Remember the time when animation used to be for kids? The good ol' days, eh? This animated movie makes pretty good use of the medium to tell a rather complex story. The movie has most qualities of good storytelling - ethical dilemmas, unique settings and gray areas aplenty. The premise of the movie is simple: Threatened with extinction, the human race needs to make one last desperate attempt at survival by the conquest of a seemingly peaceful alien world teeming with sentient life.

The movie explores possibilities that are the antithesis of staple sci-fi genre. For instance, What if the (typical) victim is the aggressor? (Humans attack a seemingly peaceful alien planet). Is peaceful bliss really a practical possibility? (without advanced weaponry, the alien world is threatened with extinction). Another highlight of the movie was that the aliens were, you know, just alien. They weren't cute and cuddly (a la E.T.) or menacing hordes (a la every-sci-fi war movie you've seen). The aliens are just rational beings who will fight, feel and cry when the need arises.

Now, the movie isn't without its flaws. It's not completely balanced (aggressors - no matter what the reason for aggression - are still painted in a slightly negative tone), characterization, even the quality of animation (in this post-Pixar universe) might be called into question - but I'm willing to overlook all of that for one simple reason: the director has a clear vision and explores it vividly on screen. That's worth a couple of hours of your life. Definitely is.

I took my son to see "Battle For Terra" on it's opening weekend here in NYC. I have to admit I didn't want to see it as much as I wanted to see "Wolverine" but I always defer to my 7 yr. old when there is animated fare to watch on the big screen.

Much to my surprise "Terra" is probably a much more mature, Involving & Emotional filmgoing experience than anything on the big screen right now. It might even bring a tear to some eyes out there.

The story as it is tells the tale of the inhabitants of the planet Terra (By the way, That's the name given to it by the humans. I don't think the actual name of the planet is mentioned). They are kinda like large upright tadpoles who swim through their atmosphere. The "Swimming" animation is really spot on & something different for a film of this type. The "Terrans" aren't your usual cutesy alien creatures. There are no stereotypical characters here. No "Goofy" alien, No "Evil" aliens, although the main alien protagonist "Mala" is very handy & invents things.

The Terrans are a peaceful race & seem to spend their days learning & studying their heritage. Their world is a wonderful amalgam of large mushroom like trees that they live in & they even have gliders that they travel around in. There are even large Whale like creatures that live in their atmosphere. Much like Blue whales cruise thru our oceans. All of them live in harmony.

That is until Earthlings arrive announcing that since they have devastated the resources on 3 planets & destroyed them in the process they have no choice but to "Terraform" the planet & change the atmosphere to suit what's left of mankind. The fact that this would kill the peaceful Terrans is of little concern to the humans.

I cannot go into the rest of the film without spoiling it but suffice it to say there is little to no humor in this film. That's not to say that kids won't enjoy it. They will. But this is not your typical kiddie flick. It is a sort of allegory about war & peace, Racism, Militarism & most of all love & harmony between those who might look at each other differently.

The animation is mostly superb & there are scenes where you actually feel like you're there on the planet thanks to some good 3-D visualization. By the way, The 3-D is more of the depth perception kind of 3-D not the pop out of the screen type although there are a couple of scenes of snow falling that make you just want to stick your tongue out & catch a snowflake.

All of the voice performances are good to great & the film never lags. As a matter of fact the battle scenes are quite rousing (Insert homage to George Lucas here) & while not graphic...characters do die in battle so you might want to keep an eye on the little ones if you're with one of them.

The saddest part of the experience to me is that when we arrived at the theatre (a 5-600 seater) there were exactly 4 people in there besides my son & myself. "Wolverine" & "Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past" steamrolled over this little gem & it pains me to think that people are missing out on a truly moving experience. It'll be gone from theatres in a week & that'll be it. I hope it finds it's audience on home video. It's a good movie that deserves to be seen.

A movie that also has a message, always does have thinner line to walk. You have to deliver your message but still not be too judgmental. In this case, the CGI has to be top notch too. And since Pixar made Animation their own, it's all the more difficult to prove yourself in that field.

This movie holds up though, in every department. The voice talent is great and the story has a few surprises. That being said, there always will be people who will be disappointed with how a movie with a dark edge/message concludes itself. It doesn't even matter which path it takes, some people will be annoyed and/or disappointed. Same goes here too. Even if you'd wish the movie ended differently, I hope you can overcome that and be happy with what you just saw ... I was.