Don Bluth Retrospective Series: 'Titan A.E.' (2000)
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Akima: You can't call a planet "Bob."
Cale: So now you're the boss. You're the King of Bob.
Akima: Can't we just call it "Earth"?
Cale: No one said you have to live on Bob.
Akima: I'll never call it that.
Legendary ex-Disney animator Don Bluth’s independent animation career began in 1982 with his first film, The Secret of NIMH, and he enjoyed success and notoriety with several other animated films throughout the 1980’s, such as An American Tail (1986), The Land Before Time (1988), and All Dogs Go To Heaven (1989). His career as a director, however, faded to a close with Titan A.E. (2000), although Bluth has been vague about whether he would ever direct another animated feature. As of 2023, Bluth’s longtime collaborator Gary Goldman was seeking financing for an animated film adaptation of Dragon’s Lair (1983), a laser-disc-based arcade game animated by Bluth. While Titan A.E. was neither critically nor commercially successful, the film deserves some recognition, especially with its interesting twists on the concepts of Noah’s Ark and even Project Genesis from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982).
In Titan A.E. (A.E. stands for “After Earth”), these concepts take the form of a massive advanced prototype spaceship known as the Titan, whose vast storage space contains the means for creating a new Planet Earth after Earth is mercilessly destroyed. The remainder of humanity is scattered throughout the galaxy by an advanced malevolent alien civilization called the Drej (beings of pure energy) in the 31st Century. During the rush to evacuate Earth amidst the Drej’s genocidal assault, the Titan is spirited away by its creator, Sam Tucker (Ron Perlman), and hidden away somewhere in the galaxy, while his son, Cale, is taken by friends to safety.
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The film’s main plot revolves around Sam’s son, Cale (Matt Damon) who unknowingly has a genetically encoded map in his right hand, which contains the hidden location of the Titan. When the Drej start hunting him fifteen years later because of his knowledge of the location of the Titan, Cale joins Captain Korso (Bill Pullman), who also comes looking for him. The human Akima (Drew Barrymore), the alien Preed (Nathan Lane), the kangaroo-like alien Stith (Janeane Garofalo), and the turtle-like alien Gune (John Leguizamo) round out the rest of the motley crew aboard Korso’s ship, the Valkyrie. Together, they race the Drej to attempt to find the legendary vessel, which is the key to humanity’s survival.
The film’s score was composed by Graeme Revell, who took on the role after Harry Gregson-Williams, Hans Zimmer, and John Powell turned the job down. However, the real strength of its soundtrack lies with the alternative rock vocal tracks featured in the film, including tracks from Lit (Over My Head), The Urge (It’s My Turn To Fly), Bliss (Not Quite Paradise), Luscious Jackson (Down To Earth), and Jamiroquai (Everybody’s Going to the Moon). The late Chris Cornell, along with Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider, wrote another song for the film, Heart of Honey, which was not used but can still be heard online.
Of note, Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly) was one of the co-writers working on the film. Animation for the film, which was a blend of hand-drawn animation and early CGI, was completed by several studios, including Fox Animation Studios, 20th Century Fox, David Kirschner Productions, and Blue Sky. The film also has the distinction of being the first major film transmitted digitally via the internet directly to the projector at its preview screening on June 6, 2000, never once touching film.
As previously mentioned, the film was both a critical and commercial failure, causing 20th Century Fox to close its Arizona-based animation studio after only two films (the other being Anastasia). A planned videogame, advertised during the film’s end credits, was canceled due to the film’s poor box office performance. The film, which cost a staggering 75 million dollars to make, only earned back 22 million dollars, less than a quarter of the cost.
The film currently sits at 50% on the Tomatometer and 61% on the Popcornmeter. One of the most cited criticisms of the film was that it was too highly derivative of other science-fiction films, though the film is still often praised for its visuals, which are indeed quite breathtaking. The official trailer for the film can be viewed here:
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Sources: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes
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