/ PLOT: Set in the year 3028, many years after the planet Earth has been blown to bits by an alien race named the Drej, a young boy is discovered to hold the secret map of the Titan machine inside of his hand. The machine holds the power to unleash another planet for the few surviving humans still roaming around in space, and the opportunity to re-ignite their evolution. CRITIQUE: A visual parade of colors, animation and the darkest corners of the universe, set the pace for an okay story featuring some not so interesting characters and some really cool-looking aliens. One of the things that I like best about movies is how they can so easily transport you into another realm of life, taking you away from your daily problems, making you forget where you are, and showing you things you'd never dreamt of ever seeing before. Like many other sci-fi films before it, this movie manages to take us beyond our own constricted little world and show us the supposed beauty and darkness of the galaxy floating above around us. But unlike many of its live-action predecessors, this film manages to truly create a vision of another place that I've honestly never experienced before. The beautiful orange-colored balls floating above the waters of one planet, the wondrous lights, sounds and waves caressing the infinite space of another, and the awesome spectacle of the Ice Rings of Tigrin. Wow. Just beautiful to see. I would watch this movie all over again, even without sound for that matter. In fact, one of the main problems that I did have with this movie was its characters, all of whom just seemed a little too bland for my taste. Not sure if it was the voices of Damon and Barrymore that just didn't click for me, or if it was the way that the characters were written, very dry and lifeless, but none of the featured players managed to capture my imagination as much as the visuals did. I was also taken aback by the juxtaposition of the amazing "outside" visuals of space, the planets, the ships, the wonderful colors, and the cartoon looking TV character animation of the "inside" visuals. Seemed like an odd and somewhat distracting combination. The story was serviceable enough, with a little bit of action sprayed throughout, and I definitely loved the soundtrack...an animation movie with a rock 'n roll touch? Give me more, dammit! Overall, I would recommend this film to anyone who loves their visuals, who wants to see a different kind of animation movie, and certainly to all the pot smokers out there, who should have no problem trippin' all over this film's massive colorful sponge of delight. Of course, if a tantalizing tale, complete originality or strength of characters are what you look for in a film, then this puppy might not be the best thing for you. Review Date: June 18, 2000 Directors: Don Bluth and Gary Goldman Writers: Ben Edlund, John August and Joss Whedon Producers: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and David Kirschner Actors: Matt Damon as Cale (voice) Drew Barrymore as Akima (voice) Bill Pullman as Korso (voice) Genre: Animation Year of Release: 2000 ------------------------------------ JoBlo's Movie Emporium http://www.joblo.com/ ------------------------------------ (c) 2000 Berge Garabedian From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jun 30 10:47:59 2000 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!feed1.news.rcn.net!rcn!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: Brian Matherly ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews ~Subject: Review: Titan A.E. (2000) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies ~Date: 23 Jun 2000 22:05:35 GMT Organization: The Jacksonville Film Journal - http://www.jaxfilmjournal.com/ ~Lines: 132 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <8j0mvf$1ocg$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer03.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 961797935 57744 (None) 140.142.17.37 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #25048 Keywords: author=matherly X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer03.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:24109 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2755 Titan A.E. (2000) Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5.0 stars Cast: Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore, Bill Pullman, Nathan Lane, Tone-Loc, Jim Breuer, Jim Cummings, Janeane Garofalo, David L. Lander, John Leguizamo, Ron Perlman, Charles Rocket, Alex D. Linz Written by: Ben Edlund, John August, and Joss Whedon Directed by: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, and Art Vitello Running Time: 97 minutes In the year 3028, an evil race of aliens made up entirely of energy known as the Drej fear that humanity has become too technologically advanced, upon learning that the humans have recently finished construction on a device known only as the Titan Project. Young Cale (Alex D. Linz), a boy whose father designed the Titan, is whisked away by a few of his father's friends as the Drej begin a harrowing attack on the planet. All of humanity boards various spacecraft in the hopes of getting away from the chaos before the Drej wipe them out. Before he departs alone on the Titan, Cale's father gives him a ring and tells him that the future of humanity will depend on him. They go their separate ways and Cale is able to see his father escape just as the Drej completely obliterate Earth. Fifteen years later, Cale (Matt Damon) is working in the salvage business, cutting up large derelict spacecraft that clutter space. During a break he runs into Korso (Bill Pullman), an old friend of his father's who has been sent to find Cale, because the ring his father gave him contains a map that reacts with a device in his hand that will track down the whereabouts' of Cale's father and the Titan. Cale is reluctant to go until the Drej show up and try to kill him, forcing him to join Korso's ragtag team consisting of Preed (Nathan Lane), Gune (John Leguizamo), Stith (Janeane Garofalo), and much to Cale's pleasure, the lovely Akima (Drew Barrymore). With Korso and his team's help (and the assistance of some bizarre alien races they meet along the way), Cale must beat the Drej to the final resting place of