Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

58 (Untitled)
96 35 Shots of Rum
56 Adam
72 Adela
39 Adventures of Power
78 Afghan Star
61 After the Storm
66 Afterschool
xx All the Best
58 American Casino
72 Amreeka
48 Antichrist
73 Araya
62 Art & Copy
55 As Seen Through These Eyes
76 Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86 Beaches of Agnes, The
13 Beautiful Life, A
70 Beeswax
35 Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71 Big Fan
66 Black Dynamite
51 Blind Date
xx Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76 Bliss
35 Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26 Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57 Boys Are Back, The
45 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81 Bright Star
70 Bronson
45 Burning Plain, The
xx Carriers
55 Casi Divas
57 Chelsea on the Rocks
62 Cloud 9
65 Coco Before Chanel
69 Cold Souls
59 Collapse
44 Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82 Cove, The
75 Crude
82 Damned United, The
67 Departures
xx Dil Bole Hadippa
71 Disgrace
xx Do Knot Disturb
70 Earth Days
24 Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85 Education, An
55 Endgame
xx Eulogy for a Vampire
xx Everyone Else
xx Fatal Promises
56 Fifty Dead Men Walking
62 Five Minutes of Heaven
74 Flame & Citron
49 Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80 Food, Inc.
28 Free Style
xx From Mexico with Love
50 Fuel
25 Gentlemen Broncos
50 Give Me Your Hand
58 Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72 Good Hair
89 Goodbye Solo
52 Grace
64 Harmony and Me
81 Headless Woman, The
xx Heretics, The
63 Horse Boy, The
73 House of the Devil, The
xx How to Seduce Difficult Women
74 Humpday
94 Hurt Locker, The
29 I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16 If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75 In Search of Beethoven
83 In the Loop
61 Intimate Enemies
42 Irene in Time
70 It Might Get Loud
46 Killing Kasztner
19 Labor Day
xx Laila's Birthday
41 Little Ashes
41 Little Traitor, The
66 Liverpool
34 Looking for Palladin
80 Lorna's Silence
83 Maid, The
xx Ministers, The
59 More Than a Game
67 Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34 Motherhood
62 My One and Only
xx Mystery Team
48 New York, I Love You
73 Night and Day
66 No Impact Man
47 Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34 Other Man, The
xx Painter Sam Francis, The
54 Paper Heart
xx Paradise
68 Paranormal Activity
68 Paris
44 Peter and Vandy
35 Play the Game
77 Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx Pretty Ugly People
65 Providence Effect, The
76 Rembrandt's J'accuse
69 September Issue, The
79 Serious Man, A
40 Shrink
61 Skin
77 Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx Skiptracers
46 Splinterheads
39 St. Trinian's
89 Still Walking
50 Stoning of Soraya M., The
55 Storm
65 Tetro
70 That Evening Sun
72 Thirst
xx Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61 Trucker
xx Turning Green
83 U2 3D
66 Unmade Beds
66 Unmistaken Child
70 Visual Acoustics
55 Walt & El Grupo
67 Way We Get By, The
69 We Live in Public
64 Wedding Song, The
64 Where is Where?
xx White on Rice
74 Woman in Berlin, A
69 World's Greatest Dad
70 Yes Men Fix the World
69 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx You, the Living

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Battle for Terra

EMAILPRINTRoadside Attractions

Battle for Terra reviews
54
7.0 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 19 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 11 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Adventure  |  Animation

Written by: Evan Spiliotopoulos

Directed by: Aristomenis Tsirbas

Release Date:
Theatrical: May 1, 2009
DVD: September 22, 2009

Running Time: 85 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG for sequences of sci-fi action violence and some thematic elements

Starring Justin Long, Brian Cox, Evan Rachel Wood, Luke Wilson, David Cross, Amanda Peet, James Garner, Dennis Quaid, Chris Evans, and Danny Glover

When the peaceful planet of Terra is invaded by humans fleeing a dying Earth, a young girl is the only one who can save both civilizations from complete annihilation. (Roadside Attractions)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

San Francisco Chronicle Justin Berton

The plot is an obvious parable for modern dilemmas, yet in the hands of the film's creators, and with their graceful use of 3-D, viewers feel as if they're watching how the future might actually unfold, glimpsing a conflict that's destined to take place 300 years from now.

Read Full Review >
75

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The animation is nicely stylized and the color palette well-chosen, although the humans are so square-jawed, they make Dick Tracy look like Andy Gump. The voice performances are persuasive. The obvious drawback is that the film is in 3-D. If you can find a theater showing it in 2-D, seek it out.

Read Full Review >
75

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

On one level, it's a down-market Star Wars-inspired shoot-'em-up for kiddies; on another, it's a radical alien invasion story where the HUMANS are the aliens.

Read Full Review >
70

Variety John Anderson

As original and convincing a feature as the better Japanese animes of recent years --"Tekkonkinkreet" comes to mind, along with the slightly older "Metropolis."

Read Full Review >
70

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

The animation is splendid on what must have been, since this is not a studio film, a modest budget.

