Battle for Terra

The Common Room Other Animation
#1

I’m surprised no one has made a thread about this yet, seeing its release date is a little more than a month away (May 1st). Probably because it’s a sleeper and practically no one’s heard of it, though it has some pretty big names in its voice cast, like Evan Rachel Wood (The Wrestler), Chris Evans (Push), Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon series), David Cross (Kung Fu Panda!), Justin Long (the Mac guy) and Dennis Quaid (Vantage Point). I’m quite surprised they managed to rope in this many celebrities and not make a big deal about it.

Anyway, I discovered it today while wandering through the Apple trailers and clicked on it thinking it will be some low-budget sci-fi epic wannabe along the likes of Clone Wars and Delgo, but boy was I wrong!

I’d advise you watch the trailer first, then return to read the rest of my thoughts so you can judge it for yourself.

Trailer

Done? Okay, good.

Firstly, it does share some plot similarities with Delgo and even Pocahantas in terms of love against all odds between warring races (one of the humans grows to like the aliens and falls for one of them) and the conquest of nations by stronger powers. But the similarities end there, because what made it intriguing was that this may be the first film to actually make humans the villains against aliens (at least to my knowledge)!

There’s also the Sony Animation release Planet 51 coming up which shares the same concept of humans as the invading force, but Terra looks less kiddish and light-hearted, rather, it’s more serious and thought-provoking. The humans in particular interest me cos they’re sort of desperate for survival, so there’s that blurring between good and evil. You can read this any way you want, as a criticism of recent US conflict policies or war in general, a take on the inevitable greed and selfishness of mankind, or just a fun sci-fi adventure romp.

Some aspects also reminded me of Wall-E, like humans trashing their home planet and heading to space, and 1:19 in particular (you’ll know it when you see it :wink:). There’s also a neat Star Wars reference (“It’s a trap!”).

I’m as excited for this as I am for 9, as I always like to see the boundaries of animation being pushed not only as a medium (please don’t say it’s a genre or I’ll get real angry! :stuck_out_tongue:) for storytelling, but also in terms of the level of sophistication that can also be enjoyed by adults. Who knows, we may be underestimating kids and they may understand the deeper undercurrents beneath this film, so it’s great that it’s presented as a cartoon to attract a wider demographic.

What do you guys think? Potential cult classic, box-office flop, both? :smiley:

Oh, and did anyone notice the irony in the title? Terra is latin for… you guessed it! :wink:

Battle for Terra
#2

Taking into account the fact that I work at a cinema, I have the unique opportunity to walk in on films during breaks so as to catch trailers and the like. It just so happened that, when I went in to a showing of the “Jonas Brothers” film, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the Up teasers, a trailer for a production called Battle for Terra began to play…

It did look quite interesting, both in design and in plot. The very fact that the human race is portrayed as a potential threat against a neighboring alien colony certainly twists the circumstances (or, the story, rather) signifcantly, and I hope that it’s done well.

My only qualm about this feature is that it includes a bucketload of well-known actors in the business. Why is it that studios are under the impression that such individuals will enhance the quality of the story, unless the people they chose suit their characters and are there for a purpose? Oh well. That’s just my two cent’s worth. (heh)

Ha! They couldn’t resist! I noticed the possible reference to WALL-E, as well. (snigger)

Ha-ha! You along with one other individual… :laughing: :wink:

– Mitch

#3

I saw the trailer for this and I am thinking this might turn out to be an okay movie, however, I think there will be those people who will criticize this movie due to its similarity to Star Wars.

I might go watch it if it is intresting enough or if I have nothing else to watch at the movies.

#4

Looks pretty weird… I saw the trailer at Monsters vs. Aliens…

I think the whole battle thing is really going to drive people crazy in 3D. Too much information at once you know? Basic story (it seems) and yes a very real visual connection to the animated star wars… not my cup of tea

#5

The animation didn’t impress me all that much. Yeah, it had flashy colors and odd-looking aliens, but so did Space Chimps.

Too me, it looks like just another critique on American advances on other countries and another stereotype of us doing it because we like guns and only think of ourselves. In other words, I’m not looking forward to it. I can’t even seem to explain it…but it feels like just another “Oh the human race is horrible and we’re so selfish and we’d kill the innocent just to get what we want! Except for us, we’re righteous because we made this movie to reveal that fact!” movie. I mean, really. I highly doubt that we would attack some random planet for any other reason then plot exposition. Come on! Wouldn’t be FASTER to go to the so-called peaceful planet and be like “Uh, hi, the key to our species survival is in your planet, so could we borrow it for a sec?” If the species is so peaceful then they probably wouldn’t mind. COMMON SENSE! Or did whatever destroyed Earth knock that out of all the survivors?

And the concept doesn’t even seem that original. Think:

  1. The whole “last humans” was stolen from Star Trek.
  2. The key to Earth’s survival and war with another planet…what science fiction movie ISN’T that in!?!
  3. The aliens…I don’t know, they just give me the feeling I’ve seen something very much like them before. They aren’t all that dramatic anyway.
#6

Are you implying something about the Clone Wars here? o_0

#7

That’s pretty much the ‘hook’ I’m looking forward to in this movie.

