A visual knockout, Titan A. E. is an ambitious animated feature that combines traditional animations, computer-generated imagery, and special effects in the service of a science fiction adventure plotted with narrative conventions familiar from Star Wars and Star Trek. Credit directors Don Bluth (An American Tail, The Secret of NIMH, Anastasia) and Gary Goldman with crafting a vivid, convincing look to this deep space saga, which conjures some stunning images. A tense opening sequence climaxing in the destruction of Earth, a watery planet where delicate but deadly hydrogen trees float, joyriding in a starship while pursued by playful "space angels," and a nerve-wracking journey through a lethal maze of massive ice crystals each qualify as mesmerizing sequences in any film context. What's visually stunning proves intermittently stunted on the narrative front, however. Orphaned when the evil Drej atomize Earth, protagonist Cale (voiced by Matt Damon) must journey across space to unlock the mystery of his late father's final project, the Titan spacecraft, in a test of faith and filial identity that echoes Star Wars. The Titan itself ultimately poses a cosmic potential familiar to admirers of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Comical sidekicks (Nathan Lane, Janeane Garofalo, John Leguizamo), a sultry love interest (Drew Barrymore), and a roguish mentor (Bill Pullman) all verge on the generic, narrowly redeemed by dialogue from a writing team including Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon. It's likely that Titan's target audience of young males prompted the filmmakers to walk a tightrope between softer family features and more violent, hard-edged anime. [+]

There are hundreds of thousands of companies in modern Tokyo, but only one Phantom Quest Corporation, a firm that specializes in exorcisms and troublesome spirits. Its founder and CEO is Ayaka Kisaragi, a red-haired klutz whose lipstick turns into an enchanted sword when she needs to dispatch vampires, demons, or ghosts. She's assisted by the exorcist Rokkon, the medium Madame Suimei, the innocent-looking Nanami, and Mamoru, a long-suffering computer whiz who tries to reconcile Ayaka's profligate spending with her limited income. The tone of Phantom Quest suggests Ghostbusters remade for Bette Midler-Ayaka drinks too much, oversleeps, and murders songs in karaoke settings, but she comes through in the end. Her tongue-in-cheek adventures juxtapose supernatural villains with slapstick comedy, much of it involving her put-upon beau, Detective Karino. In "Kiss of Fire," they defeat Count Dracula (whose coffin has been purchased as a novelty by a Japanese businessman) but trash Tokyo Tower in the process. The most satisfying of the four adventures is "Love Me Tender," in which the ghost of an archeologist tries to protect his former fiancée from beyond the grave. Possible sequels are hinted at in the DVD extras. Rated 13 and up for nudity, violence, sexual situations, and occasional profanity. -Charles Solomon.

Japan faces the expensive problems of caring for an aging population. As a solution, Mr. Terada, an official in a mysterious government ministry, unveils the Z-001, a high-tech bed that cares for an invalid's every need. His chosen guinea pig of a patient is Mr. Takazawa, an aged man in the care of Haruko, a pretty young nurse. Haruko realizes that the machine can't attend to Mr. Takazawa's emotional needs and tries to rescue him. When Terada foils her efforts, she turns to a group of elderly patients-who turn out to be ace hackers. The complications pile up when an unscrupulous member of Terada's staff reveals that the Z-001 is actually a prototype battle robot. But once Haruko's aged hackers gain control of it, the Z-001 takes on the personality of Mr. [+]

It's very rare indeed for a single DVD to function as pure entertainment and a valuable archive of animation history, but this award-winning Lumivision disc offers all that and more. Once hailed as "America's Greatest Cartoonist," Winsor McCay (1869-1934) was a master draftsman and illustrator who began his career as a newspaper illustration artist and editorial cartoonist in the late 1890s and later created the milestone comic strips "Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend" (1904) and "Little Nemo in Slumberland" (1905). McCay then advanced to become one of animation's true pioneers, and this exemplary DVD collects every surviving film that McCay ever made. His best-known short, Gertie the Dinosaur (1914), not only promoted the public's ongoing fascination with dinosaurs, but its title character (a lovable brontosaurus) was perhaps the first prehistoric creature in movie history to be imbued with expressive behavior and human characteristics. Another highlight is The Sinking of the Lusitania, an anti-German World War I propaganda masterpiece from 1918. Lumivision's DVD spans McCay's creative output from 1911 to 1921, and also includes extensive liner notes by animation historian John Canemaker. Predating Walt Disney's earliest efforts by as much as a decade, McCay's amusing and finely crafted films offer a perfectly preserved treat for animation lovers and general viewers alike. -Jeff Shannon.