Battle For Terra

Wow, that had the exact same plotline as Avatar. And it came out a year before that did. I don't know who ripped off who, but if both scripts were written honestly that's quite a coincidence.

Here is an opinion that's gonna get me creamed. I like it far more than Avatar. I'm not saying it's a great movie. I'm saying Avatar's a bad one. The main human character here isn't reprehensible so it's automatically better, even if the movie isn't that well-made.

And it's not. The animation feels a LITTLE shoddy, even for 15 years ago, and it doesn't hold up. The characters are very creepy "Uncanny Valley", particularly the humans. Even worse, the humans all look alike, and the Terrans all look alike too. Not much variation in designs make the battle scenes a bit confusing.

I am not surprised this bombed at the box office. The main hero sacrificing himself at the end in a PG-rated cartoon is a big no-no, and not something kids or parents would respond to. Did I think it was a gutsy ending? Yup. Did it make me understand why no kids dug the movie? Also yes.

Under other circumstances, I'd be underwhelmed. But the fact that this underwhelming movie is actually better than a similar box office juggernaut amuses me and pisses me off at the same time. ***.