Director: Aristomenis Tsirbas
Starring: Evan Rachel Wood, Chris Evans, Brian Cox
**
Stop me if you've heard this one before: In the distant future, a peaceful alien race in a faraway world is threatened by an invading force of humans who have squandered the resources of their home planet.
Early on, one of the aggressors is captured and, although wary of the natives at first, he is quickly won over by their kindness and holistic worldview. When finally returned to his people, he begins to see the error of their warlike ways and yearns to save the strange creatures from his own kind.
The digital animation Battle For Terra may sound like a cheap knock-off of 2009's mega-blockbuster Avatar, but the film was actually released in the US more than six months before James Cameron's story became the highest-grossing movie ever.
But it's not difficult to work out why this passed by almost unnoticed. While the film is not without some visual merit – most notably the towering toadstool-like alien cities – for the most part, the animation is dated and uninspiring.
Worst of all, the alien race the Terrans are a far cry from the majestic blue-skinned Na'vi. The film deserves some kudos for pre-empting the plot of Avatar (although not much, because both do little more than retread the well-worn territory of Pocahontas), but somehow manages to make Cameron's clunky screenplay seem like it was written by Tolstoy.
