Saturday Morning Cartoon

Rating: 2/10 (8 November 2010)

I was extremely disappointed with this film. I should have known by the way people talked about the "looks" instead of the plot. Imagine this film without CGI and it probably would be just another Saturday morning cartoon. If they had to use old-school costumes and make-up this thing would have fallen flat.
The target audience seemed to be the kids who watch Saturday morning cartoons. The story line would only challenge the brain of a 6 year old.
But let's cut straight to the heart of the matter: the CGI. OK, so the computer can create some neat images. Got it. But I find beauty more in the Discovery channel's "Life" and "Planet Earth" then in this movie. For example, the characters walk like those in Sim Life - jerky. The characters were nowhere close to the "alive" imagery of Toy Story.
The beasts with the thick-skin were just another mutant thing and the "horses" were blocky and weak. The flying birds were the only exception to nice flow and appearance in my eye.
And consider the way the final fight scene showed a robot (think Iron Man) that moved better than a human being can...all by a joystick. The thing weighs tons but moved like a ballerina. Please! When it reached above its head to grab the main character I started laughing...don't tell me the thing has eyes on the top of its head or a brain to operate it. Sad.
Scene after scene was met with a furrowed brow. We have Weaver's avatar looking like a poorly animated Tomb Raider. We have Weaver wrapped in green vegetation (when, how and why left unanswered). We have futuristic helicopters (sort of) but old-school wheelchairs.
We have a smelly alien somehow getting in good with the planet's inhabitants. And not just fitting in, but moving up the ranks to one of the top leadership position.
We have a red bird (the rest are green-blue) that didn't pick him, broke the rule of "only one bird" and I'm not sure that was enough to convince the people that this fainting stranger could now lead 2,000 to victory.
We have sleep pods that have a big red button on them, but in the future we obviously can't shut them down any other way. We have helicopters that can leave a military installation (with big doors) without resistance and without any pursuit.
We have a big tree as the home that is destroyed and THEN we discover other clans exist and don't live in trees. Do they hook up their ponytails to the water, grass, or clouds? The race comes across as passive since they sat around and waited to be over-ran, yet every scene of the daughter's suitor indicated warriors. At the beginning they were feared for their size and poisoned arrows, but by the end the wooden sticks were laughed at. Which is it? Seriously, this was a cartoon. And had I sat down one Saturday morning to watch it with my nephews I would have wondered when it was going to end. Yuck.