If you’re a fan of retro kitsch, you might get a little thrill when they hand you a pair of plastic 3D glasses at the movie theater. But today’s feature — unfortunately! — isn’t Bwana Devil or House of Wax, but Battle for Terra, a computer-animated science-fiction film enhanced with 3D effects.
Originally called just Terra, the movie was made in plain old
2D and converted to 3D, providing the illusion that winged whales,
spaceships and snowflakes are flying into your lap. The 3D isn’t
integral to the story, but it’s a pretty cool novelty, and no doubt fun
for kids to experience.
The modest, independently made movie is technically impressive
— nicely detailed CG animation, a talented voice cast and an
amusing crablike robot sidekick voiced by the funny David Cross. But
what’s most remarkable is the movie’s explicit antiwar theme. Director
Aristomenis Tsirbas, who wrote the script with Evan Spiliotopoulos,
wanted to tell a story like H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds, but from the aliens’ point of view. And so Battle for
Terra is something uncommon among sci-fi battle movies: a plea for
humanity that asks us to identify with an “alien” population threatened
with imperialist invasion.
The movie centers on the idyllic Terra, a planet whose inhabitants
— large-eyed creatures with spermatozoa tails — celebrate
nature and live in peace. Their planet is being eyed as a future home
for exiled former Earthlings, who long ago destroyed Earth with their
environmentally destructive ways (see Wall-E), and for good
measure, decimated three other planets in subsequent wars. A rebellious
teenage Terrian, Mala (voiced by Evan Rachel Wood), whose father
(Dennis Quaid) is captured by the humans, rescues crashed human Air
Force pilot Jim Stanton (Luke Wilson), who agrees to take Mala to her
father.
Jim and Mala become friends, and he comes to realize the horror of
the planned invasion, which will kill the peaceable Terrians with the
deadly Terraformer (analogous to a nuclear weapon). Jim must decide
whether to defy the orders of the bellicose General Hemmer (Brian Cox),
whose close-set eyes suggest an exaggerated George W. Bush — a
resemblance emphasized when Gen. Hemmer tries to bully a United
Nations-like council into endorsing his reckless invasion plan.
The movie is slight but has enough action and whimsy to please young
viewers and an important message — especially relevant amid
revelations about American torture — about the evils of the War
on Terra.
This article appears in Apr 29 – May 5, 2009.