Watch out, the humans are coming!
“Battle for Terra” tells the story of a peaceful planet, Terra, that is invaded by humans looking for a new home, after Planet Earth’s resources have been depleted. The animated film is a heartwarming tale of a young alien girl, Mala, and her journey as she tries to help her society fight of the human invaders.

The movie is based on a short film directed by Aristomenis Tsirbas, who also directed the movie. The short film was released in 2003 and won multiple awards at film festivals across California.
The movie begins with Mala and her friend Senn flying around Terra on their wooden gliders when they witness a giant shadow eclipse the light, draping darkness over Terra.

Mala finds that this is not just any shadow but what looks like a huge space station. As she observes it, she notices that it is releasing several smaller metallic fighter ships.

As the ships close in on Terra, they begin to fire off strange rays of light, which are used to abduct the Terranians and take them back to their space station.
Along with the abduction of multiple Terranians, who thought they were being taken by gods, Mala’s father Roven is also snatched.

After trying to get abducted herself, so that she could be with her father, Mala finds a crashed human ship with a half-living human named Jim Stanton, who cannot breathe the air on the planet.

Mala takes Stanton back to her treetop home and with the help of Stanton’s small robot assistant, Giddy, she builds an oxygen tent over Stanton so that he will not suffocate.
After he regains consciousness, Stanton is caught off-guard and becomes a little hostile towards Mala. However, he soon realizes that she saved his life, and agrees to help her get her father back if she’ll help him get off Terra unharmed.

Now it is up to Stanton and Mala, a team made up of two different species, as they try to thwart the human forces from taking over.

While many think that animated
into oxygen but Terranians don’t go down with out a fight. As the battle rages on, the humans have the upper hand until Stanton decides to side with Terranians and destroys the Terraformer himself.

Even though the storyline was decent, the film was not as amazing as it could have been.

Maybe director Tsirbas should have spent more time directing the awful voice acting and the sometimes very cheesy soundtrack.
feature films are for kids, this is not really the case with “Battle for Terra.” Young children might not fully understand the pacifist preaching of the Terranians, or the underlying message to protect the Earth and its natural resources, but something they can understand is friendship against all odds and tolerance for others.
The animation in this movie is quite advanced. The explosions and the metallic ships flown by the humans look quite realistic.

While the animation is impressive, the mediocre voice acting skills of the lead actors Evan Rachel Wood (“Across the Universe,” 2007), who plays Mala and Luke Wilson (“Henry Poole Is Here,” 2008) who voices Jim Stanton, come off as awkward and monotonous.

Even with boring voice acting , the movie’s storyline will keep the audience enthralled with its fast-paced action sequences and heartwarming story of a very uncommon friendship.

One scene that encompasses both of those aspects is the final showdown.

The humans want to use a machine, called the Terraformer, to transform Terra’s atmosphere into oxygen but Terranians don’t go down with out a fight. As the battle rages on, the humans have the upper hand until Stanton decides to side with Terranians and destroys the Terraformer himself.

Even though the storyline was decent, the film was not as amazing as it could have been.

Maybe director Tsirbas should have spent more time directing the awful voice acting and the sometimes very cheesy sountrack.

While he should receive credit for trying to turn a good short film into a feature film, sometimes a good thing should be left alone.

The movie teaches an important lesson, that even though two races of creatures are so different, they can still live in harmony- definitely a lesson that everyone today could learn from.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars.