Titan A.E.

[James]

Any other Titan A.E fans out there?

http://io9.com/5973190/why-titan-ae-is- ... asterpiece

[Dan]

It's been a while since I last saw it, but I liked it a lot. I do agree that Titan A.E. is an underrated gem. In fact, I'm probably gonna go watch it again at some point.

[Randall]

Bluth, not being a sci-fi fan, had no idea how utterly derivative it was, so I'm forgiving of that potential criticism. It turned out pretty good, I thought. (The DVD had great picture and sound, too.)

[EricJ]

He'd gotten the job literally for having the last hit at Fox's animation studios (Anastasia), and the boardroom's hopes that that automatically Midas-touched him for saving the project's second or third overhaul.
I can appreciate that the Little Mermaid directors had a secret talent for space sci-fi with Disney's Treasure Planet, but there was no such secret hidden talent with the Troll in Central Park Guy that made him perfect for directing Joss Whedon scripts. What you saw in his other weird films was what you got.

[Bill1978]

I quite enjoyed Titan A.E. and think its a forgotten film in the world of animation. I thoroughly enjoyed it. my only gripe was some of the poor combining of cgi with cel animation. Other than day it was very good, I got caught up in the story line. And I have been known to show it when teachingthe solar system to make my students think about the whole what would we do where would we go if the world ended. At least I can sit through repeated viewings of this movie, unlike other animated films I won't mention.

[TitusTodd]

I also enjoyed Titan A.E. What I didn't much care for was some of the character design. Many of the aliens were just weird. Same complaint I have for Treasure Planet. I didn't realize that Joss Whedon was involved with the script at some point.

[Ben]

Eric's wrong (as usual)...

Bluth didn't get the job because he had directed the last "hit" for Fox Animation. Anastasia hadn't been that much of a hit, actually, and Bluth *was* Fox Animation: they set the unit up between them, Fox's Bill Mechanic providing the money, Bluth the people (mainly from his Sullivan Bluth Ireland studio).

"Planet Ice" was the name of the original project under director Art Vitello, had gone through multiple versions until Vitello left for whatever reasons (some say he got bored, some that Fox were unsure of the film). The unit was stagnant because the studio was waiting to see how well Anastasia performed but with so much tied up in Planet Ice they decided to go ahead with it with the only other director at the Arizona facility: Bluth, who reportedly wasn't too delighted to be directing a sci-fi film.

But there we are...he got put on it, and I think it's a very good film. I can't believe we don't have an official review here as I'm sure I would have done one! For a troubled production it came together quite well in the end - credit to Bluth and Gary Goldman - and I remember that is has the distinction of being the first digitally beamed film from a studio to a theater (although the details escape me now).

It's a quality script, with tradigital animation that matches (and sometimes bests) anything in Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Treasure Planet, which feel to me to be an unofficial "triptych" of films from around the same time, by artists of around the same age. The influences are clear, and the results are not always amazing, but always interesting.

Each has lots to recommend, but I'll never forget the perfect picture and booming sound when I saw Titan AE on a location break one evening when filming somewhere in the middle of nowhere. It was the perfect antidote to what we were doing and really re-charged the batteries!