released 18 apr 04 / last mod 01 jun 07 / greg goebel / public domain
* At the beginning of TITAN AE, an animated science-fiction film by Don Bluth and associates, early in the 4th millennium humanity is working on a super-project, codenamed TITAN, that brings down the wrath of the Drej, a race of energy beings. The Drej destroy Earth but the TITAN spaceship escapes, as does Cale (voice of Matt Damon), the son of the project's leader.
Much later, after dispersed humanity has been reduced to a gypsy-like underclass in galactic society, Cale is working in an alien scrapyard when he is contacted by Korso (Bill Pullman), one of his father's associates, who captains a starship with the girl Akima (Drew Barrymore) and a group of alien flunkies. It seems that Cale has, unknown to him, possession of the secret of the TITAN project, which could restore humanity's fortunes. Cale then embarks on a quest to find the lost TITAN spacecraft, with the Drej in pursuit.
While TITAN AE is action-packed, well-paced, and fully of snappy animation and computer graphics, the script is unimaginative, with nothing much new or interesting in terms of ideas, plot, or character development; it seems to be focused on a primary-school audience. While that is usually the target audience for Disney animated features, Disney usually likes to throw a few bits out to keep the adults happy. Unfortunately, TITAN AE has little in it for grown-ups, with the writing maybe somewhat better than typical Saturday-morning cartoon fare.
As far as the animation and graphics went, I had to admire the work put into them, but there was little memorable in terms of visuals, either. They came across as more busy than stylish, failing to put across any sense of wonder or mystery or much cleverness. The soundtrack, mostly based on rock tunes, was just as forgettable.
What struck me most about TITAN AE was that it seemed to have been put together by people who really weren't science-fiction fans. I had to laugh a bit, because it has one of the usual giveaways: planets are just kind of floating around out there, and the heroes stumble on to them almost haphazardly. In sum, I would judge this a fun movie for kids, but I can't recommend it to older viewers.