The Boston Globe 

June 16, 2000, Friday ,THIRD EDITION 

SECTION: ARTS; Pg. C9 

LENGTH: 537 words 

HEADLINE: MOVIE REVIEW TITAN A.E. Animation directed by: Don Bluth and Gary 
Goldman Screenplay by: Ben Edlund, John August, Josh Whedon With the voices of: 
Matt Damon, Bill Pullman, John Leguizamo, Nathan Lane, Janeane Garofalo, Drew 
Barrymore, Ron Perlman, Alex D. Linz, Tone-Loc, Jim Breuer At: Copley Place, 
suburbs Running time: 95 minutes Rated: PG (action violence, brief sensuality, 
and brief language); 
VISUAL PUNCH ANIMATES SCI-FI TALE 'TITAN A.E.' 

BYLINE: By Jay Carr, Globe Staff 

BODY: 
   After years of leaving full-length animated sci-fi to Japanese anime, 
Hollywood fields a good-looking entry in "Titan A.E." In fact, it's been years 
since Don Bluth and his forces have turned out anything this snazzy. Its young 
protagonist's heroics, pitched at preteens, are pretty standard. But the visuals 
are terrific in this story of humanity fighting for a second chance after a 
malevolent super-race known as the Drej wipes Earth out, but not before a 
scientist blasts off in the globe-shaped spaceship that gives the film its name, 
having already dispatched his young son in a different escape craft. 

"Titan A.E." echoes "Star Wars" in more than a few respects, from its spaceships 
disappearing into warp drive to its Luke Skywalker-like hero, Cale, grown into 
young manhood, working a lowly job on a salvage station, not realizing that he 
holds the key to humankind's survival. A few zaps later, he's hurtling across 
space with an older space veteran, Korso, in a crate piloted by a hot-rodding 
young woman, Akima, right out of the world of anime. Matt Damon voices Cale with 
just the right mix of surliness, idealism, and naivete, while Drew Barrymore is 
a persuasively spirited and autonomous character who gives teen girls someone 
with whom to identify. 

   Bill Pullman's Korso is the most interestingly layered character (John 
Leguizamo, Nathan Lane, and Janeane Garofalo voice the crew members), but the 
film is too busy maintaining forward motion to spend much time probing anyone's 
dark side. The three earthlings have their differences, but the smartly paced 
film doesn't get bogged down in them. It pushes on, trying to beat the Drej to 
the hidden Titan, the location of which is contained in a genetically encoded 
map that Cale never knew he harbored. There's treachery, and a galaxy full of 
narrow escapes and dogfights with Drej probe ships. 

Imagine the insect-like title-roleist from "Alien," looking like a blue gas 
flame. That's the Drej, pure energy, all focused. They give "Titan A.E." visual 
punch, but where the film really comes into its computer-generated own is in the 
various worlds the human underdogs visit. "Titan A.E." peaks when the space 
guerrillas touch down on one planet with trees that release hydrogen bubbles 
that amount to floating bombs, and especially in another planet of giant ice 
crystals. Their slow motion and zero-gravity shattering when something hits them 
is hypnotic, and their highly reflective surfaces add a hall-of-mirrors tension 
to the showdown. 

Damon, Pullman, and Barrymore impart tanginess to their literally and 
figuratively two-dimensional characters. The 2-D rendering is a stylistic tie to 
anime, but the computer-generated 3-D environments through which Bluth and his 
collaborators propel them are original and first-rate. Although the rock 
soundtrack seems mostly like insipid pandering to the teen demographic, the 
soundtrack becomes arrestingly interesting and creative in its use of Tuvan 
throat singers to supply the voices of the Drej and, later, in the sounds of the 
ice crystals straining and cracking. On balance, the delivery system here feels 
fresh, the content rather less so. Still, "Titan A.E." is a space shot worth 
taking. 

GRAPHIC: PHOTO, Animated characters Cale (left) and Akima flee a deadly pursuer 
in "Titan A.E."