User reviews

After reading a number of negative reviews of this film, I went ahead and bought the DVD. I had read that, although the movie was mediocre, it was the kind of film that's great for showing off your DVD player.

I am thrilled to own this movie.

True enough, the story is cliched. Yet I didn't think about it for a second while I watched the film unfold. I was completely caught up in everything I saw on the screen. If it was a slow scene, I just gazed at the beautiful eye candy. And during the incredibly inventive action scenes, I was surprised to find myself at the edge of my seat.

There are some who say that the mix of 3d and traditional 2d animation didn't work. I couldn't disagree more. There are times when the two styles were a glaring contrast. Yet, as the movie progressed, the two became as one to my eyes. I have no problem calling this a revolutionary step forward in animation.

I loved A Bug's Life and Toy Story. But this trip, in my eyes blew those films away.

Finally, though I wouldn't consider this film 'adult' by any means, the slighter darker tone made it much more accessible as an adult viewer. Every year I sigh when I see a preview for another assembly line Disney film. (Hey, let's dumb down the gothic horror 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' and give him cute sidekicks!) The look of Disney films hasn't changed in years. (If anything, they look more simple) This film, as cliched as the story was, was visually inspired.

The original Fantasia needed no story. It was an appreciation of music and animation. Let this be the new Fantasia. If you want to experience breathtaking and beautiful animation, I couldn't recommend this any more.

Filled with spectacular visions of other worlds, Titan A.E. brings us into the 31st century and into a whole new level of science fiction. The story is pretty simple, a race called the Drej feel the human race is a threat so they decide to destroy us. The only hope for the survival of the human species is a ship called the Titan. Only trouble is, no one knows where it is. The answer lays with Cale, the son of the inventor of Titan. Once Cale realizes what he's in for, we're off on an intergalactic roller coaster ride. We get chases in swamps filled with hydrogen trees and an imaginative hide and seek game in a field of ice crystals. Traditional hand drawn characters are blended in with amazing CGI renderings of planets, ships, and the vast emptiness of space with very good results. Sure there may be some clunker lines here and there but Titan A.E. gives fans of sci-fi what they want. Well worth the price of admission

The storyline of TITAN A.E. follows standard mythical canon: unlikely youthful hero from the boondocks is forced to follow his destiny and struggle against overwhelming odds to save his people. No surprises there, to be sure, but God is in the details, and the details is where this film excels. I can't say enough good about the animation and visual artistry--it's the best ever. Hopefully this will raise the bar for animated feature films. After forty-odd years, I have had enough of the formulaic Disney approach.

I would also give TITAN A.E. high marks for acting and for the musical selections in the soundtrack. This film should make a great addition to any enthusiast's DVD library.

I agree that the plot is rather holey, but I was so busy enjoying the film that I didn't notice at the time.

This can be a true revolutionary of all the animated films with its real eye-stunning graphics, a very imaginative sci-fi setting, more realistic-looking characters, and plenty of real action and yes, even some blood-spilling violence.

After years of churning out shots of sparkly-starry fantasy like Rock-A-Doodle-Doo, We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story, and Troll In The Central Park, Don Bluth's crew finally comes up with a very gritty, mature science fiction story all about humans being hunted down by the evil aliens who are out to destroy the planet Earth altogether. So a very brave young engineer grimly launched an enormous project that his little son was to carry on when he finally grew up. But it just wouldn't be a very easy path for the young hero to accomplish this great feat that would give a long ray of hope to all the innocent humans hiding out in the outer space. But with the help of a very spunky young female co-pilot, a group of bickering aliens, and a hardened space veteran, he just might...even with all those dread monsters hot on his very tail!

Beautifully made, this sweeping space odyssey really takes GIGANTIC steps to break from all the traditional aspects of an animated film to introduce mouth-droppingly MAGNIFICENT visions of the distant future as well as a more adult approach to storytelling and animation, so it may take awhile for the casual viewer to get used to it...and one day truly appreciate the great changes that is taking place in the whole animation industry.

