Titan A.E.

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.

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.

(c) 2021 Berge Garabedian