The dawn of a new century meant the dawn of new places the artform of film could go. In the world of animation, directors fantasized about doing larger than life sci-fi adventures in the medium in order to showcase all of the things animation could accomplish. Don Bluth was one of the few to accomplish such a task and made the very offbeat, but also very well done, sci-fi 2000 feature Titan A.E.

After Earth was destroyed by the Drej (an evil alien race), humans became sparse and Kale (Matt Damon) is one of the few left out there. Soon Kale is approached by Korso (Bill Pullman) to help find a machine called the Titan (a device Kale’s dad made) that could restore Earth. Their epic journey takes them to strange places that help them figure out what it means to be human.

2D animation has been sparse this century but man, does Titan A.E. use the neglected art form to use. With CGI enhancements on various background and objects, the sets pop with vibrant life, and imagery that sticks with you long after the film is done. My personal favorite may be a planet home to a multitude of bat-like creatures, a place that features a terrific action sequence. It’s common knowledge that 2D animation is capable of making gorgeous art; but where Titan A.E.’s animation is truly outstanding is it’s ability to take common sci-fi tropes and make them unique.

Archetypes (aka, the nerdy specialist, the posh member, trigger happy soldier) make up Kale’s crew searching for the Titan, but through the power of 2D visuals, they’re put into alien forms that amp up their personalities to their zenith. This insightful approach, which allows us to see familiar personalities embodied by folks in the cosmos, is given support through an excellent voice cast, with Damon making for a rootable protagonist and Drew Barrymore showing even doses of vulnerability and spirit as Akima. The best member though is Nathan Lane, as Preed, who exudes superiority at every turn.

The script (written in part by Joss Whedon) makes sure to keep action sequences and character development evenly balanced, and even sprinkles in something very surprising; a bit more mature content than usually seen in major animated films. Now, animated features have always have had to deal with an unfair stigma of being nothing more than fodder for children, but Titan A.E.’s onslaught of violence and even mild adult references put such a stigma to the test.

Unfortunately Titan A.E. has largely been forgotten and that’s a real shame, as it contains a tremendous amount of fantastic qualities that make it an underrated gem more than worth seeing.