TITAN A. E. / (2000) *** (out of four)

"Titan A.E." is like a giant looming over movie animation landscape; it is one of the most visually bracing family fantasy adventures to come down the pike in years. The film's animation is wonderfully spectacular, visually enticing and entirely convincing. Directors Don Bluth and Gary Goldman enthrall the audience with a sweeping sense of atmosphere and action. This is the kind of cartoon that is mature to the level in which the characters and set designs could have been replaced with live action filmmaking without changing the movie's perspective.

The production takes place twenty-eight years after the third millennium. Planet Earth has been demolished by a cruel species called the Drej, who fear the potential intelligence of the human race. Cale (voiced by Matt Damon) is a young man working as a space dump attendant who believes his father abandoned him when he was a child. Cale doesn't know it yet, but he holds the key to the survival of the human race with a genetically coded map on his hand showing the course to the hidden position of a special spacecraft called the Titan.

Cale meets a young woman named Akima (voiced by Drew Barrymore), who cherishes conventional memorabilia of her late planet. She and her captain, Korso (voiced by Bill Pullman), and the navigator, Gune (John Leguizamo), set out to locate the vital Titan before the evil Drej can exterminate it along with mankind's future hope of existence.

Instead of our traditional, well-developed bad guy that posses serious threats to the protagonist's mission, in "Titan A.E." we receive something of a different sort: an underwritten alien race whose motives and backgrounds are unclear and undeveloped. The movie seems to know of this, however, therefore the film wisely switches villains in the second act. The story provides an interesting twist that supplies us with solid and comprehendible antagonism.

This movie's plot feels somewhat pieced together from previous science fiction fantasies like "Star Trek," "Star Wars," and "Lost in Space." John Whedon, Ben Edlund, and John August vividly detail a story that moves along steadily, but occasionally stalls to build momentum for the character's purpose for achieving goals. There is a scene on a spaceship holding Cale in captivity that feels trite and dual, but the film quickly rejuvenates itself with an exhilarating chase sequence. The film's plot would have been more involving if we knew more about the characters. They seem pretty interesting but we never really get to know them because the filmmakers were more concerned with special effects, a common misconception both animated and live action films.

This production is engaging and well animated; "Titan: After Earth" is smart to jolt a appropriate about of energy into its action scenes and contains sufficient amounts of style and wit to satisfy younger audiences as well to hold the attention of the older, more sophisticated viewers. It is not every day a cartoon is able to do that.

It's 3028 A.D. Earth is attacked by the Drej, aliens of pure energy. Hundreds of ships manage to escape before the earth is destroyed. Cale is separated from his father Professor Sam Tucker who saves the spaceship Titan. Sam gives him a ring which is a map to find Titan. Tucker was the lead researcher on Project Titan which is feared by the Drej. 15 years later, Cale is working on a salvage station with other aliens. Humanity is reduced to lower class citizens. Joseph Korso, captain of the Valkyrie, finds Cale and his ring to search for Titan, humanity's last hope.

The blend of traditional hand drawn animation and CGI works well mostly. The best is the ice crystal world. The hide-and-seek game inside the crystal is both exhilarating and visionary. In general, the story is a little too simplistic with questionable plot lines. Why would the father give the key to the ship to his son? Why couldn't the father do what the son ended up doing? If the father figure out how to build Titan, couldn't he build simple weapons against the Drej? Wouldn't it be simpler to build contraptions that sucks up Drej energy? The whole quest seems manufactured. The simple story has some rip-roaring fun. The characters are interesting. The evil aliens are formidable. The animation is interesting. I don't like the use of rock music. Overall it's a fun ride but not that compelling.

Overall I enjoyed Titan A.E. let me start by saying that.

I had heard a lot about its big box office loss, but I read the description of it and thought it couldn't be that bad. Although I today still feel sorry its disappointing performance, I must say it has its problems.

At certain times in the movie where the characters' actions seem a little rushed and too squeezed together instead of naturally flowing. But generally the characters are okay with good voice acting.

I find the CG rendered backgrounds sticking out like a saw thumb most of the time. But aside from that first impression I actually found it fitting in this outer space setting.

And what did surprise me in a positive way is how Don Bluth finally managed making a movie which had more adult elements in it. That was needed after those mostly disappointing movies he made in the 90's aside from Anastasia.

