Tobias Lovgren Storywise, it doesn't hold up to the movies it borrows plot points from. As the story is basically every other "white man goes native" archetype, you'll know the entire movie scene-by-scene just by that description, however there are a few things about "Terra" that really bothered me: 1. The aliens are living in perfect harmony but are assaulted by humans for no reason. There's never any reason given why they would need to be abducted and studied, but that's what the humans do to them anyway. 2. The human fighter wildly changes size from scene to scene for the entire movie, to the point where it starts getting distracting. 3. For plot convenience's sake the pilot's personal Johnny 5 knows sperm lady's language and has a laser beam that can teach her human speak in a few seconds and knows how to build a working device for filtering out air from the native atmosphere, using clay and a plot convenience plant that the female lead gathers and assembles without any problem. 4. The human general (wisely I might add) takes control from the incompetent senate(?) which is unable to decide on the only course of action available at this point. This is supposed to be the cementing of the general's character as a power-hungry warmonger, but in the context of this movie he makes a lot of sense. Also, we never get to know anything about the aliens, other than that they shun technology but are somehow innately adept at constructing advanced mechanical constructs out of clay and wood. They are completely peaceful yet keeps a fleet of advanced warships and highly trained military somehow completely hidden from their public. This standing army makes no sense since they're completely peaceful (as war is an almost foreign concept to the main female character), have no natural enemies and don't have any crime. However, it's explained away in one sentence later on by the elder saying something about learning from the past to not repeat it, or something along those lines. They can apparently fly, without wings or any other way of actually doing so. The planet has gravity, as the other creatures that we're shown need wings to fly and the buildings are designed with creatures in mind who walk on the ground. They can also hear without having any ears, which doesn't make any sense. It doesn't help that they use mouths with similar enough human-like vocal chords and sounds to replicate our language, simply by being zapped by magical language-teaching lasers.As for the humans, they need the planet in order to survive as a species, as they've run out of time with their colony ship falling apart and their air supply failing fast. We're told they've got weeks to go before they asphyxiate, and that it would take seven days for the terraformer to make the planet's atmosphere breathable for humans. This is where the supposed dilemma for the main character in all of these movies comes is presented for the viewers. However, unlike films like FernGully, where the humans cut down rain forest for profit, or Avatar where they killed natives for unobtanium, here we are just trying to survive. So, our hero betrays *THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE* and fires his missiles on the terraformer, murdering his commanding officer and a staff of completely innocent human beings, assuring the destruction of all humans, everywhere. Oh, but that doesn't happen, as now all of a sudden the human race doesn't need the terraformer, and the entire plot of the movie has been changed to try and not make its main character that much of a genocidal race traitor. Now everything is great because of his high treason, and not only do the humans live in harmony with the sperm people, they magically found a way to instantly construct an atmosphere shield. And as a final middle finger to the viewer we pan over a statue of the arch traitor himself.I don't get that. I don't understand why anyone would root for the non-humans when given the choice between humans or not. This isn't an analogy for real life intolerance, this isn't the white man holding everyone else down, it's just another "hate the humans"-flick. Personally, I don't care if the sperm people were there first, if every single one of them is a Gandhi sperm with a deep connection to nature. I'll stick with the survival of my race, thank you very much.I would not recommend this movie to any demographic as there are many more, better films out there with the EXACT same story and characters and setting and dialogue, only with better execution. Watch Pocahontas, Ferngully or Avatar instead.

heckdave I saw this movie on Netflix. I was just browsing through some titles, and I saw "Battle for Terra". I clicked on the title and saw that it was animated. At that point, I almost just went to the next movie, but then I saw some of the star-filled cast.......so I started watching the movie, thinking that I would turn it off after 10 minutes, but it got me. It sucked me in, kept me there, and left me with a few happy tears at the end. This movie surely could have been better if it wasn't animated and had the budget of Avatar, but my 9 out of 10 shows that I have no major complaints. I will be recommending this movie to a bunch of my friends.

lekgolah Quite simply this is Avatar but for children in a an animated form. That is not a complaint against the film. Avatar is one of my favourite films but I will admit that the story was not original and that is the case here. What makes Avatar better than this is its characters, the visuals and a good script that kept the film interesting. Battle for Terra is a good film but the script is uninteresting and the characters lack any personality.The story itself is interesting and it does raise a lot of issues about how far can the humans go to survive if it means the destruction of another race. However the plot is predictable but being a film targeted towards children, this was not really a problem. The action scenes were exciting because the film shows both sides of the war and what they are fighting for. When a ship explodes, there is a sense of sadness because that was someone fighting for a cause that they strongly believe in. The final action sequence was the best part of the film because how emotional it felt. I admire this about the film because it never gets too caught-up in the action to forget about the people fighting. However the lead characters (particularly the humans) are bland and uninteresting to look at. I know that the film was made on a low budget but the script added no depth to them whatsoever. The humans feel as if they are clones because they all feel the same. The lead human character is un-interesting from the start and Luke Wilson's performance felt charisma- less. Thankfully we are later introduced Brian Cox's character who is one of the human leaders and is focused on ensuring the survival of the humans no matter the cost. He was interesting to watch because it is difficult to decide if he is right or not. Of-course you are meant to disagree with him but when you consider what is at stake, it does make you ask questions.Technically the film is great for what it was made on. It is not Pixar standard but it achieves in telling its story. Everything looks nice and the action scenes are exciting to look at. Characters could have been vastly improved but the detail to the spaceships and the lighting of the different environments is good.If the film had made the lead character interesting to watch and the dialogue had been better, I would have rated this higher. As it stands this is an entertaining film that is worth watching to see the battle at the end but it is not something that I would consider worth watching again.

Argemaluco The animated film Battle for Terra went by a complicated production process, and when it was finally released in the United States (which happened 1 year ago), it did not have a very good economical answer.So, I dare to speculate that its late release in cinemas from my country (Argentina) is due to the huge box office success of the film Avatar, with which Battle for Terra has various similarities.The screenplay from Battle for Terra is deeper than I expected.To start with, the classic subject of the "culture crash" is supported by complex ethic disjunctives between the violent human people and the serene aliens.Further, the screenplay offers valid comparisons between the points of view of invaders and invaded.Sure, the human keep being the overt villains from the story, but when their reasons do not merely obey to the economical benefit (as in Avatar), but to the survival of the species, the moral lines become more diffuse, inviting to the reflection and denying to bring easy answers.The truth is that I did not expect to find those ambitious concepts in what seemed to be a simple family movie, and that is the main reason I liked it.However, I cannot deny this movie has various fails.To start with, the characters should have been better developed; the actors who bring their voices to the characters lack of emotion and energy, something which frequently happens when they record their dialogs out of context and months (or years) before the story has adequately materialized.There are a few moments which feel a bit redundant, and, on the one hand, the animation lacks of identity and attraction, but on the other hand, there is an elegant simplicity in the plastics from this film, because it avoids the caricature movements and "extreme" attitudes we have seen on pieces of crap such as Open Season and Madagascar 2.Despite its fails and the fact that it is not very memorable, I had an interesting experience while watching Battle for Terra.I do not dare to say it is better than Avatar...but it is fair to admit that, with less resources, it told a more sophisticated and occasionally more satisfactory story.In summary, I think Battle for Terra has enough positive elements to make it worthy of a recommendation.