Titan A.E.
USA 2000
Reviewed by Andrew O'Hehir
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
The 31st century. Earth is destroyed by the Drej, an alien race consisting of pure energy. The scientist in charge of the secret Titan spaceship project escapes with his ship, entrusting his young son Cale with a powerful ring and sending him into exile on a different vessel. Fifteen years later, human survivors are adrift in the universe. Cale works at a remote salvage station. Korso, a visiting trader, convinces him that his ring holds a map to the abandoned Titan, which can reunite humanity. But the Drej also know of the ring and pursue Cale, who barely escapes with Korso, a girl named Akima and their alien shipmates.
Aided by the bird-like race of Planet Sesharrim and the mysterious map on Cale's palm, the group survives many close calls. Having been betrayed to the Drej by Korso and his sidekick Preed, Cale and Akima escape to the human colony of New Bangkok, rebuild a ship and reach the Titan before Korso and the Drej do. In the final battle, Korso dies helping Cale defeat the Drej. Titan creates a new planet and populates it with all of Earth's life-forms.
Review
Children of the 8 to 11 years-old age group should find the odyssean quest of the animated science-fiction film Titan A.E. enthralling, especially if they have seen the original Star Wars fewer than a dozen times. But for many adults, the experience of watching Titan A.E. will be a matter of trying to ignore the simple and exaggerated style of directors Don Bluth and Gary Goldman's character animation and the inane dialogue provided by five credited writers, while focusing on the richly coloured backgrounds and lush, painterly outer-space vistas.
Bluth has of course been making animated features since the days when they were called cartoons, and the approach here is not much different from that of his earlier efforts The Secret of NIMH or An American Tail: cuddly creatures occupy the foreground, facing a big and often frightening world. Here, the bland and muscular Cale (with a voice to match by Matt Damon), whose haircut makes him look a boy band member, never really seems to belong. He's less compelling than the saucy Akima (voiced by Drew Barrymore) and less memorable, if also less irritating, than the cantankerous kangaroo-like Stith (Janeane Garofalo) or the wise tortoise Gune (John Leguizamo).
Some of Bluth and Goldman's depictions of outer space are undoubtedly delightful: the glowing hydrogen trees of Planet Sesharrim, the enormous ice crystals in which the Titan is hidden, the cloudy nebula through which Cale leads the mysterious deep-space creatures called "wake angels". But the directors also seem to distrust their audience's attention span; such scenes are undermined by an atrocious musical score that veers from faux 80s heavy metal to faux 90s trip-hop. Then there's the nonsensical plot (Korso kills an awful lot of Drej for someone in league with them) and the achingly weak dialogue with its leaden efforts to acquire a degree of street credibility. (Consecutive lines from a battle sequence run: "I'm out!"; "Let's do this!"; "It's been fun!"; "Who's your daddy?") At times, it seems that two completely different films have been superimposed on each other - against those glorious hydrogen trees, Bluth and Goldman have placed ludicrous bird-like creatures that resemble the Thanksgiving turkeys from television's South Park.
While the influence of the often adult-oriented Japanese anime and of its master, Hayao Miyazaki, is now widespread in animation, Bluth and Goldman's film - like almost all Hollywood cartoons - is still aimed at a pre-adolescent common denominator. Given their evident talent and flashes of visionary sensibility, this seems regrettable. But their films have consistently drawn large audiences, while the Hollywood-dubbed version of Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke, whose Tolkienesque fantasy was perhaps too sophisticated and dark for very young children, bombed in the US. To anyone who takes animated film seriously, Titan A.E., for all its striking imagery, will seem tepid and outdated. But its core demographic should go home happily stuffed with sweets.