The villainous character in this outer space adventure, the Drej, actually struck a little fear into me and made me fasten my grip on the arms of my armchair. That along with some thrilling action scenes made me appreciate it for what it is.

I my opinion, Titan A.E. is an underrated Don Bluth film which deserves more attention. It does not rank as high as let's say "Secret of NIMH" and his other great 80's movies, but it is worth checking out if you like action/adventure movies.

I remember a year ago when I went to see this movie. I think of that day as a turning point in my life in how I view animation.

I am surprised I have not written a review for this movie. After reading through every single bad review by every paid critic on the planet and watching this movie fail because of it (taking Fox Animation with it), I have decided it was about time I added my insight into the pile. Kind of late, but bear with me. I know more now than I did then.

First off, the storyline isn't what the critics have brainwashed you into thinking. If you are a sci-fi fan, I guess it is easier to grasp. In the wide world of science fiction, this movie seems to have struggled to find originality and found enough of it. Set 1000 years into the future, Humans have discovered an extremely advanced technology which drives a race of almost indestructible aliens to destroy Earth in it's entirety. A teenage boy is left with the power to find the key to bring humanity back before it is killed off forever. When I saw this movie, I had a breath of relief. Finally humanity isn't the all-powerful! The movie puts humanity in the act of a downtrodden, confused, holding-on race manipulated and shunned by other races. The emotion I felt from the story in this film and the characters in it is extraordinary.

The animation by far is a turning point in the world of animated features. From the start, you can tell the animation is exceptional. Extra time was taken to make the characters lifelike, as well as the environments they are in, the coordinating of colors, and even the shadows from a tree on the character's faces. It's unbelievable. And the 2D animation mixes so well with the 3D animation - it just adds to the thrill of the movie. The scenes in the movie are exceptional - from the ice rings scene with the reflections to the wake angels scene in space.

The characters are just portrayed so well, like I said. The actors doing the voice-overs put so much emotion into what the characters actually felt, and the characters portrayed it well. There is a nice variety of characters as well, all the way down to the comic relief of Gune and the angry kangaroo-like alien, Stith.

Overall, this movie just blew me away. I couldn't think for days. The animation, the story, the characters - all of it. And I have gotten others to see this movie, and they agree on it. So next time you are in the video store, not sure what to rent, think about this movie. I guarantee it is in stock and it will change the way you see animation forever.

Titan A. E. was a tragic victim of 'studio sidelining' where a film is shafted in favour of a bigger and 'more viable' product; in this case, it seemed Fox was focusing its efforts on X-Men in getting adequate promos and licensing deals to make that movie soar at the box office. Titan A. E. was sporadically promoted besides the occasional tv spot, but the tie-in campaign proved very moot compared to tentpole Disney films at the time.

Titan A. E. also has the distinction of being Don Bluth's latest feature film, as his in-development Dragon's Lair film still hasn't been released. It sucks, because Don always had a knack for blending pathos in with slapstick comedy that few animators dared to balance as well as he did (with the likes of Secret of Nimh, American Tail, Land Before Time and All Dogs Go To Heaven); and it would have been nice seeing that trend continue into the 2000s and beyond. Sadly, it hasn't seen another film of his yet, and fans of Don Bluth are still waiting for Dragon's Lair to become a movie. Hopefully the day will come soon when Bluth graces the world with another of his feature films.

This movie was also a nice refreshing change of pace from all the musical animated films that were nigh-omniscient thanks to the Disney Renaissance still rubbing off on the competition. Science fiction has only gotten stronger representation in animation recently thanks to the Spider-Verse films, and films like them and Wall-E owe themselves to films like Titan A. E. and The Iron Giant daring to give audiences something different and high-concept escapism in a field dominated by Disney Princesses and talking animals.

2000s animation was something of a crazy and difficult time for theatrical toons; the technology evolved rapidly thanks to PIXAR's films and Dreamworks' Shrek, and traditional cel-animation still had a foothold on television when it was dying out at the movies. And Titan A. E. is a fascinating window into that time for the animation industry, where the demands of audiences were changing and becoming very complicated, and it seemed like a case of it being too ahead of its time (who knows how a film like this would have performed in the 2010s or 2020s in a post-Spider-Verse world?). Hindsight makes it impossible to know if a failure could have had a 'second chance' at success given the proper promotional material, or if it was always gonna play out the same way regardless.

