Battle for Terra

Saw this movie today at the Tribec Film Festival and they really did a GREAT job. The story is unique to anything that is out there, uplifting, and creative all around. There are a lot of amazing action sequences and visually, they did an excellent job; between the music and sound effects it all tied together extremely well (soundtrack used "big sound" orchestrated music...went great with the film). I'm not one to comment on animated films but I thought this one went above and beyond what I have seen in the past. The director spoke afterwards and said they made it between a small animation crew of about 20. Not bad for an indie; you would never know looking at the final product. I was expecting a few more laughs during the film (my animated movie stereotype) but there weren't very many. The audience found a few laughs at David Cross (who played a robot) on a couple of moments, but that was it for the most part. Regardless, the blend went over well with the audience, and I personally enjoyed it a lot. Kept you going and had a really good ending. Just my 2 cents, but definitely worth seeing.

Some may say that this looks like a children's movie, but that ain't so. Given, it doesn't have many gory details when the fighting is concerned but yet it is violent enough not to let your youngest watch.

While writing this it is still some time until Avatar is on the big screen, but this felt like a preview albeit a animated family version.

Even though it is animated, the movie was beautifully made effect-wise. It is both simplistic and elegant at the same time.

There's no time for idle reflections, it goes almost straight to the action. Normally I wouldn't like that, but it worked well for this movie. It was short, and to the point.

I will keep this in my collection along with Akira, Final Fantasy, Princess Mononoke amongst others. A small but bright gem.

A movie that also has a message, always does have thinner line to walk. You have to deliver your message but still not be too judgmental. In this case, the CGI has to be top notch too. And since Pixar made Animation their own, it's all the more difficult to prove yourself in that field.

This movie holds up though, in every department. The voice talent is great and the story has a few surprises. That being said, there always will be people who will be disappointed with how a movie with a dark edge/message concludes itself. It doesn't even matter which path it takes, some people will be annoyed and/or disappointed. Same goes here too. Even if you'd wish the movie ended differently, I hope you can overcome that and be happy with what you just saw ... I was.

I took my son to see "Battle For Terra" on it's opening weekend here in NYC. I have to admit I didn't want to see it as much as I wanted to see "Wolverine" but I always defer to my 7 yr. old when there is animated fare to watch on the big screen.

Much to my surprise "Terra" is probably a much more mature, Involving & Emotional filmgoing experience than anything on the big screen right now. It might even bring a tear to some eyes out there.

The story as it is tells the tale of the inhabitants of the planet Terra (By the way, That's the name given to it by the humans. I don't think the actual name of the planet is mentioned). They are kinda like large upright tadpoles who swim through their atmosphere. The "Swimming" animation is really spot on & something different for a film of this type. The "Terrans" aren't your usual cutesy alien creatures. There are no stereotypical characters here. No "Goofy" alien, No "Evil" aliens, although the main alien protagonist "Mala" is very handy & invents things.

The Terrans are a peaceful race & seem to spend their days learning & studying their heritage. Their world is a wonderful amalgam of large mushroom like trees that they live in & they even have gliders that they travel around in. There are even large Whale like creatures that live in their atmosphere. Much like Blue whales cruise thru our oceans. All of them live in harmony.

That is until Earthlings arrive announcing that since they have devastated the resources on 3 planets & destroyed them in the process they have no choice but to "Terraform" the planet & change the atmosphere to suit what's left of mankind. The fact that this would kill the peaceful Terrans is of little concern to the humans.

I cannot go into the rest of the film without spoiling it but suffice it to say there is little to no humor in this film. That's not to say that kids won't enjoy it. They will. But this is not your typical kiddie flick. It is a sort of allegory about war & peace, Racism, Militarism & most of all love & harmony between those who might look at each other differently.

The animation is mostly superb & there are scenes where you actually feel like you're there on the planet thanks to some good 3-D visualization. By the way, The 3-D is more of the depth perception kind of 3-D not the pop out of the screen type although there are a couple of scenes of snow falling that make you just want to stick your tongue out & catch a snowflake.

All of the voice performances are good to great & the film never lags. As a matter of fact the battle scenes are quite rousing (Insert homage to George Lucas here) & while not graphic...characters do die in battle so you might want to keep an eye on the little ones if you're with one of them.

The saddest part of the experience to me is that when we arrived at the theatre (a 5-600 seater) there were exactly 4 people in there besides my son & myself. "Wolverine" & "Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past" steamrolled over this little gem & it pains me to think that people are missing out on a truly moving experience. It'll be gone from theatres in a week & that'll be it. I hope it finds it's audience on home video. It's a good movie that deserves to be seen.

I'm in the special effects field and jumped at the chance to see this film at the festival. I love SF but have to say I was a little wary going in because I've been burned in the past by high and low budget SF films. Big budget SF is usually so dumbed down it betrays the genre while low budget SF usually consists of cheesy low-rent imitations of great films. But I still get excited hoping that the next one will 'be the one'. I find great SF in books, but great SF films are a rare breed. I was happy to discover that this film is different in a good way. It's a good SF film and a great animated movie. I was surprised to see a film this thought-provoking get made. The animation style is really eye-popping. There were times when I wasn't sure whether I was watching real footage or CG. The performances were generally great, but there was some stiff acting now and then, especially with the humans. The aliens however moved beautifully. The story begins as a fantasy but soon transforms into a mature look at environmentalism and war. It's an odd transition, but overall a nice surprise. In terms of SF, it's a mixed bag of genuinely inspired ideas in the form of a completely original alien world, and some familiar ideas from the humans. The film's tone and style make it special. There are more than a few scenes that are emotionally engaging. I was fearing Sci-Fi channel movie-of-the-week but got Spielberg instead. I'm not sure what the film cost but it seams to have had a decent enough budget behind it. The film is not perfect, but it gets enough right to make me a fan.