FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

wizi0007 Really now. I can't believe I saw this movie only because I liked it's name. What I mean is, even though it's such a good one, I never saw any big posters no reviews or even a trailer before seeing the name on a list of released movies that year. And it was too late into the year to go to a screening. Only now have i seen it when I coincidentally saw a DVD box in store.Visually, the movie was simple and at the same time somehow beautiful. but when battle came, it became a full blown SF battle scene. Very satisfying. Voice acting was good but at times felt dull. Though i noticed it only at a second sitting.story wise, I did expect a story of humans trying to terraform an inhabited planet and decisions following this act. But I never expected to see the "alien" invasion from a perspective of inhabitants in a way that made me think. Think a lot. About what is right and what side is right. Also having a stereotype in my head that modern western animated movies are mainly aimed at children, I think that this movie might not be for those under 7 or 8. Even without gore, the killings were apparent. This movie was full of surprises for me. A rare enjoyable one hour spent. Really. It felt like any full length Hollywood flick. I was engrossed in the happenings and emotions of this movie that i forgot about the passage of time.

Jonathon Dabell Battle For Terra is quite unusual in some ways for an animated feature film. Its themes are quite weighty, its questions probing and its answers surprisingly ambiguous. This is not typical kiddie fare: for one thing, the good guys make mistakes and bad choices from time to time, while the bad guys have legitimate reasons for committing the wrongs they do, rather than merely being evil for evils' sake. And on top of all that, the film remembers to be entertaining, meaning that all the weightiness and thematic ambivalence doesn't become a bore. It's not a perfect film but it's certainly worth a look, especially if you crave an animated film with a different 'flavour' than most.Terra is a distant planet populated by a cultured and sophisticated alien race. It also happens to be the planet which the survivors of a civil war which destroyed planet Earth choose to invade and take for their new home. The humans are struck by Terra's similarity to Earth, with rain, snow, wind and plant-life, but one key difference is that there is no oxygen in Terra's atmosphere. A young Terrian girl named Mala (voice of Evan Rachel Wood) manages to capture a human fighter pilot, Jim Stanton (voice of Luke Wilson) when his fighter shuttle crashes during a raid. She builds an oxygen tent for him and nurses him back to help, and soon a bond develops between them as they learn to appreciate each other's culture. Mala learns that the humans have travelled across the galaxy aboard an Ark, intending to seize Terra from the Terrians. Later she and Jim make an even worse discovery – that the war-crazed General Hammer (voice of Brian Cox), who is in charge of the Earth forces, plans to use a machine they possess to make the atmosphere breathable by injecting huge quantities of oxygen. Alas, oxygen will prove fatal to any remaining Terrians and they will quickly die out. Jim and Mala eventually find themselves reluctant participants in an epic-scale war for Terra, Jim fighting to destroy a race that he has come to care for, while Mala must defeat her human friend and all his compatriots in order to save her home planet.Battle For Terra is at its best when the focus is on the rich and wonderful world of Terra – the detail that has gone into creating this believable alien society is packed with ingenuity and imagination. Throughout, the film is a visual treat. The story itself is told simply, with fairly routine dialogue, but the main conflict which drives the story (the survival of the human race .vs. the Terrians right to live in peace on their own planet) is dealt with interestingly. Perhaps the bravest decision of all is to tell the story from a Terrian point of view, making the invaders from Earth almost the villains of the piece. It takes skill to make the audience root for an alien society over their own kind, but by-and-large the film pulls it off. Overall the vocal acting is pretty good, although the need for so many bona fide stars (Dennis Quaid, Danny Glover, James Garner, Luke Wilson, Mark Hamill, Brian Cox, Amanda Peet, Beverly D'Angelo, Rosanna Arquette) is debatable. The film's ending quite cleverly manages to avoid sentimentality (with an unexpected death for one of the main characters) and, although the ultimate resolution could be accused of being a little too pat, there are enough thought-provoking moments along the way to make the film a worthwhile watch.

KineticSeoul With a low budget for a 3D animation I really wasn't expecting anything good from this movie but was a lot better than I thought it would be. The plot is sort of a mix between "Planet 51" and "Avatar", lets just say it's much better than "Planet 51". I was sort of shocked this movie came out before "Avatar" so I guess maybe that movie took some ideas from this one. This is a well made animation film that kids and adults can enjoy with is decent script and good direction, there was hardly a dull moment. The plot takes place in a planet full of nature and floating worm like species and they are intelligent lifeforms. But there peaceful ways are interrupted when machines from the sky is seen and the floating worm like species thinks it's a god. But they don't come in peace, in fact they are coming for other reasons. Soon one of the female floating worm like being meets one of the invader and the story goes on from there. The floating worm like species have simple technology compared to the invaders who has more advance technology. Sort of reminded me of our history while watching this film. And although there has been many invasion movies in the past the direction of this film was actually quite unique, not super original though. I also liked how in this story it's difficult to pick a side just like one of the protagonist in this film. For a low budget 3D animation film, the animation was alright and the facial expressions are very well done. The battle sequences in this is also exciting at times. When it was done and finished, I actually enjoyed this movie way more than I thought I would. Also Giddy is a pretty good sidekick.7.5/10

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.