Titan A.E.

I first saw “Titan: A.E.” on a cruise ship (it was one of the movies you could watch for free in your cabin). I liked the movie but 10 years later and after studying film at the same university that director Don Bluth graduated from, the film has lost some of its appeal. The basic story is solid and the characters are well created & cast with some famous names. I have liked the movies of Bluth since I was a kid and we see him tackle a new genre with “Titan: A.E.”. I still like the movie today but I can see how its imperfections made it a flop at the box office.

After the success of “Anastasia”, it appears as though Bluth and co-director Gary Goldman set out to make a film on the other side of the spectrum. “Anastasia” was made for girls and “Titan A.E.” was made for boys. Another possible factor as to why this movie was made was that 20th Century Fox wanted to take advantage of the “Star Wars” fever that was surrounding “Episode I”. The film obviously mimics that blockbuster in terms of story. We have an everyman in space that has lost his father and he joins the crew of a ship consisting of a girl, a middle age captain and comedic aliens. The story of “Titan A.E.” also uses elements of Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey” just like George Lucas did when writing “Star Wars: Episode IV”. A hero is called on a quest. He may reject the call at first but must rise to the occasion as he faces task after task. An important portion of “The Hero’s Journey” that is missing from “Titan A.E.” is the elderly teacher. There is a lack of an Obi-wan Kenobi in this animated story. The movie does begin powerfully as we see the destruction of earth through the eyes of a child. Usually, the goal of our main characters in a sci-fi film is to save the earth. Even before we see the film’s title however, the earth is destroyed. I like the dramatic idea of trying to save the human race because they are becoming extinct living in space. The childhood fear of being lost is utilized in this movie. I also like how the Titan’s exact function is kept a mystery from the opening narration to the climax. As far as we know throughout most of the film, the Titan can save humanity by giving them a new home but exactly how it does that is withheld from us.

The characters, as mentioned, make the film entertaining. Cale is like Luke Skywalker with a little Han Solo thrown in there. While this makes him less relatable than Luke, it is original. The story is not only about a quest but about redemption. Cale has become selfish and uncaring because most of his life has been spent in tough environments where there are no humans. Another reason for his fallen state is the death of his father. The crew of the Valkyrie gives Cale friends that he never had before and a connection to his past, which starts him on the path to redemption. Matt Damon’s voice works for the character of Cale quite well as does Drew Barrymore’s for her character, Akima. In this movie, Bill Pullman is playing a tougher character than I am used to him playing so that is fresh. As the one who initiates Cale turning his life around, we don’t expect Korso to be a traitor to humanity’s survival. I personally did not see the revelation of Korso’s true motifs coming because it happens just after a big bonding moment between the two of them. The twist really makes you feel like there is no hope for our heroes. This scene however shows that Cale’s motivation to find the Titan was not fully reliant on Korso. Cale may at first wanted to pass on the quest to find the Titan and he may have lacked the heart that his quest required but even at the start of the movie, he never would have sold the Titan to the very race that destroyed his home & his father. The drifter colony is vital here story wise because Cale needs something to fill the role (however big it was) that Korso had. New Bangkok shows him why the Titan is worth fighting for. Cale is around a lot of humans for the first time in a long time and he sees how different they are from aliens. He sees the good in them and why the Drej are afraid of them. As a humorous side note, the Death Star is one of the ships that make up New Bangkok if you are looking. Once the Titan has been found and there is chance of victory, Korso changes his mind. The reasons aren’t all that clear as to why but I bet he is tired of the Drej backstabbing him and he sees hope that Cale’s plan will work. Another part of the story I like is that ironically, the Drej are used to create Planet Bob. The story required the Drej to be completely eliminated by the end and this was accomplished in a resolving way. By the way, I love the Planet Bob joke. It seems perfect for Cale’s character.

The movie failed at the box office for a number of reasons. One is that the movie has a great basic story but if the script was a little bit better and less attention were given to the look of the film, the relationships and character change of Cale would have felt more genuine. The romance on this film was not as well executed as on “Anastasia”. It appears that once the filmmakers had a solid foundation to build their story on, they focused more on the “outside” of the house than on the “inside”. The film looks amazing and the technology plays a big part in the value of this movie but the script & finer points of the story suffered. Special effects should support a story. Another reason is that the target audience was not clear for “Titan A.E.” For me, it appears to have been made for teenage boys but that is just my opinion. I bet others would disagree and that is the point. The biggest reason for me why the movie failed to make a profit is the lack of marketing. Other studios know how important it is to tell the public about the movie you have made and that word of mouth is not sufficient enough to generate the audiences you need. To be honest, the only advertisement of any kind that I can remember for “Titan A.E.” was a teaser trailer preceding “The Phantom Menace”. The next time I heard about this film was almost two years later on the aforementioned cruise ship.

This story of the making of this film appears to mimic that of “Avatar”. Once a filmmaker has his story, he focuses more on the appearance of the movie. Because of that, the movie is not as great as it could have been. What made all the difference for “Avatar” was that the target audience was understood and there was a lot of marketing. The target audience for “Avatar” was also the kind of people who would go nuts for a movie like “Avatar”. “Titan A.E.” has a lot of good points but the elements of the film that matter lack appeal. This film is good but it could have been great.

3.5 Stars