Easy. Star Power = Big $$$

It’s much more difficult to promote a film on story alone than to add a famous voice cast to draw the fans in. That’s why Dreamworks always does that photo comp where a voice actor interacts with his animated persona against a white background in the promotional pics. Have you seen those? They’ve been doing that same format ever since Bee Movie I think (maybe even earlier with Shrek, although I can’t recall).

TSS - It’s not exactly a must-see for me either, but I’ll see if my friends are interested. If there’s a remote chance they’re free and there’s nothing on, we might go see it.

carlfredricksen - Crazy good or crazy bad!? Wait, I guess the latter according to your next sentence. Well, fair enough.

Rac_Rules - I guess you can say the character design resembles Delgo, which does not bode well for ‘fence-sitters’.

I don’t really think they’re out to condemn any one nation in particular or even the human race. They’re just presenting a topic which is relevant in this era of mistrust and cynicism, and asking the viewers to form their own opinion on it, which I fully support. We need to be able to discuss issues like colonialisation and the invasion of foreign countries for resources, because these are very pertinent to our society today. The human race has always been the most greedy and selfish species on the planet, but it is these follies and traits which make us human. The best we can do is to try to reduce these undesirable qualities, and one way is to have such a film highlight this shortcoming.

We also don’t know whether the humans in the movie were the aggressors, maybe the aliens provoked them in a preemptive defense, or refused the human’s request for resources…

As for bearing similarities to other movies, I can’t deny that. You’ve probably seen similar themes discussed in Planet of the Apes, The Fifth Element, and Pocahantas. The only reason I’m intrigued is that the humans are the bad guys for once.

DocKenobi - Yup, I’m saying that as a big-budget entertainment spectacle, Clone Wars comes up a bit short. I’m making a prejudgement on the movie, but based on the reviews, I guess I wouldn’t be too far off. I’ll come up with a final assessment when I actually do knuckle down to seeing it, but I’ve seen a few episodes of the TV series, and was not really impressed (I mean, do we need more of Jar Jar Binks?)

#8

Clone Wars wasn’t a big budget entertainment spectacle though. It was 4 Tv episodes compressed together to form a movie. They were made specifically to air on TV as individual episodes, but Warner Bros. wanted a movie to launch the series. Was The Clone Wars a good movie? No. Was it unfairly judged? Yes. It shoudl have stayed on TV, although I’ll admit even then, it wasn’t as good as the episodes later in the show. The show is quite awesome though. If you’ve only seen the Jar Jar episodes, yeah, you wouldn’t be impressed, but he’s only in 4, and the ones without him, especailly the later episodes are extremely good. I’d recommend watching them to give a fair assessment of the show.

OT: The movie definitely looks interesting, and I like the slightley darker edge, but I got to say this one looks like it’ll be a cult classic at best, considering the small amoutn of marketing its getting.

#9

DocKenobi: Fair enough. :slight_smile: I think I should give Clone Wars a second chance, thanks for the recommendation! I see you’re a SW fan by the way, username’s a dead giveaway. :smiley:

#10

Uhh…

What about the Kuku bird, who knocks out another bird’s eggs out of it’s nest an then forces the other bird to raise it’s young?

Or the species of shark in which the first developed eats the other young in it’s mothers womb?

Or the snail that does something similar?

Humans, unlike other animals, do have the intelligence to know right from wrong. Most wouldn’t attack others without trying to negotiate first. And from what I can tell, the aliens are portrayed as perfect and nice while the humans are portrayed as practical monsters, except for one who helps the other side cause he’s the only good person yadda yadda yadda clique clique clique…

#11

You mean cliche cliche cliche?
Sorry I have to be the annnoying spelling cop. :slight_smile:

Well, fair enough. You’re entitled to your opinion, so we’ll agree to disagree. :slight_smile:

#12

I finally saw the trailer. It actually looks pretty cool. I hope I get to see it in 3-D. :slight_smile:

#13

Ack, I thought I did a search for this before making a new thread. Sorry about that, guys. -_-

Anyways, I’m a sci-fi geek, so it’s got my attention, but I think I’ll wait for reviews on this one to see if it’s gonna be a preachy junkfest disguised as a sci-fi, or a good movie that happens to have a message. I may end up only having enough movie money to see Up the required at last 2 times in May, though. xD;

The trailer makes me more skeptic though, honestly. A. kinda getting sick at being preached to, and it’s an evo-parable all right. B. the animation doesn’t please me much… except the robot looks cool.

#14

What is this film about???

#15

TS2 - This film’s about a bunch of peace-loving aliens who live on a distant planet, and how a visiting human colony, in a bid to survive, invade and exterminate them for their resources.

