  
Battle for TerraMPAA Rating:
 for sequences of sci-fi action violence and some thematic elements.Reviewed by: Raphael Vera Average
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience:
Kids, Teens, Family
Genre:
Sci-Fi, Adventure, Animation
Length:
1 hr. 30 min.
Year of Release:
2009
USA Release:
May 1, 2009 (wide—1,000 theaters)
DVD: September 22, 2009  
Relevant Issues
Environment
Should Christians be concerned about the environment? Answer What is man's responsibility to the environment? Answer How might rain forest destruction affect our weather? Answer War
What is the Biblical perspective on war? Answer Aliens (extraterrestrials)
What does the Bible say about intelligent life on other planets? Answer Are we alone in the universe? Answer Does Scripture refer to life in space? Answer For kids
 
“They are coming.” “Battle for Terra,” a CG animated sci-fi action adventure is rated PG for family viewing with the primary target being kids and teenagers. However, this should not be considered a “kids film,” as the subject matter involving the ‘end of humanity’ and genocide is not younger kids fare. After Earth is destroyed, its last survivors roam space in a starship named the Ark searching for a new home to colonize. What awaits them at their journey’s end is Terra: a cloud-shrouded planet filled with wondrous life forms that share the world in almost perfect harmony. It is against this peaceful and beautiful backdrop that we witness the arrival of man and his fighters descending, as if from the heavens, in order to invade and capture the Terrian’s as a prelude to war. The initial “invasion” appears all the more brutal when juxtaposed against the peaceful ways of the Terrians. It is here that a teen-aged Terrian, Mala (Evan Rachel Wood), sees her father Roven (Dennis Quaid) abducted. She heroically evades one of the Earth fighters and lures him into one of the natural perils of the world. The Earth ship is disabled, and Mala befriends the Earthman soldier Jim Stanton (Luke Wilson). Aided by his companion robot Giddy (David Cross), the trio embark on a journey to first save her father and later attempt to find a way of stopping a war that can only leave one race alive. Standing in the way of the peace they seek is General Hemmer (Brian Cox) who goes against the ruling civilian council and conceives a plan to adapt the planet’s atmosphere for humans while simultaneously eliminating the peaceful Terrians in seven (7) days. “Very Biblical,” says the General in a tone many will interpret as mocking. A Bible lesson clearly the General has never learned is that “Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good” (Ecclesiastes 9:18). Amidst hostilities, the natives still move forward with their “Ceremony of Life,” a festival that gathers all Terrians in an aerial ballet that celebrates the fact that, as Mala says, “…a long time ago we were apart from nature. We almost died. But now we're together, forever in life.” Alluding to misguided philosophies espousing the “oneness” within nature, it is just another example that the “ideal” is what the Terrians represent and what the humans have yet to attain. Parents should be aware of the more mature elements of the film, including a generous amount of violence. A majority of the deaths take place within explosions in battles, but deaths have undeniably taken place. Additionally, emotions reach a fever pitch during battle, with both the invading soldiers and the Terrians, peace loving Terrian Mala included. These characterizations may disturb younger children not prepared for the seeming realities of war. Likewise, the cruelty of the humans was even further on display in a scene reminiscent of the TV series “X-Files,” when it is revealed that some of the captured Terrians have been experimented on. There is an immodest and unnecessary scene involving a returning warrior getting an examination by the starships medical equipment. While it is apparent that he has no clothes during the exam, it is from a side view that reveals nothing vital. While brief in nature, this can be especially uncomfortable for younger viewers and may offend others. Overall, the movie was both captivating and visually stunning. The audience finds itself in the unenviable position of rooting for the invaders, if only slightly, while hoping for an unheard of third solution to this dilemma. The landscapes, better called ‘skyscapes,’ for the majority of the scenes, as well as the Terrian cities that all jut above the clouds, were a testament to the filmmakers' design and were striking throughout. Targeting an entire race for extermination is a great wrong and one of the intended messages of this movie parallels the scriptural advice to “Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it” (Psalms 34:14). A particularly moving scene involves one of sacrifice and recalls the words of Jesus when he said, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Not appropriate for younger viewers, due to the intensity of the battle sequences and the overall subject matter, I would, however, recommend this movie for the storytelling, visuals, action and the audience-satisfying resolution it delivered. Violence: Moderate / Profanity: Minor / Sex/Nudity: Mild See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.   Comments below:
