Titan A.E.

Directed by: Don Bluth Gary Goldman Written by: Hans Bauer Randall McCormick Starring: Matt Damon Drew Barrymore Bill Pullman Nathan Lane Tone Loc Jim Breuer Jim Cummings Janeane Garofalo John Leguizamo David L. Lander Ron Perlman

It's the year 3043. Having been destroyed by the Drej, Earth no longer exists in Titan A.E., Fox Animation's latest attempt to undermine the animation giant that is Disney. Directed by ex-Mouse employees Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, it's a story set in a post-apocalyptic future where the vagabond remnants of Earth are adrift in waystations scattered across the cosmos. And humans are slowly becoming exstinct. But one man can change this: Cale (Matt Damon), almost twenty, who spends his days on Tau 14, a deep space mining colony - unaware that he possesses the secret to restoring humanity: his DNA is the key to locating the Titan, a long-lost ship that can create a new home world. Enter Korso (Bill Pullman), a Han-Solo type who lets Cale in on his destiny. Cale is slow to believe, and has a chip on his shoulder about being abandoned at a young age by his father, but sooner than you can you say "Drej attack", he's on Korso's ship, along with Akima (Drew Barrymore), Gune, Preed and other odd life-forms. After that, it's as the tagline says, "Get ready for the Human Race."

With a soundtrack designed to give the movie a Heavy Metal feel (Electrasy, Bliss, Lit), anime-influenced style (Akima, with her shapely figure, and purple bangs), and lots of sexual innuendo, Titan A.E. takes aim at a slightly older demographic than most animated fare. When a wounded, nude Cale is tended by Akima, we get lines like, "Probe? Where's that going?"

Technically, the film is a marvel, seemlessly mixing traditional 2-D animation with cutting edge CGI effects. The best sequence of the entire film is a game of cat-and-mouse in an ice-crystal belt in deep space. It's like nothing you've ever scene before. The film moves along quickly, helped along by some nifty rock montages. What ultimately keeps Titan A.E. from becoming an instant classic is a mediocre script - credited to three talented writers: The Tick creator Ben Edlund, Go scribe John August, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer honcho Joss Whedon - who could have done more with the material. Another complaint is the lack of epic feel to the film -- why not make it a little longer? Just because it is a cartoon does not mean it can only be 90 minutes long. The end product feels almost a little rushed, which seems ridiculous, since we've been seeing teasers for this movie since Phantom Menace.

All in all, it's a movie that any sci-fi or animation fan will enjoy, and probably want to own. I would say it's on par with Transformers: The Movie, a underrated film in my book. One can only hope that the DVD may contain extra footage, or deleted scenes to connect some of the scenes together better. Titan A.E., at the very least, is a step in a much needed direction.

The Verdict: (out of 10)     Art: 7    Entertainment: 9

- rafael.pujals@excite.com