Humanity Exposed as a Bunch of Assholes in ‘Battle for Terra’
Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on February 25, 2009
If you are like me, then you are sick and tired of Earth and humanity being the victims in alien invasion movies. Get over it, pesky humans — no one really wants to come down to our dying planet and take over. But what happens when Earth goes kabluey and we have to search for a new home? Well, then I suppose we would become the alien invaders then, wouldn’t we. That is the premise behind the upcoming Roadside Attractions CG-animated film Battle for Terra. And personally, I think it’s awesome.
The film tells the story of Senn (Justin Long) and Mala (Evan Rachel Wood), two rebellious alien teens living on the beautiful planet Terra, a place that promotes peace and tolerance, having long ago rejected war and weapons of mass destruction. But when Terra is invaded by human beings fleeing a civil war and environmental catastrophe, the planet is plunged into chaos. During the upheaval, Mala befriends an injured human pilot (Luke Wilson) and each learns the two races are not so different from one another. Together they must face the terrifying realization that in a world of limited resources, only one of their races is likely to survive.
It’s basically the sci-fi equivalent of what happens when Al Gore and Dick Cheney are in a room together — an explosion of hippie tree-hugging meets a shotgun blast to the face. And despite the fact that the voice cast is of the overcompensating variety (the bigger the names, the worse the film — that’s science) and the animation looks so-so at best, I am totally digging the premise here. We’ll see how the rest turns out when the film finally hits theaters.
Battle for Terra invades theaters and in 3D on Friday, May 1, 2009. Check out the first trailer as well as some production stills below.
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