Having just panned Battle for Terra (see this review), I also have to offer a somewhat different opinion.
While struggling to write that review, I talked with one of the film’s publicists, who said “The film is tracking well with boys aged 7-11, so let’s hope we hit a home run with that target group.” Ordinarily, I wouldn’t put much stock in the publicist’s words, because it’s her job to make the film look good.
But her comment came hours after talking with a good friend, who has three sons right in that target age range, and she said all three are eager to see the movie. These two conversations gave me pause: I don’t want to pan a movie for which I’m not the intended audience.
On the other hand, there was nothing in the lead-up to the film, or the film itself, that told me I wasn’t the target audience. From the publicity material to the PG rating, I assumed this movie had been made with me and my peers in mind.
But after seeing the movie, reviewing it in my head, writing the review, and re-reading that review, I can see how the film might indeed be much more appealing to a younger audience. It’s a lot easier to get into the film when you’re world is much less nuanced. For children, things are black or white, good or evil. And for children, environmentalism isn’t the latest political fad: it’s been a way of life for their entire lives. And for children, well, they’ve probably never seen any of the films or tv shows I referenced in my movie, so there’s absolutely nothing in this film that’s terribly derivative.
Children won’t question the Terrians’ lack of feet, they won’t question orbital mechanics. They won’t doubt the ability of a technologically unsophisticated teenager to repair a spaceship. They won’t see a message in the smog-like oxygen the military pumps into the atmosphere in order for people to breathe. Children will see General Hemmer as a caricature, but nothing at odds with the world they know; they’ll recognize themselves in both Mala and Senn, and a bit in Stanton, too.
In short, this may be a great film for children. What threw me (and may warn you off) is the PG rating for violence and the cavalier attitude with which death is treated. When G.I. Joe was a Saturday morning cartoon, there was a lot of violence, but no one ever died: they always managed to jump clear at the least second, to land on the forest canopy, to have that parachute attached just in case. We may be a bit squeamish for our children’s sake, showing them violence without death. And that’s one area where Battle for Terra is amply adult: it’s not afraid to say that, in war, people die.
So, if you’re going to see it, try not to read anything into it. Ignore the technological goofs, and bring along a child. Oh, and remember to grab the 3-d glasses, because the animation is that good.