Titan A.E
Titan A.E (2000)
I’ve always been a big fan of Titan A.E. I loved the hand-drawn animation blending with the 3D. The massive space opera scope of the story. The wide range of weird and wonderful characters. The world feels lived in, and like one big adventure. The soundtrack is awesome. The adult humour is great, while it still maintains the magic kids––and adults––enjoy. It’s not perfect, but it should be a hell of a lot more popular than it is.
Titan A.E follows and unlikely band of heroes attempting to create a new Earth after the old one was destroyed by an evil race known as the Drej. Cale is the son of the creator of the Titan, a ship which holds the key––genetic data––to make a new home for the struggling human race. It’s up to him to find the lost ship, and set it in motion, all while being hunted by the Drej who seems intent on putting an end to the human race once and for all.
It’s a big story. The kind of adventure you love to see on screen in any form, but the animation really adds something to this one. The whole movie looks beautiful. Sure, some of the 3D animation looks a little dated as it was still early days, but other shots look absolutely spectacular as we see nebula’s, large ships, planets and ice crystals. Its gorgeous. The lovely fully hand drawn 2D at the beginning in the prologue scene just reminds me of what animation used to, and still should be.
The humour is a little more raunchy than you’d expect, and there’s quite a violent death towards the end of the movie that really is brutal for a PG. The movie is littered with references to other sci-fi’s, while always being its own thing. The history of the writing of this movie is a little confusing, but when two of the writers credited are Joss Whedon and John August you know you’re in for a treat.
The voice cast is great, and I love the vast array of characters. Everything from wolves, to kangaroos and turtles, with digital aliens thrown in for good measure. It just feels like an exciting universe, and one I would have loved to have seen plenty more of. Also, I love how every time the action begins a new pop-rock song pretty much plays in full. Good old days of Lit’s Over My Head.
Titan A.E is a fun adventure with plenty of heart. A blast for adults and kids alike, and in my opinion, a must for Sci-fi fans. Some things feel a little underbaked, but I put that down to the sheer scope of the movie. Really, and I don’t say this often, this should have been a trilogy of films. But, as it is, it’s standalone, and a fantastic watch.