Battle for Terra

This 3D animation movie was released in 2007. It was directed by Aristomenis Tsirbas. It tells the story of a peaceful alien planet, which faces annihilation, as the homeless remainder of the human race sets its eyes on it. Mala, a rebellious Terrian teenager, will do everything she can to stop it.

Evan Rachel Wood gives voice to Mala, Luke Wilson gives vocie to Jim Stanton, the male leading role; David Cross is Giddy, an ironic and cheeky robot and Justin Long is Mala's friend Sen. 

I really like this movie, even though it could be better in a few points, as for example: the animation. This is a pitty, as the disign of Terra is really beautiful. Every inhabitant of this new planet is new and beautiful in its own alien way. The Terrians look extremely different to anything we may know and this is normaly used as an excuse to put the audience against the alien race - we'll get there later. It's a pitty that the humans are so badly done. The textures of the cloth and skin of the human kind is so badly done, that it leaves a sort of bad feeling. 

Another point that bothers me is the voices of the Terrians. I don't know if they're able to comunicate in a sort of telepathic way - they certainly don't have any ears - but they certainly seem to talk to each other no matter how far they are without rasing their voices. I don't know how they could have explained this point, and it really doesn't interfere in the enjoyment of the movie. 

For my part, that's about everything that I didn't like. The music and the scenery are very, very beautiful. And the Terrarians are funny and beautiful. A fact that's remarcable is that, even though the Terrarians are pictured as some 'nature-loving' spices, they're not some nothing-doing wild-running creatures that do nothing but sit around being friendly with the trees as other aliens that are nature-friendly. this creatures have an inteligent society, they work, go to school, have their doctors and their enjoyment, and these activities are not only pictured, but help the viewers to identify themselves with these creatures. They may look as different from us as can be, they may float around and don't have many fingers, but in essence their lives are not different from ours. 

Another interesting point that distinguishes this movie from others, is that their happy little society is actually an autocracy. The Terrarian liberties are very controlled by the "Elders", for example they can't create anything that's not aproved by them. Another example of this autocracy is that the Elders decide whatever they have to believe. Yet the power wasn't gained by force and the fact turns into some sort of background information, that helps creating the background history of Terra. 

Another thing I really liked about this movie is the main problematic: I think it's an original take and the viewer can't see a clear and peacefull solucion, and it's difficult for the viewers to take sides either for the nearly extinct human race or the peacefull Terrarians. 

All in all, this is a very interesting and entertaining movie and I highly recomend it.