the Titan so the human race may once again thrive. Titan A.E. springs from an amazing pedigree. All of the writers and directors on the film have come from an excellent background of animated, sci-fi, and action genre projects, so why doesn't it seem like the film worked as well as it should? It's hard to blame the writers considering where they come from: Ben Edlund is the creator of the wonderful Tick comic and animated series; John August is the screenwriter of the incredibly fun mini-Pulp Fiction homage Go! and the big screen update of Charlie's Angels; and Joss Whedon is the uber-writer behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer (both the film and the TV series), Toy Story, Alien:Resurrection, and the X-Men movie (plus he also did uncredited work on Speed, Waterworld, and Twister). The same applies for the directors: Don Bluth and Gary Goldman have worked together on many decent animated films such as The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, All Dogs go to Heaven, and Anastasia (and a few not so good like Thumbelina, The Pebble and the Penguin, and the absurd Rock-a-Doodle) and Bluth alone created two of the most important video games in my life as a child, Dragon's Lair and Space Ace; while Art Vitello has been the story editor on "The Tick", key animator for ILM on Poltergeist, director of the animated series' "The Tick", "Tiny Toon Adventures", "The Real Ghostbusters", and "Disney's Gummi Bears", plus he also produced the "G.I. Joe" animated series that I used to rush home to watch everyday after school. NOTE: Could part of my problem with the film be attributed to the two men who get the "Story By" credit? Randall (Speed 2: Cruise Control) McCormick and Hans (Anaconda) Bauer are the men behind the original story and I'm glad that it was handed off to the other writers, especially after seeing the mess that Speed 2 was. Both men have only written three films apiece and Titan A.E. is one (while the other unmentioned films by both men are virtually unheard of). The visuals in the film are amazing and it even plays like it could be the tamer younger brother to the Heavy Metal series, but ultimately it feels a little empty. I never really felt like I was given much of a chance to sympathize with the characters (although the characters in Titan A.E. are far more three-dimensional, both emotionally and physically, than the ones in Lucas' droll "epic" The Phantom Menace). The film basically moves from set piece to set piece without much thought to fleshing out the characters' relationships better. As a result, too many things seem rushed into and forced (particularly Cale and Akima's relationship, which only gets a chance to truly strengthen towards the end of the film). Like Disney's recent Dinosaur, Titan A.E. seems more concerned with showing flashy animation than presenting a decent story (although Titan A.E. is the better of the two films by a large margin). A big complaint I have about the film is Cale's father giving him the ring. By all accounts, there is no need for him to pass the ring along considering that he now has nothing to do while hiding out in the Titan except to wait for fifteen years for someone to track down Cale (who could have been dead for all he knew) and bring him and the ring. I could understand if two rings had been made, one with the map and one to activate the ship's ultimate function, but that is sadly not the case. Instead, the father gives away the key to unlock the secrets of the ship to his son as an excuse for some Star Wars-like "immature young boy must grow up and save a universe" type story. If any element of the story seemed forced it was certainly this one. I was impressed by the dark subject matter that was presented in this film. Considering its PG rating and animated style, it naturally leans more towards being a children's film than an adult action film, but there are some very strong elements in it. Characters bleed profusely when shot, necks are broken, and, in the ultimate example, the planet we call home is completely destroyed within ten minutes of the Fox studio logo's appearance on screen. If a better story had been thrown into the mix, I would have proclaimed this one of the best films of the year. Thankfully, the film does keep the annoying sidekicks down to a minimum (are you listening, Mr. Lucas?) and there are no annoying breaks where the cast progresses the story in song. Luckily Bluth and gang, in another parallel to Heavy Metal, decided to go with modern rock as their soundtrack. Unfortunately, the Creed song "Higher" featured in the trailer is nowhere to be found in this film, but there are some other fine songs by Lit, Powerman 5000, and others. A soundtrack is available for the film and some CD stores are even giving away a free Titan A.E. comic with the purchase of it. Overall, Titan A.E. should have had a little more work put into it. Although individual sequences stand out (particularly the scene featuring the chase through the ring of ice chunks), the bulk of the movie collapses under its own weight. At just a little over 90 minutes though, the film is never dull nor does it wear out its welcome. I was just hoping for something with a little more substance. If you're just looking for something to kill time, Titan A.E. is a decent bet whether you're young or old. If you're looking for a thought provoking study on how the human race will evolve and move on from where we currently are, then you may want to look elsewhere. This film is pure summer fluff with some decent talent behind it... and who can argue with that? [PG] Reviewed by Brian Matherly - bmath2000@hotmail.com AOL Instant Messenger: Widescreen25 The Jacksonville Film Journal - http://www.jaxfilmjournal.com/ From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jun 30 10:47:59 2000 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!feed2.onemain.com!feed1.onemain.com!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: ram.samudrala@stanford.edu (Ram Samudrala) ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews ~Subject: Review: Titan A.E. (2000) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies ~Date: 23 Jun 2000 23:46:24 GMT Organization: Movie ram-blings: http://www.ram.org/ramblings/movies.html ~Lines: 58 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <8j0ssg$81pe$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer30.