Or you can read the Wiki one-sentence summary here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_for_Terra

To all those who question why the humans couldn’t just ask the aliens for the oxygen (the precious resource) I read on IMDB somewhere that there was a catch to it. Something like the machine they used to produce oxygen from the planet’s atmosphere would release gases harmful to the indigenous inhabitants. So it’s an either/or, and to survive, the humans have to pretty much kill the aliens.

Of course, I’m willing to bet they were being hasty and that there’s probably some form of compromise they’ll discover (“Oh! The toxic gas is not really poisonous after all!” or “Oh! There’s some way to recycle it back to make it harmless!”).

But it’s still an intriguing premise. Would you destroy another race/species if it mean the survival of your own?

It opens this week, by the way. Though judging from the lack of publicity, it’ll probably bomb undeservedly. :frowning:

#16

I’m definitely on the fence with this one.

Half the reviews I’ve found were positive, the other half negative. And the design for the aliens really throws me off, but I figured if there’s a good enough story I could look past it…
Or I could just watch it to see the 9 trailer on the big screen : P

But really, if any of you guys watch Terra let us all know how it is! I don’t particularly trust those on IMDB xD

#17

Well, Terra has been released in the U.S. on Friday alongside stronger contenders like Wolverine and Ghosts of Girlfriend Past, something of a ‘death by summer release’ suicide, if you ask me. It would have had a better following if it was released in the Spring or Fall season. But now? It pretty much didn’t stand a chance. :frowning:

In Rotten Tomatoes Box-Office Guru wrapup’s words:

“Crashing and burning with the worst opening of 2009 for a wide release was the animated sci-fi film Battle for Terra which stumbled to an estimated $1.1M from 1,162 theaters for a pitiful $916 average. The PG-rated film from Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate tells the story of humans trying to conquer a new planet for their survival. Moviegoers found no reason to pay top dollar to see this on the big screen.”

The Anton-Egos of the film world have delivered it a 47% rating, which is Rotten on the Tomatometer scale.

IMDB (which is more representative of the public opinion) reviewers were more generous, awarding it a 7.3/10 rating.

It saddens me that people would rather watch a sequel to a long drawn-out superhero franchise, or another Matthew McCounaghey romcom, than give thought-provoking indy animated films like this a chance. Yes, it boasts ugly looking character designs (one IMDB member imaginatively referred to them as “mini Voldemorts”, and I wholeheartedly agree) and less-than-Pixar/Dreamworks quality rendering. But as an honest effort to reinvigorate the sci-fi genre, and a directorial debut for a Canadian visual effects artist (Aristomenis Tsirbas) and a first-time theatrical release for a small-time studio (MeniThings Productions), this film deserves a bigger audience than its measely 9th ranking on the B.O. charts.

I guess the RT consensus sums it up best:

“Despite its earnest aspirations to be a thought-provoking sci-fi alternative, Battle for Terra lacks both a cohesive story and polished visuals, and fails to resonate.”

What do you guys think? Did anyone watch it? I for one, would, if it was out here, cos’ frankly I’m not interested in Wolverine much, and Star Trek only opens this Thursday.

#18

I saw this the other day. It was really good! 3 and a half stars out of four! :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :smiley: :smiley:

#19

Oh I went and saw it anyways despite being “on the fence”…

I don’t have a lot to say, though I will say it was split down the middle for me. It was on to something! It had a lot of potential to be more than it was. The director (his name escapes me!) stated that the original plan was for it to be live action but frankly I don’t think switching to animation made it any better.

And then there was the cliche side of it; half of the lines I know I’ve heard somewhere, for one… I don’t know WHAT they were doing in those 15 years of planning for this film. Even the ending which I accidentally spoiled for myself, I expected it to be like BAM
but even that wasn’t done decently.

Okay, I guess I had some things to say :stuck_out_tongue:
I really like the premise and I do appreciate the intentions of something more thought provoking, I just wish they had executed it better.

I’m really disappointed with the box office income though! I know the trailer was off-putting but just a million? Golly…

#20

That’s good to hear, TAMATER. Glad you enjoyed it.

Pretty much what I’d expect, Kolya. As much as I’d like to give it the benefit of the doubt, I’m probably going to share the same sentiments, judging by the trailers and clips. I mentioned the director in my last post :wink: (Aristomenis Tsirbas), but I don’t blame you since his name’s not exactly easy to pronounce to begin with. 15 years in production!?! :open_mouth: That’s milleniums in production time!

Well, for anyone who’s interested, here’s the official website, which has some truly spectacular site intros, and the character bios are worth a read. Besides the suspicious rover bot Giddy who looks like a recent Pixar character, our main protagonist shares the same last name as the director of that particular Pixar movie… :wink: Figured it out yet? Terra’s hero’s name is [spoil]Lt. Jim Stanton[/spoil]!

Terra has dropped out of the Top Ten altogether, after just 10 days of release. It coughed up a measly $1,528,000 domestic gross, according to Box Office Mojo. Shame, really. :neutral_face: