Battle For Terra is quite unusual in some ways for an animated feature film. Its themes are quite weighty, its questions probing and its answers surprisingly ambiguous. This is not typical kiddie fare: for one thing, the good guys make mistakes and bad choices from time to time, while the bad guys have legitimate reasons for committing the wrongs they do, rather than merely being evil for evils' sake. And on top of all that, the film remembers to be entertaining, meaning that all the weightiness and thematic ambivalence doesn't become a bore. It's not a perfect film but it's certainly worth a look, especially if you crave an animated film with a different 'flavour' than most.
Terra is a distant planet populated by a cultured and sophisticated alien race. It also happens to be the planet which the survivors of a civil war which destroyed planet Earth choose to invade and take for their new home. The humans are struck by Terra's similarity to Earth, with rain, snow, wind and plant-life, but one key difference is that there is no oxygen in Terra's atmosphere. A young Terrian girl named Mala (voice of Evan Rachel Wood) manages to capture a human fighter pilot, Jim Stanton (voice of Luke Wilson) when his fighter shuttle crashes during a raid. She builds an oxygen tent for him and nurses him back to help, and soon a bond develops between them as they learn to appreciate each other's culture. Mala learns that the humans have travelled across the galaxy aboard an Ark, intending to seize Terra from the Terrians. Later she and Jim make an even worse discovery – that the war-crazed General Hammer (voice of Brian Cox), who is in charge of the Earth forces, plans to use a machine they possess to make the atmosphere breathable by injecting huge quantities of oxygen. Alas, oxygen will prove fatal to any remaining Terrians and they will quickly die out. Jim and Mala eventually find themselves reluctant participants in an epic-scale war for Terra, Jim fighting to destroy a race that he has come to care for, while Mala must defeat her human friend and all his compatriots in order to save her home planet.
Battle For Terra is at its best when the focus is on the rich and wonderful world of Terra – the detail that has gone into creating this believable alien society is packed with ingenuity and imagination. Throughout, the film is a visual treat. The story itself is told simply, with fairly routine dialogue, but the main conflict which drives the story (the survival of the human race .vs. the Terrians right to live in peace on their own planet) is dealt with interestingly. Perhaps the bravest decision of all is to tell the story from a Terrian point of view, making the invaders from Earth almost the villains of the piece. It takes skill to make the audience root for an alien society over their own kind, but by-and-large the film pulls it off. Overall the vocal acting is pretty good, although the need for so many bona fide stars (Dennis Quaid, Danny Glover, James Garner, Luke Wilson, Mark Hamill, Brian Cox, Amanda Peet, Beverly D'Angelo, Rosanna Arquette) is debatable. The film's ending quite cleverly manages to avoid sentimentality (with an unexpected death for one of the main characters) and, although the ultimate resolution could be accused of being a little too pat, there are enough thought-provoking moments along the way to make the film a worthwhile watch.
Terra is a distant planet populated by a cultured and sophisticated alien race. It also happens to be the planet which the survivors of a civil war which destroyed planet Earth choose to invade and take for their new home. The humans are struck by Terra's similarity to Earth, with rain, snow, wind and plant-life, but one key difference is that there is no oxygen in Terra's atmosphere. A young Terrian girl named Mala (voice of Evan Rachel Wood) manages to capture a human fighter pilot, Jim Stanton (voice of Luke Wilson) when his fighter shuttle crashes during a raid. She builds an oxygen tent for him and nurses him back to help, and soon a bond develops between them as they learn to appreciate each other's culture. Mala learns that the humans have travelled across the galaxy aboard an Ark, intending to seize Terra from the Terrians. Later she and Jim make an even worse discovery – that the war-crazed General Hammer (voice of Brian Cox), who is in charge of the Earth forces, plans to use a machine they possess to make the atmosphere breathable by injecting huge quantities of oxygen. Alas, oxygen will prove fatal to any remaining Terrians and they will quickly die out. Jim and Mala eventually find themselves reluctant participants in an epic-scale war for Terra, Jim fighting to destroy a race that he has come to care for, while Mala must defeat her human friend and all his compatriots in order to save her home planet.
Battle For Terra is at its best when the focus is on the rich and wonderful world of Terra – the detail that has gone into creating this believable alien society is packed with ingenuity and imagination. Throughout, the film is a visual treat. The story itself is told simply, with fairly routine dialogue, but the main conflict which drives the story (the survival of the human race .vs. the Terrians right to live in peace on their own planet) is dealt with interestingly. Perhaps the bravest decision of all is to tell the story from a Terrian point of view, making the invaders from Earth almost the villains of the piece. It takes skill to make the audience root for an alien society over their own kind, but by-and-large the film pulls it off. Overall the vocal acting is pretty good, although the need for so many bona fide stars (Dennis Quaid, Danny Glover, James Garner, Luke Wilson, Mark Hamill, Brian Cox, Amanda Peet, Beverly D'Angelo, Rosanna Arquette) is debatable. The film's ending quite cleverly manages to avoid sentimentality (with an unexpected death for one of the main characters) and, although the ultimate resolution could be accused of being a little too pat, there are enough thought-provoking moments along the way to make the film a worthwhile watch.