7/10 IMDb points. 3.5/5 stars. Titan A. E. gives us a glance at a simpler time for animated cinema; and how sci-fi animation has continued to refine itself thanks to the likes of it and others daring to defy Disney.

I gave this movie two opportunities. The animation is so brilliantly colorful and imaginative, I hated to give up on it. Scene after scene was a pleasure to watch. It's like a well-drawn sci-fi comic book come to life. It's extremely colorful.

But - and it's a big 'but' - the story is so blah and unlikeable to me that both times I viewed this, I went away feeling unsatisfied. The characters are such that I never could get involved about caring what happened. Most of them simply weren't appealing.

There are a few good twists at the end but it's too little-too late to make me watch this again.

This film (To be blunt) is one of the greatest animated sci-fi films ever made. The story is a blast, as are the characters and the visuals are stunning. Unfortunately the movie was highly underrated by critics (But what do they know). Any science fiction fan with half a brain can see this is an intriguing story, and one that the cast is totally committed to. Indeed the actors put on such a excellent performance that you can believe in their plight and really feel for them. Overall this movie is easily able to hold it's own against masterpieces such as Starchaser: The legend of Orin, Fire & ice and other films in the animated sci-fi/fantasy genre.

Very Good: Cinematography, Production Design, Special Effects, Pace.

Good: Themes and Tones, Acting and Characters, Direction, Editing

Fair: Plot, Dialogue

Poor: Score.

... for American animated blockbusters, and now I am convinced that animation will remain a niche genre in this country. The Japanese get Miyazaki, we get Don Bluth, hardly seems fair does it? Yeah, this is a formula movie all right. The plot is threadbare, characters are vanilla, and the villians (named "Drej", how clever) have it in for us Earthlings, apparently just because we're a spacefaring race (uh, what about all the other races?). Two semi-interesting locales are squandered in boring chase scenes, and the Titan itself looks more like a medium-sized space station (hence the Babylon 5 reference) than a potential planet. Sorry, but the whole experience left me as cold as one of those ice rings (and I *am* the Snow Dog, after all).

Saw this on DVD, missing it completely at the cinema. Which was probably what happened to the audience for the film, as it was difficult to market for any target group. Having seen it, it's apparent that lot of very hard work went into producing it.

I can compare it to a few other sci-fi animated films of recent years...

As ground-breaking as The Last Starfighter was in its day. Though not pure animation, Starfighter showed off what even early CG could do in terms of gimbal-free animation of spaceships and vehicles.

Much, much better than Final Fantasy, as the action is genuinely epic. The story goes places and uses the chosen technology very nicely. Titan is not a boring film.

Very similar to Disney's later production of the Treasure Island book. Disney appeared to have cribbed one or two scenes from Titan A.E. Not nice.

Graphically, it's up there with Iron Giant, using finely animated CG figures mixed with traditional cell animation. The scene where we first see the older Cale Tucker (in space, cutting up junk) is very impressive.

But something bugs me. There was something missing. Iron Giant gave me a sense of wonder, which was achieved by some great character acting, clever pacing and a wonderful story line. At no point was I "taken" by what I saw on-screen while watching Titan A.E.

I think Titan tripped over itself in the drama department more than a few times. Along with the latest Star Wars films, it tumbles along without stopping up and letting the audience know what the characters are feeling. The actors have to have the skills to enable the audience to feel, to immerse. Without that, the action has a risk of becoming incomprehensible.

Pretty, fast-paced, intriguing. But I wish someone would use these toys to produce something great, something big.

Something wonderful.

Don Bluth, previously an animator at Disney, made a name for himself in the '80s with the intense animated features "The Secret of NIMH", "An American Tail" and "The Land Before Time". In the '90s, Bluth tried to be more family friendly with "Rock-a-Doodle" and "Anastasia". His last movie as a director was 2000's "Titan A. E.", which I've only now gotten around to seeing.

It doesn't have the most original plot - humans fighting against aliens - but it's got some impressive animation. It leads me to wonder whether Bluth will ever make another movie. I guess part of it is financing: this movie underperformed, and in Hollywood you're only as good as your last movie (or at least how much money your last movie earned).

