Movie Review | Battle for Terra

Living in perfect harmony in gravity-defying cities above the clouds, the inhabitants of the planet Terra are complete strangers to war. So when Terra is invaded by human beings fleeing a civil war and environmental catastrophe, many of the Terrians at first welcome the invaders as gods. Only the feisty young Mala (Evan Rachel Wood) fights back, luring one of the invading spacecrafts to destruction after her father is abducted, then rescuing its pilot—a human named Jim (Luke Wilson).

In return for saving his life, Jim promises to help Mala find her father, taking her on a perilous journey to the Ark—the humans’ aging mother ship. Along the way, Mala and Jim learn that their people really aren’t so different from one another. But with the Earthforce army poised to invade Terra and render it uninhabitable for Terrians, Mala and Jim must find a way to help the two races coexist—before it’s too late.

I watch quite a few films but rarely want to blog about any of them. However, I recently watched a film called Battle for Terra that I hadn't heard much about until I saw a trailer on YouTube last week. It looked like a film that could have some potential as a different take on a typical alien invasion and because of its CGI format it could quite easily be passed off as a film for kids. Battle for Terra is probably the most pleasantly surprising film I've watched this year and I'd quite happily put it above Star Trek, Transformers 2 and District 9 as my film of the year so far.

Terra is home to a peaceful race of beings that live in giant forests that tower above the clouds. The Terrians and the other native life live in the skies, from the Terrians themselves to the huge whale-like creatures that join them in peaceful flight. With simple machines built of wood and a limitation on what designs the people come up with and can build, there is a distinct feeling that the population is guided to a life without conflict. Behind all of this though there is the feeling that they are not as helpless as they first seem.

I think that the opening scenes in the film are truly stunning and the peacefulness and way of life of the Terrians that is portrayed is an excellent way to instantly be able to associate and relate to them. The friendship between Mala and her fellows show how the Terrians treat each other and allows us to see the story from their point of view. When the humans show up, attacking and abducting Terrians, I instantly associated myself with the Terrians and viewed the humans as the attacking and brutal race with no hint of peace intended.

Of course, once Mala befriends Jim we start to see that all is not as expected. After humans reached out from earth and had terraformed Venus and Mars a war broke out that wrecked the three planets. In a last ditch effort a interstellar ship was built with the purpose of carrying the human race to a new planet to colonise. Humanity shows its typical military attitude with genocide a small by-product that a faction is willing to commit to get what they want. Not everyone agrees with this and it's through Jim and Mala's friendship that we start to see the situation coming to a head.

As much as I enjoyed Battle for Terra, it is not without its faults. To start with you have to approach it willing to suspend your disbelief when it comes to the Terrians and their gravity defying abilities. Also, as much as I agree with the portrayal of humans and their aggressive nature, the first contact was a little too much. The way that there was absolutely no attempt at communication felt a little off, as was the way that the Terrians suddenly had a way to fight off the invasion.

Compared to other big sci-fi releases this year this is by far one of the most enjoyable I've watched and will recommend it to any sci-fi fan. Yes, the kiddy presentation may put some people off, but it's a very effective way of telling a story - as you can see from the screenshots throughout this post it truly is visually stunning. As an independent film made for under $20 million this goes to show what can be done to make such an enjoyable film. Here's hoping more CGI movies in the future are half as good as this.