Review of Titan A.E. (2000) by Kai82 — 05 Apr 2021

A solid but unremarkable movie. On paper this movie does everything right. However for me it never gets immersive and enjoyable enough to be rememberable. It was a box office failure and caused the termination of Fox Animated Studios (Even if it was not that awful or garbage).

I questioned myself for a long time what this movie is missing. I came to the conclusion that unremarkable while being a fitting description is not clarifying enough. The characters are mostly not immersive and could barely win me over at the end, the story takes too much time which includes uninteresting parts, there are not many highlights and the worldbuilding which is a strength show's only small fractions.

With the last I mean they neglect the show not tell rule in movies. A lot is explained that would be far better (and awesome) if it was shown or sometimes shown in more details (impacts, better / longer set up etc).

The plot is set in the 31 century. Mankind has technologically evolved and explored space meeting several alien species. However the recent technological advancement also alarmed the Drej which are energy based advanced aliens.

Humanity is on the brink of becoming dangerous for them and they dont take this kindly. It is the story Cale Tucker whose father was a remarkable scientist and this catches up to him. Here I stop. Like I said on paper the story is good and I could retell it in a way that you will be hyped.

However the actual experience is weaker and I was thinking to quit watching a few times or use the fast forward option. The characters are also solid but not remarkable. I think Cale Tucker is not a good protagonist.

I find Joseph Korso, Preedex Yoa and Akima Kunimoto are better characters. I say it is an acceptable cast with some strengths and no awful mistakes but too less great moments. Animation wise it is a good movie.

I think everything looks good and there is nothing to critize here. The voice cast hast a lot of big names with for example Ron Pearlman, Drew Barrymore, Matt Damon and Bill Pullman. I think we good a good performance here and all errors are at least partly blame able on the script.

The soundtrack is fine too. Overall it is an unremarkable movie. It has its meits and you can see sparkles of great ideas. However the negatives hold this movie back. It is a perfect example for a 5/10 rating for me.