Anyway, worth seeing. The voice work includes Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore (who recently tried to restart her show amid the writers' strike but had to cancel her plans due to a backlash), Bill Pullman, Janeane Garofalo (who that same year played 1960s radical Anita Hoffman in "Steal This Movie") and John Leguizamo.

Impressively combining the most dazzling effects of both 2-D and 3-D animation, TITAN A.E. is a Post-Apocalyptic, Sci-fi, Adventure Flick that is really quite entertaining to watch in all of its visual splendour.

15 years after the Drej, a viciously destructive alien race, had completely destroyed the Earth (back in the year 3028), young Cale Tucker learns that he, in fact, possesses a genetically encoded map to the Titan, a fantastic spaceship that holds the amazing secret to the very salvation of what still remains of the human race.

With the dreaded Drej in hot pursuit, Cale blasts off with the new crew of the space-cruiser, Valkyrie, in a frantic attempt to locate the whereabouts of the Titan before the Drej can ever get a chance to completely destroy it.

This is mankind's last hope and final opportunity to find a place that they can truly call their very own.

Featuring an all-star "voice cast" that includes the likes of Matt Damon and Drew Barrymore, and a super-edgy, out-of-this-world soundtrack, TITAN A.E. is an intergalactic thrill ride that can easily be enjoyed by all generations.

The first time I saw this I was 13 or 14. I saw it in a theatre with some friends. Most of em didn't really seem impressed but I really thought it rocked. I really like Cale's character. He seemed to "click" as a normal guy you wouldn't mind being identified with. And that Goon character was just fantastic. I really liked the scene with the giant ice crystals, and the sound effects during that scene were awesome. And I noticed this movie had a lot of Starwars references, but who cares. Didn't bother me in the least---in fact I like that kind of thing.

I was sort of disappointed at how this one just sort of dried up and blew away (I don't even think it played a whole week at the theatre). Luckily a friend, knowing I liked this movie, gave me a DVD he'd bought and no longer wanted. So, again, I watched and enjoyed this unappreciated great creation. Somehow it seemed even better now.

As usual, I'll leave all the technical discussions to other reviewers (of which there are a multitude). I try to review on an entertainment level only...yeah, I suppose I'm the shallow guy who only sees what's right up front.

Anyhow, if you care a whit about sci-fi, don't miss this one even if it is animated. It doesn't really have that "anime" feel to it. So if you're turned off by anime, check this one out anyway.

BTW, this movie is great for family viewing.

Years ago I went to the movies just to see a show. I didn't care what it was just as long as it was age appropriate and killed a bit of time. So I watched this movie. I was not disappointed. I found myself being sucked into the story and the plot. I think of that day as a turning point in my life in how I view animation. It seemed to me more life like than anything I've ever seen before.

The plot is easy enough to follow if you pay attention. Probably not good for young children just because they might find it difficult to follow. As an adult though its easy and enjoyable. It's an amazing piece of science fiction and I can honestly say I never regretted the day I walked into that theater.

oh dear oh dear. it all looks so lovely and even though matt damon sounds as though he really was in a studio, the sound and music are great. but my god, the script and worse (even) the story...!

a great mixture of computer animation and cartoon action really dazzle the eye and can begin to lull you into a false sense of security...right up to the point in which people begin to actually talk to each other. 'character is action' (so said f.scott fitzgerald) and this is true whether you're talking about the film which managed to close down fox's animation department (i can only hope that they threw away the scriptwriters too) or the film is a 30 second short. and what characters we are given here...

this follows the same well trodden disney path in managing to make any non-human character a grotesque stereotype in the most cliched and lazy way possible. a good case (even apart from the floppy fringed, square jawed all-american hero lead character) is the intelligent buggy character. how likely is it that in a thousand years if youre intelligent not only will you still be a nerd...but that you'll wear glasses?! not really is it. ooops, almost forgot to mention the feisty leading girl, managing to hit all her marks as action girl...with attitude (stop me if you've heard of all of these characters before). the human characters are just as bad. they are all cliches, the bad guy with the change of heart, the evil, wicked fairy queen...ooops, i mean pure energy queen. i can't even begin to imagine what the bad guys motivation was for chasing these layabouts, boredom perhaps.

