Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
66
Bandslam
40
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
54
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
29
Collector, The
23
Couples Retreat
80
District 9
61
Extract
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
60
Funny People
32
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
27
Gamer
41
G-Force
39
Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, The
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Love Happens
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
51
My Sister's Keeper
42
Orphan
28
Pandorum
63
Perfect Getaway, A
86
Ponyo![]()
35
Post Grad
48
Proposal, The
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
24
Sorority Row
83
Star Trek![]()
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
55
Taking Woodstock
47
Time Traveler's Wife
96
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D![]()
35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
Ugly Truth, The
88
Up![]()
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
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

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)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
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...
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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
A tiresome, didactic and, once the novelty of the graphics has worn off, charmless film.
Read Full Review >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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.
