Humans have wiped out all resources on their planet and made it into a polluted ball that only Al Gore could love. To escape this sludgepit, they then escape to and Terraform Mars and Venus. They demand independence, Earth says no, there's a big war and all three planets are destroyed. They make a multi generational ship and travel to the nearest terraformable planet and set ourselves to wipe out the hippie peace-loving aliens on the planet below.

Dear lord Humans suck!

And that's the setup for [i]Battle for Terra[/i] a beautiful and interesting, and dare I say actually plot driven, 3D animation from Director Aristomenis Tsirbas.

I watched this movie a few days ago, and held off review, wavering between "WIN" and "MEH" for the score. The visuals are great and the 3D effect is top notch, and the characters are well rounded, and the plot is actually well done. It's an animation, but it's not "for kids." On the other hand, the plot is preachy and annoying at times. While the characters are well rounded, the societies are cookie-cutter bland-paste that would make Rick Berman proud. The outcome of this is that the villains, well rounded characters, pop out from their cookie-cutter bland-paste societies so much that it completely destroys the fun caused by the twist to the "aliens invade and destroy our planet" story.

I finally settled down to "WIN, but with caveats" as I didn't leave the theater wishing I could demand a refund.

Now for some point by point:

The movie uses REALD 3D glasses and projector technology to display the 3D content, which means that the projection is sharp and the image is awe inspiring. Particles, my man, Particles! Flying through nebulae, flying through starfields, orbital pictures of the planet, all make the 3D just pop out at you. It's a beautiful film, even if it has been hit by the bland stick. If you liked the colorful pop of [i]Bolt[/i] you'll be turned off by the earth tones of Terra.

Also, for the first time in a long time, I've enjoyed a 3D film that didn't trample a marching band over my pet peeve: stuff poking out the screen at you. OK, fine. Back in 1990 when 3D amusement park rides thought red-green anaglyph glasses were cool, the professor pointing a laser pistol right in your face was cute. But it takes away from the movie, and I came for the story with a side of effects, not 3D crap in my face. ALSO, if the image isn't built right, there's a visual artifact that happens when something popped out of the screen hits the edge of the screen; only one eye can see the image and you get that pulsing, throbbing, eye-popping sensation of your eyes playing tricks on you. This destroys the 3D effect. End Preaching; the joy is that [i]Terra[/i] rarely lets anything out of the screen at you, rarely breaking the 3D effect.

However, after a few decaminutes in, the caveats of the plot start staring you in the face. [b]SPOILER WARNING[/b]

The aliens have abandoned war; it's not that they physically can't do war. That's implausible but acceptable in Sci-Fi. No, the aliens are AWESOME when it comes to war, they've just decided to stop doing it and appreciate art and scones and designer coffee. In fact they were minutes away from destroying all their implements of war when those human bastards came in and picked a fight.

A bully becomes a bully when he realizes that for some reason, either he's bigger or he's the principals son or everyone refuses to step up to him, that he can get his way through violence. A society who doesn't have a physical barrier to war always has the potential for some member to realize that his fireplace poker would help settle his financial debts with just a little bit of elbow grease. The fact that the aliens could fight because they had weapons but refused to use them was awesome until the preaching about how they were going to destroy them got in the way.

The humans are on their last leg. Their ship has two months of air left before they must settle down. They have no option but to do SOMETHING with this planet. So the obvious decision is mass genocide.

EVEN THOUGH they have the technology to teach the aliens English, and the aliens are technologically advanced enough to assist them with repairs or some kind of mutually equitable plan. But no; it's humans or aliens or else.

Not to mention that the military contingent on the station is obsessed with their mission to terraform the first habitable planet, current occupants or not! Even when confronted with an alien who speaks their language who offers to help, they instead pull a coup to overthrow the peaceful (if suicidal) government of the ark to start the genocide.

The government solution? Research and survey missions. Not contact (I mean, come on, their spaceship is blocking out the planet's sun... it's not like the Aliens don't know we're here), which might actually accomplish something in the 2 months we have left. Committee meetings and minutes and votes and scouts. No wonder the military is tired of waiting.

And the chemical that they are ejecting into the atmosphere is some kind of one-size-fits-all molecule which converts any atmosphere into an Oxygen/Nitrogen atmosphere suitable for (human) life. However, the reaction is stoppable (and fully 100% reversible!) within 15 minutes.

The human pilots, who apparently have been whipped into a "them or us" frenzy, upon seeing their teraformer under attack, simply give up when their whole species is doomed by expert marksmanship. Genocide is an essential component of Humans apparently, but revenge is not. I guess.

[b]END SPOILERS[/b]

Basically, your preachy tolerance for the movie will be dependent on your view of humanity, for it tailor builds both the alien and human societies, AND the disaster (2 months air) specifically to make a preachy point.

If you think we are blood sucking savages, who mindlessly destroy and abuse and use, with no thoughts as to how it will effect others; if you think given a choice between first contact and interstellar war we'd immediately go for the fire button; if you think humans are the worst thing to come from evolution since the first animal-type life form inhaled oxygen and exhaled greenhouse gasses, then this movie will be a solid WIN for you.

If, however, you think that the Human race tends to be moral and good (with some bad apples), beings who use things to their full but can be persuaded away from the edge and who care about other lifeforms; if you think given a choice between first contact and interstellar war we'd open hailing frequencies, at least once; if you think that Humans, in general, are a net positive and that they would work to find a mutual solution without resorting to destruction, then this movie will fall toward MEH.

And if you can't get in to see a REALD showing, don't bother going. Wait for home video.

POSTSCRIPT:

And for once, just once, I'd like to see a science fiction movie where it's the politicians who go for the politically expedient maneuver of death and destruction, with the General and the military, the guys who actually have to go out and shoot and get shot, try to put some brakes on the genocide. But then again, I'm from the second group above, so...