and then there was the story, or more correctly the non-story. it managed to go all the way from a to b...stopping everywhere in between. part star wars (cliched 'good' vs. nasty old 'evil') and part star trek (cliched characters and cultural propaganda) and is as bad as both of them. no surprises, no twists, no character development (certainly not the leads volte-face in deciding to save the human race...gee thanks mate). just soooo predictable, unengaging and that word again...lazy. heres an idea to anyone who wants to make a good film (notice, good, not just a film but a good film): write a good script. thats it. if you do that then you have a chance. but if you dont have that then you are doomed regardless of whatever else you do.

im sure that many people reading this will think 'give it a break, its just...' and as soon as that word is used then you have no leg to stand on. because if this is a cartoon which wishes to be a film then it must be judged on its merits, i.e. as a film. and it is lacking, badly lacking. it is a film with a story that 6 year olds could follow. forget what it looks like. close your eyes and listen to the dialogue (but not for long, you may go deaf...if you're very lucky) and then tell me if its a good film. maybe fox were really pitching at the family territory with this film but the problem is that the market for this type of film (animated/manga) is just a little too old and sophisticated to really care about a boy who just wants to *sniffle* see his dad again. Akira is being re-relased on DVD in july, THAT is what an animated film should be. that is not to say they should all be disturbing (perfect blue) or violent (ghost in the machine) but to be taken seriously they have to be good. this is not, this is rubbish and should be treated as such. judge with your mind, NOT your eyes. 1/10

Titan A.E is a story set in a post-earth era (hence the A.E: after earth, which i thought was a nice touch). Its about the son of a scientist who is thrust upon him the quest of finding the Titan, the greatest ship ever built, and is humanity's last chance.

The movie begins with an awesome scene of the evacuation of earth, and caught me nicely off guard with some great 3D rendering of the Titan (when launched), and the escape ships. The imagination that went into some scenes in the movie, especially the cruising alongside the wake angels, and the ice rinks were fantastic. And the plot, though a bit unrealistic in terms of modern science, was thoroughly refreshing in concept. And its got just the right balance of action to move it quickly from a kids film to a good sci-fi show for slightly older audiences.

Titan A.E is a great film. It has a story that's original and neatly executed. It brought about some great 3D rendering in a time where animation was primarily 2D. Its got good character development with a nice twist in the middle. And its also got a fine soundtrack, which I love to listen to.

Go watch this movie. You will not be disappointed.

I missed this flick in the theatres - BIG mistake. I finally rented it with a couple of friends and we were literally blown away by it. It has everything a Science Fantasy adventure needs: humour, bad guys, awesome action sequences and stunning pictures - as well as a killer sound track.

Why this movie didn't kill off Disney as the "lead" animators on the market, I will never know. The guys behind this movie did everything bigger, better, faster and far more innovative than any of the other animation companies have ever done before. I guess true genius really isn't appreciated in their lifetime. *sigh*

Anyway, critics seem to focus on "poor plot" as their sole point of criticism. And they're WRONG! The plot is there to create a driving force behind the movie and its characters - and this plot is both simple enough for kids to understand, yet powerful enough in theme for the audience to get sucked in. All you have to do is forget about French film and "high culture". This is a classic tale of "Hero triumphing against greater evil and saving universe in the process", great and simple - if it isn't done in a trite manner, which this movie isn't. George Lucas should have watched this film prior to making Star Wars Episode One, he might have learned something about directing, humour and how to make a very simple plot both entertaining and breathtaking on the screen.

The characters are wonderful, the dialogue okay and quite catching at times, Drew Barrymore's character has the sexiest voice you've ever heard and the original soundtrack is just devastating (and kept in the background!).

10/10. It has just become my favourite animation film - and scores better with me than Star Wars One! (maybe Lucas will get up to speed in the sequel -after all, his original trilogy is unsurpassed!)

Animation great, it follows the style of Heavy Metal or Cool World. Problem is a weak cast, poor character development, and just plain boring. I knew what it suppose to be, but there is no story. Totally uninteresting