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 961803984 263982 (None) 140.142.17.35 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #25065 Keywords: author=samudrala X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer30.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:24117 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2756 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- email@urls || http://www.ram.org || http://www.twisted-helices.com/th Movie ram-blings: http://www.ram.org/ramblings/movies.html From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jun 30 10:47:59 2000 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!skynet.be!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: "John Beachem" ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews ~Subject: Review: Titan A.E. (2000) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies ~Date: 25 Jun 2000 19:35:04 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 101 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <8j5mt8$bc42$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer30.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 961961704 372866 (None) 140.142.17.35 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #25079 Keywords: author=beachem X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer30.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:24166 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2757 TITAN A.E. Review by John Beachem * * * 1/2 Directed by: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman Written by: Randall McCormick, Hans Bauer It's the 31st century, and mankind has no home. The aliens, known as the Drej, destroyed the earth because they believed mankind was becoming a massive threat to their existence. Before the earth was destroyed, some of the population managed to escape and form colonies on ships out in space. Cale (Matt Damon) is one such person, working out a miserable existence and wandering about the stars without a home. The difference is that Cale's father created a device called the Titan, which is said to be mankind's last hope. He hid it from the Drej before they destroyed the earth and implanted a map showing where to find it in Cale's hand. Captain Korso (Bill Pullman) has been searching for Cale for 15 years so he could find the Titan and give humans a fighting chance. Cale joins with Korso's crew, which includes the lovely Akima (Drew Barrymore), the bizarre but intelligent Gune (John Leguizamo), the wise cracking Preed (Nathan Lane), and the kangaroo like weapons officer, Stith (Janeane Garofalo). The six search desperately for the Titan, but the Drej are right on their tails. Back in 1981 there was an unusual animated film called "Heavy Metal", based on a series of semi-adult magazines. "Heavy Metal" was actually groundbreaking at the time because of two factors: One, it was clearly made for adults due to the graphic violence and sexual content; and two, it didn't follow one specific storyline, but contained several short stories which were interconnected. If "Titan A.E." had been released back in 1981, it might have been hailed as groundbreaking and developed a cult following. The animation style is very similar to "Heavy Metal", and the story is complex enough that only teens and adults are going to understand exactly what's going on. Unfortunately, being released in 2000 has guaranteed the movie a short run in theaters. The animation in "Titan A.E." is nice, but nothing spectacular; the storyline may be complicated, but it's loaded with every cliche in the book; and the 3-D animation is nothing we haven't seen before. So why the three and a half stars, you ask? Because despite all these faults the film is just so darn enjoyable and amusing that you can't help but have a good time watching it. Most of the voice casting in "Titan A.E." is rather unusual. The character of Cale seems to have been made with Matt Damon ("Good Will Hunting") in mind, so he can't help but do a fairly good job. Drew Barrymore, as the obviously Asian Akima, is one of the most unusual choices, but she actually does a decent enough job. The weak links are Bill Pullman ("Lake Placid") and Janeane Garofalo ("Mystery Men"). Pullman has always seemed too whiny and annoying to me, and he's playing the rough world weary Captain Korso here? I don't think so. Janeane Garofalo, usually a talented comic actress, doesn't add anything to the character of Stith, but I'm not sure this is entirely her fault since the character is so underdeveloped. The other two casting bits are a bit more interesting. Nathan Lane ("Mouse Hunt") and John Leguizamo ("Spawn") are given the two most unusual characters in the movie, and they handle them in very different ways. Preed looks like a hairy version of Jar Jar Binks, a stuttering goof who can't do anything right. Lane plays him in exact opposite fashion, as a conniving, sneaky character who thinks he's a lot smarter than he actually is. Leguizamo's character of Gune is not the kind of character you would expect in a movie aimed at kids. His insane ramblings will only confuse youngsters, but they sure made me laugh out loud. Here's an example of one of his best lines: "I made this last night in my sleep. I'm not sure just what it does, but it has a button on it which I'm eager to press, but I'm afraid of what might happen if I do." Obviously if you're going to see "Titan A.E." it's because you like either animated movies, sci-fi movies, or the rare combination of the two. The sad fact is that this movie fails at being any of these. If you want really nice animation you'd be best off going to see a Disney movie. If you want sci-fi, you'll want something original like "The Matrix" rather than something saddled with this cliche ridden mess of a plot. "Titan A.E." actually succeeds when it throws things at us which we'd never expect. An example of a great scene was one where the group tries to sneak past a guard at a door by pretending to be slave traders. The guard pretends to be fooled and then laughs and points out that Korso doesn't walk like a slave, Preed should have