Titan A.E.
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Titan A.E. is a 2000 animated sci-fi space adventure movie from Fox Animation Studios and Twentieth Century Fox. The title refers to the fictional Titan spacecraft that is central to the plot, with A.E. meaning "After Earth".
The film's animation technique combines traditional hand-drawn animation and extensive use of computer generated imagery. The film is in color, running 94 minutes in length and is rated PG for action violence, mild sensuality, and brief language. Its working title was Planet Ice.
Plot
In the future, Earth is under attack by the Drej, aliens made of pure energy. The Drej mothership blows up the Earth with an energy beam as just a few shuttles (as well as the secret Titan ship with Sam Tucker aboard) manage to escape with the last of humankind aboard. One of the escapees is Sam's young son Cale, who carries with him a ring given him by Sam.
Fifteen years later, Cale works on a salvage station, ekeing out a rough life and hating his father for having disappeared aboard the Titan so long ago. Without a home planet, humans are constantly bullied and looked down on by other spacefaring races. A spacecraft captain named Korso and his pilot Akima, both human, seek out Cale and explain that he must help them find the Titan which holds a mechanism to save humanity. Meanwhile, however, the Drej want to find the Titan so that they can destroy it.
With Korso's help, Cale discovers that the ring his father gave to him contains a genetically encoded map to the Titan. Thus begins Cale's race across the universe with Korso and his ship and crew. But before long, Cale and Akima find out that Korso is searching for the Titan only with the purpose of handing it over to the Drej, and they narrowly escape him only to become stranded on a drifter station. The pair manage to repair one of the wrecked spacecraft on the station and use it to make their way to an ice field in which the Titan has been hidden.
Within the Titan, Cale and Akima discover that Cale's father had been one of the main architects in designing the craft. The designers, anticipating the destruction of the Earth, gave the Titan the ability to create a new planet and loaded it with the DNA of every living Earth species for the purpose of repopulating the new planet. Unfortunately, the ship's energy has been long since been drained and it will not start up.
Korso, finds and boards the Titan and confronts Cale and Akima, but after a brief battle he has a change of heart. The three then work together to defend the Titan against the impending Drej attack. They realize that the energy comprising the Drej ships may be used to power up the Titan's systems, and they work to bring the vessel online. Korso sacrifices himself in order to bridge a jammed circuit breaker just as the Drej mothership fires a destructive energy beam at the Titan. Channeling the beam's power into its system, the Titan powers up and drains all the Drej energy, destroying the enemy mothership while it creates a new planet.
The film ends with Akima and Cale standing upon their newly-created world. Akima wants to name it New Earth, while Cale suggests naming it "Planet Bob".
Cast and crew
- Cale Tucker: Matt Damon
- Akima: Drew Barrymore
- Korso: Bill Pullman
Other actors providing voices for the movie include Nathan Lane, John Leguizamo, Janeane Garofalo, and Tone Loc. The movie was directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman.
- Writer: Joss Whedon
Titan A.E. was not financially successful; after it made only $9,376,845 during its opening weekend, Fox Animation Studios was shut down. It is often listed with Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and Treasure Planet as an example of an animated science-fiction/fantasy movie that failed to attract an audience.