Parents' Guide to Titan A.E.

This animated feature is aimed at an older crowd, a fact made clear by its PG rating and less-than-sunny premise. Refreshingly, the filmmakers--notably legendary director Don Bluth --have gone out of their way to ensure that the movie is not a Disney clone. The story jettisons fairy tale magic and Broadway-style songs for elaborate high-tech imagery, fast-paced action, and a loud rock music soundtrack. On a strictly visual level, it's is a smashing success, with imaginative futuristic environments and spacecraft created with state-of-the-art computer animation.

On the down side, we never connect with the characters in an emotional way that would take the movie to the next level. Cale's transition from uncaring cynic to committed hero is predictable, and his romance with the space pilot Akima is perfunctory at best. Science fiction fans will recognize some recycled plot ideas, and even occasional lines of dialogue lifted from previous sci-fi classics. However, as the movie's primary goal is apparently to provide its target audience with an adrenaline rush every ten minutes or so, at this, it succeeds admirably.