threatened him rather than bribed him, and they're all obviously wearing bed sheets as disguises. Preed gives the film's best line here: "An intelligent guard, that was unexpected." If the movie had been full of more scenes like that one it may have been something great. Instead we get every cliche from reluctant hero has change of heart when seeing the plight of his people, to turncoat is saved by hero and subsequently changes sides again. Still, "Titan A.E." is fun, with an interesting if out of place '80s soundtrack and a hysterical ending. I give it three and a half out of five stars and a recommendation to wait for video since it won't take long to get there. Any past movies you want me to review? Send to: johnbeachem@dependentfilms.net Past reviews can be found at: http://www.dependentfilms.net, http://www.epinions.com/user-elerad?public=yes or http://us.imdb.com/ReviewsBy?John+Beachem * * * * * - One of the best movies of the year. * * * * - Great flick, try and catch this one. * * * - Okay movie, hits and misses. * * - Pretty bad, see it at your own risk. * - See this one only if you enjoy pain. ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com From rec.arts.sf.reviews Sun Jul 2 12:15:03 2000 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!cyclone2.usenetserver.com!news-out.usenetserver.com!traffic.uncensored-news.com!news-in-la.newsfeeds.com!newsfeeds.com!sea-feed.news.verio.net!news.verio.net!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: Shannon Patrick Sullivan ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews ~Subject: Review: Titan A.E. (2000) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies ~Date: 1 Jul 2000 00:00:59 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 122 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <8jjcbr$jm6i$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer34.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 962409659 645330 (None) 140.142.17.40 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #25142 Keywords: author=sullivan X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer34.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:24194 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2758 TITAN A.E. (2000) / ** 1/2 Directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. Screenplay by Ben Edlund, John August and Joss Whedon, from a story by Randall McCromick and Hans Bauer. Starring Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore, Bill Pullman. Running time: 98 minutes. Rated PG by the MFCB. Reviewed on June 30th, 2000. By SHANNON PATRICK SULLIVAN Today's recipe: Two cups "Star Wars". Mix one pound "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan". Add generous helpings of "Heavy Metal". Bake for about a hundred minutes, garnish liberally with computer animation, and voila! One "Titan A.E.", ready for theatres. I wanted to really enjoy "Titan A.E.". Hell, I wanted to be blown away by it. I've always loved science-fiction as a genre, but it's one that's proved notoriously difficult to get right. For every "Star Wars" there's a hundred films like "Screamers". Now comes Fox Family Films' latest foray into the world of animation, rather surprisingly the first wide-release animated sci-fi film in quite a while. Let me be clear: "Titan A.E." is a lot of fun, and certainly a visual spectacle. But oh, it could have been so much more. The setting is the thirty-first century -- although except for the level of technology, the thirty-first century looks an awful lot like the twenty-first. As the film opens, Earth is destroyed by the Drej, energy creatures who want to eradicate humanity "because of what we might become". A scientist, Sam Tucker (Ron Perlman), has created the "Titan", a ship which promises to be humanity's last hope for salvation. Sam and the "Titan" barely escape the planet in time, but in the process he and his young son, Cale, are separated. Fifteen years later, humanity has been scattered across the stars, and is slowly dying out. Then Cale -- now an embittered maintenance worker -- is visited by Korso (Bill Pullman), an old friend of his father's who saves him from an attack by the Drej. It turns out that a ring Sam gave Cale before they left Earth holds a map to the long-lost "Titan". A reluctant Cale joins Korso and his crew on board the "Valkyrie" to track down the "Titan" and save mankind before the Drej catch up. Visually, "Titan A.E." is dazzling. There are some sequences which literally take your breath away, like Cale piloting the "Valkyrie" through what look to be star-birthing nebulae, with phantom-like creatures called wake angels drifting behind. And the ice rings in which much of the final half hour of the movie is set are awe-inspiring -- giant crystal structures which are at once beautiful and deadly. These are settings which would have been impossible to create using conventional animation. While they may be somewhat gratuitous (the wake angel scene in particular feels like the animators pretty much just showing off, since the entire story grinds to a halt for five minutes to accommodate it), I really didn't care, because they were that incredible to watch. It's for moments like these that I watch new releases in the theatre rather than on video; the small screen could never do them justice. One of the more unusual decisions in the movie is to use three-dimensional computer animation for the scenery but two-dimensional hand-drawn animation for the characters. This looked awkward to me in the trailers, but ultimately I have to conclude that it works, and the melding of the two is seamless enough to dismiss any thought of incongruity. Indeed, given that computer animation of people for the most part still looks ugly and ungainly, I'm pleased by the choice. But apart from the visuals, it's hard to find much to boast about in "Titan A.E.". The story is hopelessly derivative -- the rebel element is similar to "Star Wars", the nature of the "Titan" itself is an almost direct lift from the second "Star Trek" movie, and Cale is an echo of characters from across the genre, Luke Skywalker to Paul Atreides. Even the choice of rock music for the soundtrack is old hat, recalling "Heavy Metal" -- especially since many of the tunes curiously sound