Credits
- Directors
- Don Bluth
- Gary Goldman
- Producers
- David Kirschner
- Gary Goldman
- Don Bluth
- Screenplay
- Ben Edlund
- John August
- Joss Whedon
- Story by
- Hans Bauer
- Randall McCormick
- Editors
- Fiona Trayler
- Bob Bender
- Production Designer
- Philip A. Cruden
- Music
- Graeme Revell
- ©Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
- Production Companies
- Twentieth Century Fox Animation presents a Don Bluth film
- A Gary Goldman production in association with David Kirschner Productions
- Executive Producer
- Paul Gertz
- Associate Producer
- Hans Bauer
- Live Action Supervisor
- Cathy Goldman
- Scene Planning Supervisor
- Vincent Clarke
- Scene Planners
- Derek Nielsen
- Kip Goldman
- Aran O'Reilly
- Production Managers
- Colum Slevin
- Brenda McGuirk
- Ciarán Morris
- Gerry Carty
- Unit Production Manager
- Melissa Kurtz
- Post-production Consultant
- Paul Hirsch
- Assistant Director
- Jason Ayon
- Continuity Supervisor
- Cynthia A. Nason
- Casting
- Marion Levine
- Loop Group:
- K.B.A. Voice
- Colour Key Styling
- Paul X.X. Cheng
- Zoë Evamy
- Animation Colour Styling Supervisor
- Carmen Oliver
- Crane/Camera Operator
- Live Action Reference:
- Robert Pflumn
- Camera Operators
- Live Action Reference:
- Cary Trulock
- Mark Sanchez
- Craig Schwisow
- Digital Scanning Supervisor
- Frank Richards
- Director of Animation
- Len Simon
- Directing Animators
- Troy Saliba
- Renato Dos Anjos
- John Hill
- Edison Goncalves
- Robert Fox
- Paul Newberry
- Animation Supervisor
- Paul J. Kelly
- Character Animators
- Kelly Baigent
- Hélio Takahashi
- Tobias Schwarz
- Melvin Silao
- Rafael Díaz Canales
- Manuel Galiana
- Marco Plantilla
- Joey Paraiso
- Maximillan Nepomuceno
- Salvador 'JoJo' Young
- Allan Fernando
- Hugo M. Takahashi
- Steve Cunningham
- John Power
- Michael Tweedle
- Dimitri Tenev
- Jean Kalilie
- Robert Sprathoff
- Additional Character Animation
- Sandra R. Keely
- Michael Lahay
- Debbie Gold
- Jeffrey J. Varab
- Ryan McElhinney
- Barry Iremonger
- Nassos Vakalis
- Animation Co-ordinating Supervisor
- Bernie Keogh
- Additional Animation
- Yowza Animation Studios, Inc
- 3D Animation
- Fox Animation Studios
- Supervisor:
- Thomas M. Miller
- Directing Animators:
- Chris Kazmier
- Charlie Breakiron
- Mary F. Clarke-Miller
- David Satchwell
- Senior Animators:
- David Munier
- Mark A. Kauffman
- Animators:
- Guner Behich
- Robert S. Clegg
- Patricia Frazier
- Bil Van Ness
- John P. Rand
- Mayo Tirado
- Additional Animation:
- Kelly 'Kel' Nelson
- Co-ordinating Supervisors:
- Tracy A. Butenko
- Karri Lindamood
- 3D Animation
- Ice Crystals/ Wake Angels Sequences
- Persistence of Vision Digital Entertainment
- Reality Check Studios
- Visual Effects Supervisor:
- David Paul Dozoretz
- Editor:
- Paul Martin Smith
- Co-visual Effects Supervisor:
- Kory Jones
- Visual Effects Producer:
- Chandra Joy Hagopian
- Associate Visual Effects Producer:
- Robert Wadell
- Digital Sequence Supervisors:
- Kevin Baillie
- Ryan Tudhope
- 3D Animation
- Creation of the New World
- Blue Sky Studios Inc
- Director of Animation/ Effects:
- Jan Carlée
- Digital Effects Producer:
- Christopher Scollard
- Digital Effects Co-ordinator:
- Lauren Price
- Lead Technical Director:
- Michael Eringis
- Senior Technical Director:
- Mitch Kopelman
- Technical Directors:
- Andrew Beddini
- Christopher M. Burrows
- Rob Cavaleri
- Senior Digital Artist:
- John Siczewicz
- Animator:
- Dan Whiting
- Modeller:
- Daniel Williams
- Editor:
- Tim Nordquist
- Executive Producer:
- Carol Laufer
- 3D Animation
- Additional CGI Animation/ Effects
- Rhonda Graphics
- Producer:
- Rhonda Sanders Olson
- Technical Director:
- Loren Olson
- Animators:
- Rick Rogers
- Scot Olson
- Clean-up Animation Artistic Supervisor
- Peter Donnelly
- Director of Digital Technology
- Mark Weathers
- Special Effects Animation
- Artistic Supervisor:
- Peter Matheson
- Directing Animators:
- Deirdre Reynolds-Behan
- Julian Hynes
- Declan Walsh
- Animators:
- Leslie Aust
- Edwin Bocalan
- John Costello
- Stephen Deane
- Earl A. Hibbert
- Sonnie Lagonera
- Paul Morris
- Raquel V. Omana
