- Title: Titan A.E.
- IMDb: link
Throwback Tuesday takes us back 25 years to a film that begins with the destruction of Earth but ends with hope on a new world. The final film of Don Bluth‘s run offering an animation alternative to the far more successful Disney, Titan A.E. stars Matt Damon as a displaced and disaffected human working on alien salvage rigs who is sought out by Korso (Bill Pullman) and his crew who believe Cale‘s genetic heritage is the key to finding a lost spaceship built and hidden by Cale’s father (Ron Perlman) during the destruction of Earth by the alien menace of the Drej.
The other members of Korso’s crew are the alluring Akima (Drew Barrymore), the insane Gune (John Leguizamo), the duplicitous Preed (Nathan Lane) and the angry Stith (Janeane Garofalo). Together, the group sets out to find the Titan which is not only the reason the Drej destroyed Earth but also the only hope of the scattered race of humanity coming back from the brink of extinction.
The film has many memorable set pieces including meeting the bat-like alien race of the Gaoul on Sesharrim, Cale’s escape from the Drej mother ship, the search for the Titan in ice rings of Tigrin, the montage of Cale and Akima working to repair another ship after betrayal leaves them stranded, and Cale flying the Valkyrie through space with the Wake Angels.
Sadly, like too many of Bluth’s films, Titan A.E. struggled at the box office helping lead to the end of the already struggling Fox Animation Studios only 10 days after the film’s release. However, it has become a bit of a cult classic on home video, cable, and streaming. Bluth’s final collaboration with co-director Gary Goldman, Titan A.E. isn’t the best of Bluth’s career, and is a little rough around the edges, but it’s exactly the kind fun space adventure that still entertains 25 years later.
Watch the trailer