like they originate from the early Eighties. The climax is particularly guilty of being cliched and predictable (with the exception of one delightful surprise), going through the motions as though written by a machine. And the way the Drej are finally defeated is so obvious and telegraphed that it raises the question of why nobody else figured it out fifteen years earlier. What makes it all particularly disappointing is that the scriptwriters assembled here are a top-notch bunch. Ben Edlund created the wonderful "The Tick" comic and cartoon. John August wrote last year's well-received "Go". Joss Whedon is the mastermind behind "Buffy The Vampire Slayer", the best thing on television today. Perhaps it's not all their fault -- they were working from a story by Hans Bauer and Randall McCormick, whose biggest claims to fame are "Anaconda" and "Speed 2", respectively. And there are some lovely touches in "Titan A.E." indicative of the quality of the three writers. The encounter with the intelligent guard (who sees right through our heroes' attempts to break into a slave pen in a great deconstruction of a genre staple) and the aforementioned climactic surprise are a tantalising hint of what might have been. But Edlund, August and Whedon cannot be held totally blameless, because if nothing else they have produced a script with virtually no recognisable characters. Cale, for example, claims to be deeply affected by his father's abandonment, but this never manifests itself as anything more than mild annoyance -- it's mostly just paid lip service, in a classic case of telling, not showing. Consequently, Cale comes across as just another cookie-cutter hero, and his romance with the similarly bland Akima (Drew Barrymore, miscast as a "drifter colony bum") is contrived and poorly-developed. Damon does little to rise above the level of the material. Amongst the supporting cast, classy performers like Janeane Garofalo and Nathan Lane are wasted in roles that give them little opportunity to strut their stuff. Only John Leguizamo is exceptional, as a bizarre turtle-like scientist. Also very effective are the visually fearsome, seemingly indomitable Drej, who make great villains for much of the film. But in the end, the Drej are much like "Titan A.E." itself -- enjoyable, great-looking, but pretty insubstantial. Copyright © 2000 Shannon Patrick Sullivan. Archived at The Popcorn Gallery, http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/movies/TitanAE.html _______________________________________________________________________ / Shannon Patrick Sullivan | "We are all in the gutter, but some of us \ | shannon@mun.ca | are looking at the stars." - Oscar Wilde | \___________________________|__________________________________________/ | Popcorn Gallery Movie Reviews www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/movies.html | | Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time (Travel) /drwho.html | From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Jul 4 15:09:49 2000 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!nntp.primenet.com!nntp.gblx.net!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!news.u.washington.edu!grahams From: Rose 'Bams' Cooper Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Titan A.E. (2000) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 2 Jul 2000 17:20:29 GMT Organization: None Lines: 131 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <8jntkt$m3r8$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer12.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 962558429 724840 (None) 140.142.17.39 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #25170 Keywords: author=cooper X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer12.u.washington.edu Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:24250 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2759 '3BlackChicks Review...' TITAN A.E. (2000) Rated PG; running time 95 minutes Genre: Animated/SciFi IMDB site: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0120913 Official site: http://www.afterearth.com/ Written by: Ben Edlund, Randall McCormick Directed by: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman Cast: Voices of: Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore, Bill Pullman, Nathan Lane, Janeane Garofalo, John Leguizamo, Tone Loc, Ron Perlman Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000 Review URL: http://www.3blackchicks.com/bamstitan.html Of all the Chicks in 3BC, I'm the one voted Most Likely To Review A Cartoon. It should come as no surprise, then, that I chose to review TITAN A.E. this week--as opposed to The Diva, whose words on the subject sounded something like "I sure didn't wanna review that mess". Mebbe I shoulda oughta listened to her words of wisdom. The Story (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**): In the year 3028, a Bad, Bad bunch of aliens known as the Drej [Bad aliens! Bad, Bad aliens!] inexplicably blast the planet Earth, and its inhabitants, away like so many buzzing flies. That would be that--except for the fact that a group of secret...uh, whatever they were...knew the Drej were coming and evacuated a bunch of Earthlings just before the Drej arrived. One of the secret...whatever they were's, Tucker (Ron Perlman), asks his good buddy Tek (Tone Loc) to take Tucker's young son, Cale (Matt Damon) with him in one of the evacuating ships so that Tucker could go do some Secret Stuff with the Secret Spaceship known as the Titan--knowing he may never see Cale again. Feeling abandoned, Cale grows up with a chip on his shoulder about dear old dad and humans--the few that are left, anyway--in general. Jaded, he feels all the more cynical when another human, Joe Korso (Bill Pullman) shows up with alien shipmates Preed (Nathan Lane), Stith (Janeane Garofalo), Jar-Ja...uh, Gune (John Leguizamo), and the human female slash potential love interest (slash [Luke]Warm Place To Put It), Akima (Drew Barrymore)--with the message that Cale may hold the future of humanity in his hand. The Upshot: I found this flick pretty hard to wrap my reviewing braincells around, mostly because it never found its legs enough for me to invest any care in what was going on on the screen. It was clearly derivative of