Sci-fi animation out on DVD
Washington Post
A look at some of the top DVDs coming out Tuesday.
“Battle for Terra”
PG, 85 minutes
When a spacecraft full of humans, forced to flee Earth after it's destroyed by war, attacks peaceful Terra, Mala (voice of Evan Rachel Wood) captures a human pilot, Jim Stanton (Luke Wilson), and his robot (David Cross).
Together they uncover the secret history of Terrian civilization and attempt to stop the genocidal plans of General Hemmer (an over-the-top Brian Cox).
It's a shame the character design is so terrible — besides the spermatozoic Terrians, the human characters are interchangeable waxworks — because the rest of "Battle for Terra" is quite beautiful to look at, though 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 the director had replaced the movie's poorly written dialogue and implausible plot with more battle scenes.
War! What is it good for? Awesome animation! Contains sequences of sci-fi action violence and thematic elements.
“Ghosts of Girlfriends Past”
PG-13, 100 minutes
Modeled as a kind of sexual athlete's counterpart to Ebenezer Scrooge, photographer Connor Mead (Matthew McConaughey) shuns emotional attachments and disdains marriage.
The inspiration for Connor's approach to relationships is his late Uncle Wayne (Michael Douglas), an ardent misogynist whose ghost appears with a warning for his nephew to change his ways, then says that Connor will be visited by three ghosts to drive home the message.
Wayne's admonishment is followed by the specters, including the childhood sweetheart at the bottom of his childhood traumas, Jenny (Jennifer Garner).
Connor meets up with Jenny, who gives him grief at a wedding as one of four bridesmaids whom Connor has jilted over the years.
The relentless vulgarities here would be almost tolerable if they were amusing, but Mark Waters' direction is so tentative that the film's single laugh happens more than an hour in. Contains sexual content, language and a drug reference.
