Titan A.E. (2000)

Watched once before.
Watched 20110601 (Netflix, Instant)
Watched 20130830 (Netflix, Instant) (Streaming until 20130901)
Titan A.E. (2000) Don Bluth, Gary Goldman. 94 min.

Cale Tucker (Matt Damon) is captured by Akima's beauty.

Relevant Links:
Titan A.E. (IMDb.com)
Titan A.E. (Wikipedia.org)
Titan A.E. (RottenTomatoes.com)

20110601:
This movie was alright, but the CGI often felt out of place. Speaking of which, I also thought the first song was out of place, but most of the movie's other songs were either alright or good.

Akima (Drew Barrymore)

On a different note, there wasn't much development of the romance between the characters Cale and Akima. In general, the movie isn't well polished.

In comparison, after I made the above comments, I learned the consensus on Rotten Tomatoes was "Great visuals, but the story feels like a cut-and-paste job of other sci-fi movies."

I saw this movie before, but prior to watching it today, I had absolutely no memory of the plot. There's nothing memorable about the movie. I once saw Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), and though I only have a vague memory of it, I'd say this movie has a similar overall quality and movie tropes.

Captain Joseph Korso (Bill Pullman)

I'd sooner recommend watching other movies before watching Titan A.E.. For science-fiction there's Star Trek (2009), District 9 (2009), and Avatar (2009). For 2D animation there's The Secret of NIMH (1982) and The Iron Giant (1999). With that being said, Titan A.E. is a good movie.

On a different note, I was curious about where this movie stands in terms of using CGI and managed to find a Wikipedia page titled Timeline of computer animation in film and television. Toy Story (1995) was the first CGI feature-length animation.

Cale getting lunch from the cafeteria.

Credits:
End credits start with the lead roles and little biographies of the characters.

The remaining credits roll over a still backdrop of stars in space.

At first I referred to some objects in the movie (in my instant comments) as "icebergs" but then changed it to "ice crystals." Apparently, this is what the movie makers call them in the credits! The credits read:
3D ANIMATION
ICE CRYSTALS AND WAKE ANGELS SEQUENCES BY
PERSISTENCE OF VISION DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT
&
REALITY CHECK STUDIOS

Left to right: Captain Korso, Cale, Gune, and Preed.

There's also:
3D ANIMATION
CREATION OF THE NEW WORLD BY
BLUE SKY STUDIOS, INC.
I recall Blue Sky Studios is the company that handled Rio (2011). The Wikipedia page for Blue Sky Studios says they did Ice Age (2002), Robots (2005), Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006), Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! (2008), Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), and Rio (2011).

3D ANIMATION
ADDITIONAL CGI ANIMATION AND EFFECTS BY
RHONDA GRAPHICS

The Gaoul help Cale use the map in his ring.

[20110601][20130830 Edited]

Instant Comments:
Those first 6 minutes get across a lot. The sound for this movie is awesome (I'm listening through headphones).
The semi-3Dish appearance of the movie is both interesting and confusing.
At 16 minutes, those alien or robot looking things look pretty cool.
I didn't really like the first song, but the second song was appropriate.
Lol I put a button on it, but I'm not sure what it would do.
Cale's quite good with devices. We see him fix the ship and the hologram.

Gune

The music that plays during the visit to the Ghuls is more what of what I'd rather hear. I guess it's more traditional. The previous rock music was okay, because at least that was instrumental. Reminds me of the rock music that plays in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, the game.
Lol, "An intelligent guard, didn't see that one coming."
Matt Damon has the most distinguishable voice. I can sort of detect Drew Barrymore's voice.
I enjoyed the short montage of them fixing/rebuilding the ship.
This part o the movie, with all the ice crystals is where the "3D" animation works really well.
"Who's your daddy? Goon's your daddy!"
It's ironic, the aliens met their demise by seeking to avoid it.

Cale comes in to talk to Akima.
Her room is full of objects from Earth's past.


20130830:
While I was writing some other blog posts with this movie in the background, I watched enough of the movie to retract my previous statement about the CGI graphics: "the CGI often felt out of place."

However, I still believe that while the visuals are great, the story is loose and lacking.

Captain Korso talking with a Drej.


Instant Comments:
I never realized you should exhale if you were in the situation of being in space without a spacesuit. Apparently you'll only have between 10 and 15 seconds to return to a pressurized and oxygenated environment, but the alternative is to die by having your lungs explode.
"An intelligent guard. Didn't see that one coming." Ha! That's a good point. Usually guards are so dumb. Apparently this is how a smart guard would react.
Interestingly, it seemed more like Cale was trying to chase the creatures than the creatures were chasing the ship. But perhaps they have quick reaction times and the movement is like a futuristic version of dolphins swimming along a naval ship.

Akima aboard the Titan.

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