many movies, both animated and traditional; in various places, I was reminded of STAR WARS, HEAVY METAL (though HM had a much better musical backbeat; "Titan's" music seemed much more cheesy by comparison), the "Star Trek" movies, and even a Bruce Lee flick or two. But in its lack of developed backstory (in spite of the storyline presented, the viewer is left wondering why much of the action takes place), it put me in mind of the most disasterous collection of moving images of the century: none other than SUPERNOVA [OW! Uh, Sorry about that. I had told my fingers to never type that dreaded name again...] That's not a very fair comparison, to be sure. Even in its worst moments, "Titan" was nowhere near as galling as "Stupornova". But as with that piece of sh...um, detritus, "Titan" certainly bit off way more than it could chew, story-wise. With this movie's enormous leaps of logic [Uh, how did Cale so easily pilot every spacecraft he encountered? *How long* does it take to rebuild an old, dilapidated ship, again? And why bother putting the Drej speech in subtitles, when obviously Cale Magically understood every word as if Big Poppa Drej spoke perfect English, huh, why? WHY?], I felt my eyes rolling faster than a bowling ball down the gutter lane. [ooh, that was an ugly analogy.] Like their voice counterparts in DINOSAUR, the actors don't add much character to their characters--and unlike DINOSAUR, the actor's voices aren't readily distinguishable (though Nathan Lane, bless his sarcastic lil' heart, gave it ye olde college try). This, I think, was to "Titan's" deficit. After all, Matt Damon and company had to have been paid a pretty penny for their, in essence, voice-overs; if one couldn't tell these highly-paid actors from Joe Schmoe From Kokomo, one would think the producers didn't get their money's worth, eh? All those things could be forgiven, had the animation been top-notch. With a name like Don Bluth (THE SECRET OF NIMH, AN AMERICAN TAIL, ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN) behind it, good animation should've been a given, right? It should've. It wasn't. Worse, it seemed schizophrenic, with the human and alien characters drawn by Bluth in traditional (for him) cartoon style, but the ships, planets, and various backgrounds, obviously computer animated. This gave the movie a disjointed feeling, with the computer animated sections overpowering the traditional drawings (note, for example, how stiff the characters look in the windows of the computer animated spaceships, as if they were stills of dolls sitting in their seats). Anytime the viewer is taken-out-of-the-moment by such jarring revelations, that's most def A Bad Thing. In spite of everything I've written above, I don't want you, gentle reader, to go away thinking that TITAN A.E. was bad. Spirit-less, lacking in humor, and poorly-thought-out, sure. But not bad. Anything that (ObQuickieBlackFactor) includes even a brief movie moment confirming that Minorities Are Part Of The Future, can't be *that* bad, can it? Bammer's Bottom Line: It's just too bad TITAN A.E. couldn't make up its mind and go either full-out as traditional animation, or hi-tech CGI sci-fi. Not that it'd make much difference either way, I reckon; it never impressed me as being much more than a half-hearted attempt at wrapping a movie around a soundtrack that'll no doubt sell millions. TITAN A.E. (rating: yellowlight): On a "Star Trek" comparison scale, this one felt more like the STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE dud than the much-better STAR TREK 2: THE WRATH OF KHAN. Rose "Bams" Cooper /~\ Webchick and Editor, /','\ 3BlackChicks Review /','`'\ Movie Reviews With Flava! /',',','/`, Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000 `~-._'c / EMAIL: bams@3blackchicks.com `\ ( http://www.3blackchicks.com/ /====\ From rec.arts.sf.reviews Thu Jul 13 13:58:00 2000 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!nntp.primenet.com!nntp.gblx.net!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!news.u.washington.edu!grahams From: "Shay Casey" Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Titan A.E. (2000) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 13 Jul 2000 04:49:56 GMT Organization: None Lines: 102 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <8kjhpk$nqgs$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer38.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 963463796 780828 (None) 140.142.17.35 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #25252 Keywords: author=casey X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer38.u.washington.edu Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:24316 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2763 ** out of **** Year: 2000. Starring the voices of Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore, Bill Pullman, Nathan Lane, Janeane Garofalo, John Leguizamo, Tone Loc, Jim Breuer, Alex D. Linz, Ron Perlman. Story by Hans Bauer and Randall McCormick. Screenplay by Ben Edlund, John August, and Joss Whedon. Directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. Rated PG. "Titan A.E." is a frustrating movie. You watch it, and you get the idea that it's trying really, really hard to be a great film, a modern classic. But then you come up with an unshakable feeling that the movie just isn't working, and no matter how many stops it pulls out, you just can't shake that feeling. That's what happened to me while watching "Titan A.E." It's an ambitious film, but it's nowhere close to greatness. And the more I think about it, the more its failures stand out. The film takes place roughly a thousand years in the future, where an evil race made of pure energy called the Drej has destroyed Earth. Humans now exist as an "orphan" species, drifting from outpost to outpost without finding any real home. Cale (voice of Alex D. Linz) was a young boy when Earth was destroyed, and his father was one of the principal officials in charge of evacuating the planet. But Cale's father disappeared after Earth's destruction, never to be heard from again. Now a cynical survivor (and now voiced by Matt Damon), Cale stumbles upon a ship with a partially human crew at a space dock. He's startled to find that the captain of the