Battle For Terra Blu-ray Review

It isn’t often that a successfully executed science fiction film that is also an animated film fit for children. Battle for Terra is a unique film with a topical theme that seems more profound to me than anything said in the successful Star Trek revival. Certainly, there is no comparison as far as filmmaking is concerned, but beyond the spectacle there is more to think about in this animated family film. Essentially an alien invasion film like many live-action spectacle films from film history, Battle for Terra is from the view of the invaded. The big difference is that the invaded aren’t human, but the invaders are.

The alien planet provides a unique spectacle that is best imagined in animation, a beautiful world of creatures that float along like they are underwater. The dense atmosphere creates this light environment for the unique creatures of the beautifully vegetated environment. There are large whale-like creature flying through the air, and the intelligent life that has learned to live peacefully. The Terrians look like tadpoles with the stature of a seahorse and the tail of a mermaid. Their peaceful nature is seen as weakness by the dying human race, surviving in a large ship referred to as ‘the Arc.’ This spaceship is filled with the last of humans, who have destroyed Earth, and in a desperate attempt to claim the planet of Terra for their own, they attack the alien planet.

When the human ships begin descending, many of the natives assume that it is a God. They ignorantly expose themselves, though the wiser of the race know better. Young Mala (voiced by Evan Rachel Wood) watches as her father (Dennis Quaid) is taken, and is determined to find a way to get him back. Pursued by a spaceship, she manages to lose it in the familiarity of the terrain. The human ship crashes, but she rescues the pilot, Jim Stanton (Luke Wilson).

Through the forced time together and the several times that Mala risks endangering herself in order to protect him, Jim realizes how peaceful the race is. With the help of an entertaining sidekick robot (David Cross) that looks like a cross between WALL-E and a crab, Mala and Jim rebuild the ship in order to save all of Terra. While Mala must go against her own people in order to accomplish this, Jim is stuck between his brother’s blind belief in the military leadership of Gen. Hemmer (Brian Cox) and what he knows to be right. These conflicts make the film more complex, though it becomes slightly difficult to follow when all of these characters engage in an aerial battle at the film’s conclusion. The animation for the Terra planet and all inhabitants is beautiful, but some of the native Terrians look similar. The humans aren’t much better.

The weakest aspect of the animation, and the film, seems to be the construction of the humans. Humans look better cartoonish and embellished when animated. Whenever realism is attempted, things get awkward. These humans don’t look too realistic, but Jim is so massively large that it is wearing to hear Wilson’s voice. He does a good job, as do all of the voice actors, but his voice is too familiar to be on such a muscular cartoon with a square jaw and bald head. As spectacular as the animation is otherwise, the beauty of the work is brought out best by the film’s soundtrack. The score Abel Korzeniowski created for the film is engaging, just as creatively active as the science fiction narrative.

The Blu-ray includes a filmmaker’s commentary and the expected making-of featurette. There are also additional featurettes about the animation, includes a storyboard-to-final for one of the sequences from the film. There are also deleted scenes, but the highlight of the disc is the magnificent presentation of the magical world of Terra.