Comment Religious Overplanning (Score 1) 317
I felt disappointed after seeing the movie, but not for the same reasons as Mr. Katz. The fact that Titan A.E. was executed in animation form rather than live action set two expectations of mine:
1. The focus is on effects and action rather than subtle human emotion.
2. Nothing will feel spontaneous; everything will be planned, debated, executed and re-executed to present the story.
While I appreciate a cerebral film, I also get enjoyment from films that are no more intellectual than riding on a roller coaster for an hour and a half. My expectation was that I really expected Titan A.E. to be an engaging, science-fiction, Space-Mountian-like coaster ride akin to Aliens, Terminator II, Star Trek II, or The Last Starfighter.
I can't say that I expected intellectual or emotional stimulation, but as the frames flew before my eyes I really felt that in spite of the fast pace, the exhaustive pre-planning needed for this cartoon had done more to lobotomize, sanitize, and neutralize the "vision" of the film than it had given it extra life.
I didn't find what WAS rendered onscreen to be problematic as what was NOT rendered.
The movie sets up a tale very similar to that of Jesus Christ. A god-like father entrusts his son with a special gift and destiny. The son is cast out of the father's presence and is forced to dwell among men as an outsider. Through the his father's gift and the betrayal of his friends, the son is finally able to fulfill his destiny as the saviour of mankind.
The film has enough similarities to the story of Jesus that it becomes frustrating that certain elements were not addressed. Rather than address the issues that the writers themselves raise, they use their careful construction and planning to avoid generating any controversy or homage to the tale. It was obvious that what WAS presented on screen was very meticulously studied, debated, screened with test audiences, worked and re-worked to come up with an entertaining story, but why use the strong Christ-like story elements and then leave their usage ambiguous and unresolved. Why did the story end where it did? It wasn't clear whether the roller coaster ride was set in a story that was supposed to be a homage to Jesus or to be a Dogma/Good Omens sci-fi romp through religious tales.
I really enjoyed the roller coaster ride of shooting battles and space fights, but because the creators had made so much of a reference to religious issues I kept looking for things to be presented on screen that either never appeared or were so uncontroversialy and blandly presented that there presence was simply boring.
Also on the subject of religion... I was very disappointed that they named they named their movie with a name that's absolutely loaded with mythological significance but never proferred any reason that the characters in the movie would have used the term Titan as they did. A religious term without any real reason for it to be there.
One of the major plot points that was left unexplained in the movie was exactly what it was that humankind did to get the attention of the Drej to start their holocaust against humanity. A friend who saw it with me claimed that it was because mankind built the Titan that the Drej thought they should be eliminated. I find this to be unsatisfying that the Titan was built to save mankind from alien extinction and hence causes the extinction in the first place. I find the circurlar nature of this explanation silly, and long for ANY other rationale. The psuedo-explanation which was given was that the Drej wanted to destroy mankind because of the potential of what mankind was capable of doing.
The psuedo-explanation fits in well with the religious references, i.e. that it is the ineffible nature of original sin that the condemns man to eternal death and it is through the deeds of the son that saves mankind from persecution and death. It's just that as set up as a sci-fi story you long for a more clear cut explanation: mankind breaking the warp barrier, mankind making interstellar contact, mankind gaining control over the transformation of matter and energy (as the Drej clearly have control of).
At the end of the movie, I could see the enormous effort that the creators had put in to make this movie. But it was also clearly evident that their own efforts at self-censorship had lobotomized the film of any interesting or controversial questions.
I went into the movie expecting a nice roller coaster ride. I came out having witnessed a nice roller coaster ride. I saw exactly what I expected I'd see, but I hope that it's clear how the movie had the potential to go further than it did and how it misled my expectations.
1. The focus is on effects and action rather than subtle human emotion.
2. Nothing will feel spontaneous; everything will be planned, debated, executed and re-executed to present the story.
While I appreciate a cerebral film, I also get enjoyment from films that are no more intellectual than riding on a roller coaster for an hour and a half. My expectation was that I really expected Titan A.E. to be an engaging, science-fiction, Space-Mountian-like coaster ride akin to Aliens, Terminator II, Star Trek II, or The Last Starfighter.
I can't say that I expected intellectual or emotional stimulation, but as the frames flew before my eyes I really felt that in spite of the fast pace, the exhaustive pre-planning needed for this cartoon had done more to lobotomize, sanitize, and neutralize the "vision" of the film than it had given it extra life.
I didn't find what WAS rendered onscreen to be problematic as what was NOT rendered.
The movie sets up a tale very similar to that of Jesus Christ. A god-like father entrusts his son with a special gift and destiny. The son is cast out of the father's presence and is forced to dwell among men as an outsider. Through the his father's gift and the betrayal of his friends, the son is finally able to fulfill his destiny as the saviour of mankind.
The film has enough similarities to the story of Jesus that it becomes frustrating that certain elements were not addressed. Rather than address the issues that the writers themselves raise, they use their careful construction and planning to avoid generating any controversy or homage to the tale. It was obvious that what WAS presented on screen was very meticulously studied, debated, screened with test audiences, worked and re-worked to come up with an entertaining story, but why use the strong Christ-like story elements and then leave their usage ambiguous and unresolved. Why did the story end where it did? It wasn't clear whether the roller coaster ride was set in a story that was supposed to be a homage to Jesus or to be a Dogma/Good Omens sci-fi romp through religious tales.
I really enjoyed the roller coaster ride of shooting battles and space fights, but because the creators had made so much of a reference to religious issues I kept looking for things to be presented on screen that either never appeared or were so uncontroversialy and blandly presented that there presence was simply boring.
Also on the subject of religion... I was very disappointed that they named they named their movie with a name that's absolutely loaded with mythological significance but never proferred any reason that the characters in the movie would have used the term Titan as they did. A religious term without any real reason for it to be there.
One of the major plot points that was left unexplained in the movie was exactly what it was that humankind did to get the attention of the Drej to start their holocaust against humanity. A friend who saw it with me claimed that it was because mankind built the Titan that the Drej thought they should be eliminated. I find this to be unsatisfying that the Titan was built to save mankind from alien extinction and hence causes the extinction in the first place. I find the circurlar nature of this explanation silly, and long for ANY other rationale. The psuedo-explanation which was given was that the Drej wanted to destroy mankind because of the potential of what mankind was capable of doing.
The psuedo-explanation fits in well with the religious references, i.e. that it is the ineffible nature of original sin that the condemns man to eternal death and it is through the deeds of the son that saves mankind from persecution and death. It's just that as set up as a sci-fi story you long for a more clear cut explanation: mankind breaking the warp barrier, mankind making interstellar contact, mankind gaining control over the transformation of matter and energy (as the Drej clearly have control of).
At the end of the movie, I could see the enormous effort that the creators had put in to make this movie. But it was also clearly evident that their own efforts at self-censorship had lobotomized the film of any interesting or controversial questions.
I went into the movie expecting a nice roller coaster ride. I came out having witnessed a nice roller coaster ride. I saw exactly what I expected I'd see, but I hope that it's clear how the movie had the potential to go further than it did and how it misled my expectations.