ship, gruff Commander Korso (Bill Pullman), has actually been looking for him. Korso, a friend of Cale's father, reveals that Cale actually holds the key to the humans' last hope at finding a new home: His father left him a genetically-encoded map pinpointing the whereabouts of the Titan, a planet-sized space station hidden somewhere in outer space. Unfortunately, the Drej are interested in finding the Titan as well, and they are hunting Cale down in order to pry the information from him. Not allowed much of a choice after the Drej attack his current residence, Cale agrees to go with Korso. The story sounds fine, like a pretty good opportunity for an exciting space adventure. It's derivative, sure, but most movies of this kind are, and "Titan A.E." can hardly be faulted for cribbing ideas when the films it's cribbing from ("Star Wars," "Star Trek") would have to plead guilty to the same charge. But that doesn't let it off the hook for getting its premise all wrong. "Star Wars" took place in a consistent, expansive universe; you always felt that what made it to the screen was only a small fraction of what was floating around inside George Lucas' head. "Titan A.E." presents no such depth, because the writers haven't paid much attention to the details of their own plot. For example, it's established that the Drej want to destroy the human race, but we never find out why they want to do that. What threat do the humans pose to them? Who knows? Supporting characters are introduced without any reason given for them to be there. How did Commander Korso put together such a diverse crew? Who knows? Korso remarks that he's been looking for Cale "for many years," so he can find the Titan, for which he's also been searching "for many years." A single person is easier to find in the vast expanse of space than a planet-sized spaceship? Why not just look for the Titan itself? Who knows? The script fails at proper characterization, too. The heroes in a space opera don't have to be deep, but they should at least be likeable. "Titan A.E." fails on both counts. The apparent good guys are only good in the sense that they don't wish anyone else any specific harm. Cale may be blond and fresh-faced, but he's so bland, and so self-pitying, it's hard to really root for him. Japanese space-punk Akima (Drew Barrymore) serves as Cale's love interest, and she's not very interesting either. Nor is her character consistent: Sometimes she's tough, sometimes she's helpless, depending on what the rote story demands. Korso comes off as equally subject to the whims of the script. His motivations change back and forth without much conviction; by the end, you're wondering if this guy believes in anything at all. It doesn't help that the big-name cast turns in mostly uninspiring voice performances. Damon, Barrymore, Pullman, and Janeane Garofalo sound bored. Nathan Lane and John Leguizamo (as the ostensibly "colorful" sidekicks) are at least enthusiastic, but still unfocused. Most of the actors' dialogue is horribly concocted: The "funny" lines induce cringing, the serious ones occasional giggling. "Titan A.E." does contain some breathtaking imagery. Visuals, not surprisingly, are the film's saving grace. Two action set-pieces, one during the Earth's destruction and another in a field of ice crystals, are about as exciting as anything you're going to see this year. But they're oases in a desert, because "Titan A.E." doesn't make these or any other scenes feel necessary. A plot-driven film's narrative ought to be a fast-paced, naturally flowing progression to a satisfying climax, but "Titan A.E." feels more like a series of individual scenes slammed together in chronological order. It doesn't move. What "Titan A.E." forgets about making a fun space adventure is that the adventure is supposed to be *fun*. Almost every plot point is treated with such grim portentousness that any and all vitality is sucked right out of the production. Obviously, a film of this nature can't goof its way through the story, and some things need to be treated seriously (like the Force, for example). But there also needs to be a sense of giddy enthusiasm, an indication that the filmmakers were having as much fun making their movie as they expect the audience to have watching it. This film gives no such indication. Instead of being a "Star Wars"-like joyous romp, "Titan A.E." is a somber march towards a predictable conclusion. This is not the stuff of a modern classic. -reviewed by Shay Casey For more reviews, go to http://www.geocities.com/sycasey/movies.html From rec.arts.sf.reviews Sun Jul 30 12:24:38 2000 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!newsfeeds.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!news.u.washington.edu!grahams From: SwpStke@aol.com (Frankie Paiva) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Titan A.E. (2000) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 26 Jul 2000 05:48:51 GMT Organization: None Lines: 72 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <8llu43$m3si$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer15.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 964590531 724882 (None) 140.142.17.39 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #25385 Keywords: author=paiva X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer15.u.washington.edu Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:24427 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2765 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 SwpStke@aol.com http://www.homestead.com/cinemaparadise/mainpage.html From rec.arts.sf.reviews Sun Jul 30 12:25:13 2000 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!newsfeeds.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!news.u.washington.edu!grahams From: Shay Casey Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Titan A.E. (2000) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 26 Jul 2000 05:49:36 GMT Organization: None Lines: 109 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <8llu5g$gmle$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer15.