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Post by Dan E. Moderator on Jan 27, 2019 21:35:44 GMT
This Week: Titan A.E. Chosen by: MeleeMonk Released: 2000 Starring: Matt Damon, Bill Pullman, Drew Barrymore, Nathan Lane, John Leguizamo, Janeane Garofalo Director: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman Producer: David Kirschner, Don Bluth, Gary Goldman Writer: Ben Edlund, John August, Joss Whedon, Hans Bauer, Randall McCormick |
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Balder
Supreme Overlord
Trying to cut down the amount of movies I watch
Posts: 6,827 
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Post by Balder on Jan 28, 2019 19:01:08 GMT
Eh... Can't watch it anywhere.
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MeleeMonk
Cartoon Pony Wrangler
Part-time gamer, full-time environmentalist, and member of PAPO (People Against Palm Oil)
Posts: 3,651
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Post by MeleeMonk on Jan 29, 2019 1:00:15 GMT
This is the only Don Bluth film that I enjoy or respect. Don Bluth is IMO one of the most overrated animation directors of all time and was never anything more than a Dinsey clone in my eyes. Even as a kid most of his films meant nothing to me. An American Tale was boring and depressing as hell, and I don't even remember anything about A Land Before Time even though I know for a fact that I saw it as a kid (we owned the VHS).
Titan A.E., however, is the exception. This film felt genuinely ambitious and came out at a time when we got a slew of some really ambitious animated films like Final Fantasy The Spirits Within and The Triplets of Belleville, to name a few, not to mention awesome japanese anime like The Animatrix, the aforementioned Final Fantasy Spirits Within and Metropolis, among others. Titan A.E. is one of the few mainstream american animated films that featured both realistically drawn human beings and blood; you can probably count the number of them on just one hand. Despite this the film only received a PG rating and to make matters worse also had very inconsistent art direction with cartoony-looking aliens clashing with the realistic looking human characters, which detracted from the adult-feel of the story.
Titan A.E. was a total bomb commercially and despite some positive reviews from a few well-respected film critics like Roger Ebert, it was largely overlooked, which I think is a shame because it's really a respectable film overall. Aside from the ambitious visuals, there were also no musical numbers like in most american animated films of that time, which is an absolute blessing as far as I'm concerned. There's also no significant comedy in the film and while the story is generic sci-fi fare, the dialogue and characters are well written. The soundtrack is also quite good.
Overall, I'm torn between giving it a 4/5 or a 5/5, since it does have some noticable annoyances but I absolutely love its ambition. I rated it a 4/5 the other day, so I guess I'll stick with that for now but in terms of just ambition it's easily a 5/5. You just don't see american animation like this very often, and I'm glad it was made.
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Balder
Supreme Overlord
Trying to cut down the amount of movies I watch
Posts: 6,827
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Post by Balder on Aug 14, 2021 11:45:22 GMT
Wow what a boring ass film.
"Titan A.E., what a titanic failure. The only thing that is impressive about this movie is how much it reminds me of the much superior Treasure Planet, but in contrast to that movie, this movie only missteps every step of the film. Both movies are early examples of mixing CGI and traditional 2D animation. One pulls it off masterfully, while this movie makes it look jarring in every single scene, especially when the scene is rotating. Every single character is an uninspired mess. Their backstories are non-existent and their motivations are questionable at best. Even the villains are boring as hell. The story of rebuilding Earth and humanity could have been fun, but it is executed in the worst possible manner that reminds me of McGuffin chasing in the newest Star Wars movie. The soundtrack is a product of its time, but it has not held up. I get that this movie is somewhat ambitious for its time, that said however, who gives a shit when the end result is this poor? What a complete failure of a film that was eclipsed by a much superior movie that was not a commercial success but lived on as a cult classic." 1.5/5
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Dlotn
Strong Wing
One of my biggest regrets: Making trades and bets with Balder
Posts: 214
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Post by Dlotn on Sept 2, 2021 20:23:56 GMT
A friend of mine told me I should watch this and I am glad I did. I didn't think this movie was great, but I really enjoyed it. Some scenes looked absolutely stunning with it's space scenery and I would still say some of it holds up extremely well even now, but there are also a lot that looks very incomplete and jankey. I have not seen a lot of Don Bluth's films, it looks like he was trying something different with his animated movies which I respect. Looking forward to check some other of his films. 3/5 (closer to 3.5 then 2.5)
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