Battle for Terra

I am not usually one to seek out animation, but this film got on my list somehow. And not just my Netflix list of 200 films that might be worth seeing someday, but my short list. This means that somewhere I read something, or someone recommended it as worthwhile. Battle for Terra is a story of the planet Terra and the events that unfold as the "Earth Force" spaceship approaches to take over the planet to replace the now destroyed Earth. Two things were worth noting. I immediately noticed the physics of Terra. Apparently a small planet (i.e. low gravity) with a dense atmosphere, Terrans can swim through the atmosphere, their homes are mushroom like trees that grow very high with thin stalks. Somehow the humans seem to experience this planet as having earth-like gravity. Noticing this made be watch carefully for when the attention to scientific accuracy was paid and when it was ignored. Secondly, this is apparently supposed to be a story that offers an alternative to violence. However, I found it largely unsatisfying on this front. It was mostly a classic war movie with a sacrificial move at the end. I would have liked to see (and am still looking in the world of film for) the characters to make a commitment to peace from the beginning. How would the story work out in that case? Or is there simply no story? Or is the story too long? But because it made me think of both my theology and of science, it was worth the viewing.
3 stars (out of 5)