Battle for Terra
Battle for Terra | |
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Directed by | Aristomenis Tsirbas |
Screenplay by | Evan Spiliotopoulos |
Story by | Aristomenis Tsirbas |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Aristomenis Tsirbas |
Edited by | J. Kathleen Gibson |
Music by | Abel Korzeniowski |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | |
Release dates |
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Running time | 85 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $4-8 million |
Box office | $6.2 million[1] |
Battle for Terra, originally screened as Terra, is a 2007 American animated action-adventure science fiction film, based on the short film Terra, about a race of beings on a peaceful alien planet who face destruction from colonization by the displaced remainder of the human race. The film was directed by Aristomenis Tsirbas who conceived it as a hard-edged live action feature with photo-real Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) environments. The close collaboration with producing partner and investor Snoot Entertainment redirected the project to become fully animated and appeal to younger audiences. The film features the voices of Evan Rachel Wood, Luke Wilson, Brian Cox and James Garner (In his last major film role before his death) among others.
It premiered on September 8, 2007 at the Toronto International Film Festival and was widely released in the United States on May 1, 2009 by Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions.[2]
The film was originally shot in 2D but was made in such a way that a second
Plot
Mala and her friend Senn are young creatures of an alien race that inhabits Terra, a peaceful, near Earth-like planet that is part of a star system in the Milky Way galaxy and has a rich and advanced culture.
One day, a large, mysterious object partially blocks the Terrian sun, piquing the Terrians' interest. Mala, who is inventive and headstrong, goes against the Terrian rules that ban the development of new technologies without the approval of the ruling council and creates a telescope. She takes it outside the city and uses it to view the object. Recon ships emerge from the large object, come down to the city and start abducting Terrians. Some willingly offer themselves to the spaceships mistaking them as their new "gods".
After Mala's father, Roven, is abducted, she lures a ship into a trap, causing it to crash. She saves the pilot, a human named Lieutenant James "Jim" Stanton. After his personal robot assistant, Giddy, warns Mala that Jim will die without oxygen, absent on the planet, she scavenges suitable plants and creates a tent in which Jim can breathe. In exchange, Giddy teaches her human language. Jim awakes and finds out his ship is damaged beyond repair. Giddy tells Mala why the humans have come: centuries beforehand, both Mars and Venus were terraformed and colonized by humans for their natural resources. 200 years later, the planets demanded independence from Earth, to no avail. This dispute escalated into a violent interplanetary war that rendered all three planets uninhabitable. The mysterious object in the sky is The Ark, a generation ship containing the remnants of the human race, traveling for several generations in search for a new home. They arrived at Terra, and gave it its name. Mala agrees to fix Jim's ship, so she can go with him to save Roven. When Mala, Jim, and Giddy return to the crash site, they discover the ship has been moved.
The trio tracks the ship to a secret underground military facility where the elders and Doron, the leader of the council, secretly retain the military technology from prior conflicts. After infiltrating the facility and fixing the ship, they fly to the Ark. In it, the commander of the human army, General Hemmer, takes over the Ark in a coup, and declares war on Terra. Mala finds Roven, but gets detected. A fight with the guards starts, in which she gets captured and Roven, while trying to keep the humans away from him with a laser, unintentionally causes a decompression that kills him and the men. Hemmer tells Jim his goal is to turn Terra into a new Earth. He will drop the Terraformer, a huge machine capable of creating an Earth-like atmosphere onto the planet's surface, annihilating the Terrians in the process. To test his loyalty, Hemmer creates a scenario in which Jim has to choose between killing Mala or his younger brother Stewart. Jim saves Stewart, while discreetly ordering Giddy to rescue Mala by breaking the glass and help her escape back to Terra. Hemmer orders Jim to join the space-fighters in charge of defending the Terraformer, while he personally supervises the mission within the machine.
