Battle for Terra

2009 "Their world is mankind's only hope for survival."
6.5| 1h25m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 01 May 2009 Released
Producted By: MeniThings Productions
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.battleforterra.com/
Synopsis

A peaceful alien planet faces annihilation, as the homeless remainder of the human race sets its eyes on Terra. Mala, a rebellious Terrian teenager, will do everything she can to stop it.

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Reviews

Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System
Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good
Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.
Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
Jesus-Lord-of-Heaven-and-Earth My rating is not awful, because of the animation or the art direction. Technically the movie is done well, but it's because of the premise. Imagine this scenario, the so-called blackeyed grey aliens (demons) that many people claim to have encountered or been abducted by have already infiltrated. So to make their takeover more palatable they are now the victims, and the Battle for Terra (earth) is actually now in progress. Humans are the spoilers of the planet, which of course all worshippers of Gaia believe, so the awful humans that were created in the image of God must be purged or hybridized. So the infiltrators are the heroes, the humans are subdued, and those left get to live happily ever after with the anti-Christ. This movie has some similarity to Avatar. Humans bad, demonic looking alien creatures good. Get rid of the humans, save the planet all ends well... not according to my copy of the book. I don't recommend it for kids. +++
Tobias Lovgren Storywise, it doesn't hold up to the movies it borrows plot points from. As the story is basically every other "white man goes native" archetype, you'll know the entire movie scene-by-scene just by that description, however there are a few things about "Terra" that really bothered me: 1. The aliens are living in perfect harmony but are assaulted by humans for no reason. There's never any reason given why they would need to be abducted and studied, but that's what the humans do to them anyway. 2. The human fighter wildly changes size from scene to scene for the entire movie, to the point where it starts getting distracting. 3. For plot convenience's sake the pilot's personal Johnny 5 knows sperm lady's language and has a laser beam that can teach her human speak in a few seconds and knows how to build a working device for filtering out air from the native atmosphere, using clay and a plot convenience plant that the female lead gathers and assembles without any problem. 4. The human general (wisely I might add) takes control from the incompetent senate(?) which is unable to decide on the only course of action available at this point. This is supposed to be the cementing of the general's character as a power-hungry warmonger, but in the context of this movie he makes a lot of sense. Also, we never get to know anything about the aliens, other than that they shun technology but are somehow innately adept at constructing advanced mechanical constructs out of clay and wood. They are completely peaceful yet keeps a fleet of advanced warships and highly trained military somehow completely hidden from their public. This standing army makes no sense since they're completely peaceful (as war is an almost foreign concept to the main female character), have no natural enemies and don't have any crime. However, it's explained away in one sentence later on by the elder saying something about learning from the past to not repeat it, or something along those lines. They can apparently fly, without wings or any other way of actually doing so. The planet has gravity, as the other creatures that we're shown need wings to fly and the buildings are designed with creatures in mind who walk on the ground. They can also hear without having any ears, which doesn't make any sense. It doesn't help that they use mouths with similar enough human-like vocal chords and sounds to replicate our language, simply by being zapped by magical language-teaching lasers.As for the humans, they need the planet in order to survive as a species, as they've run out of time with their colony ship falling apart and their air supply failing fast. We're told they've got weeks to go before they asphyxiate, and that it would take seven days for the terraformer to make the planet's atmosphere breathable for humans. This is where the supposed dilemma for the main character in all of these movies comes is presented for the viewers. However, unlike films like FernGully, where the humans cut down rain forest for profit, or Avatar where they killed natives for unobtanium, here we are just trying to survive. So, our hero betrays *THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE* and fires his missiles on the terraformer, murdering his commanding officer and a staff of completely innocent human beings, assuring the destruction of all humans, everywhere. Oh, but that doesn't happen, as now all of a sudden the human race doesn't need the terraformer, and the entire plot of the movie has been changed