Positive
none Neutral
Neutral - This movie is interesting from a visual standpoint; beautiful shapes and colors, pleasing shades, but you quickly realize there is a subtle underlying message of environmental oneness, possibly Zen Buddhism (the heroine's friend is called Senn) and it is all about a kind of peaceful, harmonic worship of nature and “the gods.” Mala is a defiant feministic figure who skips school, leads her boyfriend by the nose, and disobeys her father. She is portrayed as feisty and strong, the image of perfect womanhood. When the human race gets involved, the aggressive humans happen to be white Americans (the “good” council is made up of black, white and asian and they are weaker and often overruled) there is a strong theme of religion, in that the mother ship is the Ark, the fighter crafts look like crusading crosses and Jim sacrifices himself for the good of the universe in a suicidal mission as he lifts up his eyes to the heavens… as Jesus says, “he lays down his life for his friends.” The aliens and the earthlings come to live in peace and Jim is immortalized as a statue in a state of bliss in the center of the new eutopia. Gorgeous images and nice themes of love and friendship, but over all Battle for Terra (Earth) is uncomfortably new age. Negative
Negative - I didn't really know anything about this movie, but my friend put it into his DVD player so I decided to watch it. As the credits began to roll I could only think one thought: “What was that about?' “Battle for Terra” has an okay premise, but it fails to provide any entertainment in the long run. The actors are unconvincing, the action bright and colorful yet lacking with any real purpose, and there is little to no real character development. Characters are simply there and things happen to them and then the movie ends. This story is just so plain the young children we were watching it with (all this took place at a BBQ get-together) said things like: “I don't understand.”; “That movie was stupid.”; “I don't want to see that again.” These kids were between 7 and 11, which I would assume is the target audience. If they didn't like it, how can anyone else? Don't bother, it's not even worth a cheap rental. Negative - Unfortunately, we paid $25 to see this piece of far-leftist Anti-American propaganda, and we encourage anyone who cares about America, our military, our country's history, to steer way clear of this anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-military movie. It should have been rated PG-13 and for shame that it was marketed to children and their unsuspecting parents. First the premise assumes that our military would conduct a hostile take-over of a country (planet in this case) and kill all inhabitants blindly without negotiations. We have never done that, but this movie portrays Americans as Imperialists who would do that. Comments from young people
none Comments from non-viewers
We DID watch the beginning of this movie. As parents of 5 young children, we thought this (approved by the Dove website) would be a good selection for a family movie. We only made it through the first 25 minutes. We were appalled at the blatant anti-military, anti-American and pro nature-worship theme. Just at the beginning, the heroine is a young, disobedient, defiant girl serving to educate the ignorant, war hungry selfish American soldier.… It sounds like this is definitely one to avoid for all Christians. Not only does it seem to have some confusing messages about humans being all aggressive, suicide bombers, mad military (Christian) generals but there's a healthy amount of innuendo here that seems to say religious people would do such a thing as annihilate another race. All the biblical references seem negative, with plenty of hints thrown in to make sure that people understand that the mindset in the film with the plan to destroy the aliens is very much Christian (what with the “seven days” type of comments and someone mentioned fighter that look like crosses - certainly evident in the preview and trailers). So Christian humans (crusaders, almost) would try to take this 'land' by force, killing everyone if they must but then the gaya, peace-loving utopians prevail. Not for me, I'm afraid. |
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