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 964590576 547502 (None) 140.142.17.35 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #25394 Keywords: author=casey X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer15.u.washington.edu Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:24445 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2766 ** out of **** Year: 2000. Starring the voices of Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore, Bill Pullman, Nathan Lane, Janeane Garofalo, John Leguizamo, Tone Loc, Jim Breuer, Alex D. Linz, Ron Perlman. Story by Hans Bauer and Randall McCormick. Screenplay by Ben Edlund, John August, and Joss Whedon. Directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. Rated PG. "Titan A.E." is a frustrating movie. You watch it, and you get the idea that it's trying really, really hard to be a great film, a modern classic. But then you come up with an unshakable feeling that the movie just isn't working, and no matter how many stops it pulls out, you just can't shake that feeling. That's what happened to me while watching "Titan A.E." It's an ambitious film, but it's nowhere close to greatness. And the more I think about it, the more its failures stand out. The film takes place roughly a thousand years in the future, where an evil race made of pure energy called the Drej has destroyed Earth. Humans now exist as an "orphan" species, drifting from outpost to outpost without finding any real home. Cale (voice of Alex D. Linz) was a young boy when Earth was destroyed, and his father was one of the principal officials in charge of evacuating the planet. But Cale's father disappeared after Earth's destruction, never to be heard from again. Now a cynical survivor (and now voiced by Matt Damon), Cale stumbles upon a ship with a partially human crew at a space dock. He's startled to find that the captain of the ship, gruff Commander Korso (Bill Pullman), has actually been looking for him. Korso, a friend of Cale's father, reveals that Cale actually holds the key to the humans' last hope at finding a new home: His father left him a genetically-encoded map pinpointing the whereabouts of the Titan, a planet-sized space station hidden somewhere in outer space. Unfortunately, the Drej are interested in finding the Titan as well, and they are hunting Cale down in order to pry the information from him. Not allowed much of a choice after the Drej attack his current residence, Cale agrees to go with Korso. The story sounds fine, like a pretty good opportunity for an exciting space adventure. It's derivative, sure, but most movies of this kind are, and "Titan A.E." can hardly be faulted for cribbing ideas when the films it's cribbing from ("Star Wars," "Star Trek") would have to plead guilty to the same charge. But that doesn't let it off the hook for getting its premise all wrong. "Star Wars" took place in a consistent, expansive universe you always felt that what made it to the screen was only a small fraction of what was floating around inside George Lucas' head. "Titan A.E." presents no such depth, because the writers haven't paid much attention to the details of their own plot. For example, it's established that the Drej want to destroy the human race, but we never find out why they want to do that. What threat do the humans pose to them? Who knows? Supporting characters are introduced without any reason given for them to be there. How did Commander Korso put together such a diverse crew? Who knows? Korso remarks that he's been looking for Cale "for many years," so he can find the Titan, for which he's also been searching "for many years." A single person is easier to find in the vast expanse of space than a planet-sized spaceship? Why not just look for the Titan itself? Who knows? The script fails at proper characterization, too. The heroes in a space opera don't have to be deep, but they should at least be likeable. "Titan A.E." fails on both counts. The apparent good guys are only good in the sense that they don't wish anyone else any specific harm. Cale may be blond and fresh-faced, but he's so bland, and so self-pitying, it's hard to really root for him. Japanese space-punk Akima (Drew Barrymore) serves as Cale's love interest, and she's not very interesting either. Nor is her character consistent: Sometimes she's tough, sometimes she's helpless, depending on what the rote story demands. Korso comes off as equally subject to the whims of the script. His motivations change back and forth without much conviction by the end, you're wondering if this guy believes in anything at all. It doesn't help that the big-name cast turns in mostly uninspiring voice performances. Damon, Barrymore, Pullman, and Janeane Garofalo sound bored. Nathan Lane and John Leguizamo (as the ostensibly "colorful" sidekicks) are at least enthusiastic, but still unfocused. Most of the actors' dialogue is horribly concocted: The "funny" lines induce cringing, the serious ones occasional giggling. "Titan A.E." does contain some breathtaking imagery. Visuals, not surprisingly, are the film's saving grace. Two action set-pieces, one during the Earth's destruction and another in a field of ice crystals, are about as exciting as anything you're going to see this year. But they're oases in a desert, because "Titan A.E." doesn't make these or any other scenes feel necessary. A plot-driven film's narrative ought to be a fast-paced, naturally flowing progression to a satisfying climax, but "Titan A.E." feels more like a series of individual scenes slammed together in chronological order. It doesn't move. What "Titan A.E." forgets about making a fun space adventure is that the adventure is supposed to be *fun*. Almost every plot point is treated with such grim portentousness that any and all vitality is sucked right out of the production. Obviously, a film of this nature can't goof its way through the story, and some things need to be treated seriously (like the Force, for example). But there also needs to be a sense of giddy enthusiasm, an indication that the filmmakers were having as much fun making their movie as they expect the audience to have watching it. This film gives no such indication. Instead of being a "Star Wars"-like joyous romp, "Titan A.E." is a somber march towards a predictable conclusion. This is not the stuff of a modern classic. -reviewed by Shay Casey For more reviews, go to http://www.geocities.com/sycasey/movies.html