Doron and the Terrian elders allow Terrians, along with Mala and Giddy, still under Jim's order to protect her, to defend their planet with their stockpile of military tech, but are hopelessly outnumbered with an unexpectedly large amount of opposing fighters. The humans drop the Terraformer onto the surface and it begins to poison the planet with oxygen. As the machine is close to completing its objective, Jim finds Mala fighting Stewart. Realizing the immoral decision in killing the Terrians, he turns back to destroy the Terraformer with missiles, killing a betrayed Hemmer. Mala, Giddy and Stewart steer away from the fireball in time, but Jim's critically damaged ship fails and is consumed. The Terraformer's scorched skeleton collapses, leaving only one leg standing in its wake.
At the end of the movie, Humans and Terrians agree to live in peace. Having abandoned the Ark, they establish a colony on the planet, where a statue of Jim is erected in honor of his heroism.
Cast
- Evan Rachel Wood as Mala, a curious Terrian who take cares of her father Roven
- Luke Wilson as Lieutenant James "Jim" Stanton, a human military pilot who joins forces with Mala
- Brian Cox as General Hemmer, leader of the military wing of the Ark
- James Garner as Doron, leader of the Terrians
- David Cross as Giddy, Jim's robot assistant
- Chris Evans as Stewart Stanton, Jim Stanton's younger brother
- Dennis Quaid as Roven, Mala's handicapped father
- Justin Long as Senn, Mala's boyfriend
- Danny Glover as President Chen, the human leader in the Ark
- Amanda Peet as Maria Montez, one of the human Board Council members of the Ark
- Mark Hamill as Elder Orin
- Tiffany Brevard as Singer Soloist
- Danny Trejo as Elder Berum
- Phil LaMarr as Fabric Merchant
- Laraine Newman as Toy Merchant
- Ron Perlman as Elder Vorin
Release
Home media
Battle for Terra was released on
Reception
The film has received mixed reviews from critics. Based on 94 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an average rating of 5.52/10, and a score of 49% from critics, saying that "Despite its earnest aspirations to be a thought-provoking sci-fi alternative, Battle for Terra lacks both a cohesive story and polished visuals, and fails to resonate."[9] Another review aggregator, Metacritic, gives the film an average score of 54% based on 19 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[10]
The film opened at #12 in the United States, grossing $1,082,064 in 1,159 theaters with an average of $934 per theater. The film's international box office began May 14, 2009 in Russia with a 5th place opening of $332,634 at 83 screens. Battle for Terra's current worldwide total is $6,101,046.
Accolades
- Annecy International Animated Film Festival 2009
Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
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Cristal Award | Best Feature | Aristomenis Tsirbas | Nominated |
- Giffoni Film Festival 2008
Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
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Silver Gryphon | First Feature Competition | Aristomenis Tsirbas and Dane Allan Smith | Won |
- Heartland Film Festival 2008
Award | Nominee | Result |
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Crystal Heart Award | Aristomenis Tsirbas | Won |
- Ottawa International Animation Festival 2008
Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
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Grand Prize Award | Best Animated Feature Film | Aristomenis Tsirbas and Dane Allan Smith | Won |
References
- ^ "Battle for Terra". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
- ^ Welcome to MeniThings.com Archived March 9, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Battle for Terra: About the film: Production notes". Archived from the original on 20 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-22.
- ^ "Battle for Terra: About the film: Production notes". Archived from the original on 20 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-22.
- ^ Ottawa 08 International Animation Festival - History[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Lionsgate Announces 'Battle for Terra' Blu-ray". High-Def Digest. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
- ^ "Battle for Terra 3D (Blu-ray): The test (Google Translation: French to English)". Unification France. Retrieved 2010-10-04.
- ^ "Battle for Terra 3D Blu-ray Release Date June 3, 2011".
- IGN Entertainment. Rotten Tomatoes. Archivedfrom the original on 4 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
- ^ "Battle for Terra Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 24 September 2022.