Read Full Review >
70

Los Angeles Times Robert Abele

Director/co-writer Aristomenis Tsirbas, expanding his own short film, unveils a classically devised invasion yarn à la H.G. Wells, but with the twist that humans are the aggressors.

Read Full Review >
67

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Tentle, dreamy animated sci-fi tale.

Read Full Review >
67

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Battle for Terra boasts impressively executed battle sequences that, frankly, are light-years beyond anything found in the recent Star Wars animated add-ons.

Read Full Review >
63

USA Today Claudia Puig

It's an unconventional premise: that aliens live in harmony and humans are the warmonger invaders. But it's not that simple.

Read Full Review >
63

TV Guide Tracie Cooper

The good news is that Battle for Terra's moments of unbalance ultimately right themselves into a surprisingly earnest, engaging film.

Read Full Review >
58

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

A tiresome, didactic and, once the novelty of the graphics has worn off, charmless film.

Read Full Review >
50

The New York Times Neil Genzlinger

The movie's messages are delivered with a heavy hand, but some of the scenes are eye-popping, especially -- sorry, peace-loving Terrians -- the battle sequences.

Read Full Review >
50

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

All in all? A curious preachment yarn for peace, one which makes you wonder if the filmmakers couldn't wait to get to the climactic aerial dogfights.

Read Full Review >
50

Washington Post Dan Kois

It doesn't do much for the film's pacifist message that, as spacecraft zip across the screen and fire lasers into your popcorn, you may find yourself wishing that Tsirbas had replaced the movie's poorly written dialogue and implausible plot with more battle scenes. War! What is it good for? Awesome animation!

Read Full Review >
40

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

The exotic plant and animal life is enhanced by the 3D process--which makes the two-dimensional screenplay all the more disappointing. With its weighty dialogue the movie becomes depressing well before the final violent showdown.

Read Full Review >
38

Boston Globe Ethan Gilsdorf

Please, moviegoers, time is running out for us. Our civilization (and bottom line) depend on fast-food kiddie meals stuffed with toys. In this way, we conquer the solar system.

Read Full Review >
38

Charlotte Observer Roger Moore

Naive but ambitious, it comes across as a "Battlestar Galactica" vetted by pacifists, "Clone Wars" neutered for Saturday morning kids' TV.

Read Full Review >
30

Village Voice Vadim Rizov

Terra, to be fair, looks fairly clean, and the 3-D is totally passable, but watching it will be no fun for either kids or adults.

Read Full Review >
25

New York Post Kyle Smith

Aggressively ugly and intergalactically boring, the dismal sci-fi kiddie cartoon Battle for Terra is too weak to be shown anywhere except maybe on the next flight to Saturn.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Elvis K gave it a10:
Excellent movie. This is a pretty good animated movie. The story is interesting and pulls you in. The characters are uniformly interesting, Jim and Mala are very good and well developed.

Jay H gave it a6:
Very imaginative and the story is quite good. Very creative. Although the animation is good, it was not overly impressive. i enjoyed it.

Mak D gave it an8:
I agree w/ Kip O, and Ebert - a real effort has been made to imagine an alternative, alien culture, as well as the plausible effects of a tragic past successfully overcome - rather our future from an optimistic retrospect; as for the invading humans, yes they are 2D, but that's because we're meant to identify w/ the aliens who are more human than 'we' are tending to behave. Once again, the reimagining of an alternative, alien ecology is very lovingly wrought - and the fact that it happens to be ecologically sound or ideal is belied by the discovery of the aliens' own predatory past. And 3D is a headache as long as I have to wear glasses, period. Can't wait for the DVD!

Brent gave it a9:
I found this to be quite an excellent film. I wasn't expecting much when I first saw the trailer. But even though I only saw it because it was the best movie currently playing when my friends wanted to go, I was in a rapt stare at this film's kiddy, but surprisingly beautiful visuals and all the other cool things it did. We found the movie to be very relatable to people of this day and age since I could easily see something like this happening years and years from now. I also loved the idea to make humans the bad guys for once and to look at things from a realistic angle. It's plot line was very engagin and I had a blast with this movie. I won't go down as a masterpiece, but it's still an awesome film.

Aaron W gave it a9:
The story adds an interesting twist to the typical alien invader movie. The world is bright and colorful with many smooth figures, and appears to be directed toward children however there are several amazing action scenes to keep adults on the edge of their seats. However, not all is perfect with this movie. Many main characters, such as the general are extremely two dimensional. Also not much information is given about the events the precede the movie. You never learn what happened to Terra before their "Golden Age" or about the Mala's childhood. And considering that the movie is only an hour and twenty-five minutes, there was plenty of time to go into more detail. The flaws of this movie do not detract much from the value of it. The movie was pleasing and was not a waste of my five dollars. It may not have been a perfect movie but it was a satisfying movie.

Kip O gave it an8:
I actually enjoyed this movie a lot. It was an original story told from a unique perspective. It certainly had a message or an insight they were trying to convey, but most good movies/literature try to do more than entertain. I imagine a good number of reviewers judged the message as much as they judged the film.

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use