to try and not make its main character that much of a genocidal race traitor. Now everything is great because of his high treason, and not only do the humans live in harmony with the sperm people, they magically found a way to instantly construct an atmosphere shield. And as a final middle finger to the viewer we pan over a statue of the arch traitor himself.I don't get that. I don't understand why anyone would root for the non-humans when given the choice between humans or not. This isn't an analogy for real life intolerance, this isn't the white man holding everyone else down, it's just another "hate the humans"-flick. Personally, I don't care if the sperm people were there first, if every single one of them is a Gandhi sperm with a deep connection to nature. I'll stick with the survival of my race, thank you very much.I would not recommend this movie to any demographic as there are many more, better films out there with the EXACT same story and characters and setting and dialogue, only with better execution. Watch Pocahontas, Ferngully or Avatar instead.
tieman64 It's a common story: a primitive race is attacked by technologically superior invaders who seek to wipe out the natives and suck their resources dry. One of the invaders realises that the low-tech locals are actually kind, benevolent and beautiful, and so decides to join the natives in the fight against his own kind. In a science fiction setting, the first three "Star Wars" movies offer the best variation of this tale. All other "rebel vs empire" tales are derivative and unnecessary in our globalized world in which such clear demarcations and conflicts no longer arise.This film has been compared to "Avatar", but it's much more sophisticated. For example, in "Battle For Terra", our hero is presented with a "Sophie's Choice" scenario in which he must face the fact that if he doesn't kill an alien, his brother will die. This serves as a metaphor for humanity's plight in the film, as the humans literally will die if they do not immediately terraform an alien planet and start pumping oxygen (which is poisonous to the aliens) into its atmosphere. Later our hero faces the same choice, when he is torn between shooting an alien or letting his brother die in battle. The film's final message is an attempt to reconcile its seemingly no-win scenario by proposing a "third way" or mutually beneficial solution.Even stylistically, "Terra" is better than "Avatar". "Avatar" had dull gear, derivative ships and poor conceptual designs, whilst "Battle For Terra" is packed with many cool looking buildings, ships, machines and animals. Likewise, "Avatar" had some pretty kitschy music, whilst "Battle For Terra" has an amazing score by the great Abel Korzeniowski. And while the flying scenes in "Avatar" were lame rehashes of Miyazaki, the corresponding scenes in "Battle For Terra" are much more moody, atmospheric and beautiful, though of course they too do not touch Miyazaki.In terms of action sequences, "Avatar" couldn't come close to the bars set by George Lucas in his original "Star Wars" trilogy. "Battle For Terra's" action scenes are kinetic, stylish, and much better than "Avatar's", but they can't break away from Lucas either.The film was released in 2007, several years ahead of "Avatar". While "Avatar" boasted a zillion dollar budget, "Terra" was made by a crew of only 7 animators. Luckily the film's low budget and small crew had a positive influence on the final product, as lip syncing chores and animation limitations (in an attempt to simplify production, the aliens have no legs or complex moving parts) resulted in the film relying more on music, ambiance and fluid motion, all of which lend the film a poetic, moody feel.7.9/10 – Pretty good for a kid's flick. Worth one viewing.
whatever_123 I have seen many animated movies, most of which were very entertaining. There were some that were bad, and some that were good, but not great. This movie has to fall into the "bad" category. The plot of this movie was cliché, boring, half-hearted, and slow. It's almost like the writers just made it up on the spot, and decided to go with it without proofreading it. The most annoying thing about the plot was its slow (and I mean SLOW) pace. You would think that a movie involving aliens and spaceships and stuff would be full of action and suspense, but in the case of Battle for Terra, you would be dead wrong. The action scenes were appallingly boring, and the supposed "drama" surrounding the alien and the human pilot's forbidden friendship were bland and dull. The characters were flat, like cardboard, and I felt no connection to them at all. None of them had any redeeming qualities that made any aspect of the movie enjoyable. Every bit of the movie was a big cliché. You take Planet 51, Star Wars, and Avatar, and you have Battle for Terra, minus the awesomeness of Star Wars. There is nothing worthwhile to see in this movie. The animation is terrible, the plot is dumb, the movie moves at an extremely slow pace, the action scenes are lame, the characters are so dull it's unbelievable, and the emotion and heart of the movie was just nonexistent. Don't watch it, there are far better animated movies out there with far more original stories.