- Angelito Ramos
- Gorio Vicuna
- 2D Digital Effects Artists:
- Brad Gayo
- Jimmy Jewell
- Additional Special Effects
- Giant Film Productions Ltd
- Digital Checking Supervisor
- Linda Fitzpatrick
- Layout Artistic Supervisor
- Anthony Christov
- Layout Artists
- Nelson 'Rey' Bohol
- Juan 'Jo' Luna
- Troylan B. Caro
- Fred A. Reilly
- Daniel Hung Yuan Chiang
- Sinéad Somers
- Abraham 'Abe' De Ocampo
- Noly Zamora
- Layout Co-ordinating Supervisor
- Caroline Lynch-Server
- Character Layout
- Chris Schouten
- Kris Pearn
- Background Artistic Supervisor
- Rob Nason
- Background Co-ordinating Supervisor
- Gary Busacca
- Compositing Supervisors
- Jeannette Maher-Manifold
- Emmet Doyle
- Digital Painting Supervisor
- Liam T. Hannan
- Character Design
- Wayne Barlowe
- Louise Zingarelli
- Pre-production Design
- John Lakey
- Visual Development/ Design
- Gene Dieckhoner
- David Hardy
- Stephen Holt
- Jun Lofamia
- Danny Taverna
- George Villaflor
- Art Director
- Kenneth Valentine Slevin
- Conceptual Artists
- Oliver Scholl
- Suzanne Lemieux Wilson
- Bruce Zick
- Simón Varela
- Steve Burg
- Ron Cobb
- Barry Jackson
- Stephan Martiniere
- Doug Henderson
- Additional Conceptual Artists
- Russell Chong
- Rozalina Tchouchev
- Vladimir Spasojevic
- Leonard Robinson
- Yacine Elghorri
- Rae McCarson
- 3D Draughtsman
- Will Makra
- 2D Digital Star Fields/Nebulae
- D. Perricelli
- Storyboard Artists
- Joseph Ekers
- Hank Tucker
- David Lux
- Mike Ploog
- Gábor T. Steisinger
- Andy Friend
- Costume Designer
- Kym Barrett
- Costume Illustrator
- Lois Dearmond
- Music Programmer
- Paul Haslinger
- Score Orchestrations/
- Conductor
- Tim Simonec
- Music Supervisor
- Glen Ballard
- Music Editor
- Joshua Winget
- Score Recorder/Mixer
- John Kurlander
- Recordist
- John Rodd
- Engineer
- Bill Talbott
- Electronic Score Mixer
- Wolfgang Aicholz
- Soundtrack
- "Cosmic Castaway" - Electrasy; "Everything under the Sun" - Fun Lovin' Criminals; "Everybody's Going to the Moon" - Jamiroquai; "The End Is Over" - Powerman 5000; "Renegade Survivor" - Wailing Souls; "Karma Slave" - Splashdown; "It's My Turn to Fly" - The Urge; "Like Lovers (Holding On)" - Texas; "Over My Head" - Lit; "Not Quite Paradise" - Bliss; "Down to Earth"
- Sound Design
- Christopher Boyes
- Production Sound Supervisor
- Mark Server
- Re-recording Mixers
- Christopher Boyes
- Gary Summers
- Supervising Sound Editor
- Matthew Wood
- Dialogue Editor
- Scott B. Seymann
- Sound Effects Editors
- Andrea Gard
- Michael Ferdie
- Foley
- Artists:
- Dennie Thorpe
- Jana Vance
- Recordist:
- Frank 'Pepe' Merel
- Mixer:
- Tony Eckert
- Editors:
- Sandina Bailo-Lape
- Susan Sanford
- Creative Consultants
- Ben Edlund
- Mireille Soria
- Action Consultant
- Live Action Reference:
- Glenn Randall Jr
- Voice Cast
- Matt Damon
- Cale
- Bill Pullman
- Korso
- John Leguizamo
- Gune
- Nathan Lane
- Preed
- Janeane Garofalo
- Stith
- Drew Barrymore
- Akima
- Ron Perlman
- Professor Sam Tucker
- Alex D. Linz
- young Cale
- Tone-Loc
- Tek
- Jim Breuer
- the cook
- Chris Scarabosio
- Queen Drej
- Jim Cummings
- Chowquin
- Charles Rocket
- Firrikash/slave trader guard
- Ken Campbell
- Po
- Tsai Chin
- old woman
- Crystal Scales
- drifter girl
- David L. Lander
- the mayor
- Thomas A. Chantler
- male announcer
- Elaine A. Clark
- citizen
- Roy Conrad
- second human
- Leslie Hedger
- first human
- Roger L. Jackson
- first alien
- Shanón Orrock
- female announcer
- Alex Pels
- soldier
- Eric Schniewind
- alien
- Stephen W. Stanton
- colonist
- Patrick Nixon
- Jon Simpson
- Melinda Thomas
- Christie Klein
- Bruce Miles
- Michael Potter
- Rusty Ferracane
- Curt Anthon
- Scott Dillon
- Mark Trombino
- Elizabeth Loy
- Amy Savage
- Joseph Ranier
- Michael Wayne
- Myah Dillard
- Nicholas Gaunt
- Benjamin Rosenbaum
- Derek Marquez
- T.J. Wead
- Hal Adams
- Hamilton Mitchell
- Laura Lakey
- Alexa Lakey
- Kathleen Lakey
- Nicholas Nason
- live action reference models
- Certificate
- tbc
- Distributor
- 20th Century Fox (UK)
- tbc feet
- tbc minutes
- Dolby Digital/DTS/SDDS
- Colour by
- Technicolor
- Prints by
- Technicolor/DeLuxe
- Anamorphic [CinemaScope]