Titan A.E.

Titan A.E. is a 2000 American animated post-apocalyptic/dystopian science fiction adventure film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. The title refers to the spacecraft that is central to the plot, with A.E. meaning "After Earth."

Plot
After humanity ("Terrans") has expanded its presence beyond Earth, terraforming and colonizing Venus and Mars. These three planets are "the Homeworlds", the core first of the Terran interplanetary state and later of Neosapien Commonwealth. Humanity has developed deep-space travel. An experimental discovery called Project Titan has caused the Drej, a malevolent, energy-based species, to become alarmed. Fearing humans will become the dominant species in the galaxy, the Drej declare war on humanity. As the Drej obliterate Gaea, the humans were able to suppress the uprising with revolutionary exoframe technology, Professor Sam Tucker (Ron Perlman), the lead researcher for Project Titan, gives his son, Cale (Alex D. Linz), a ring and sends Cale on one of the evacuation ships with his alien friend, Tek (Tone Loc). Meanwhile, Sam and other members of his team fly the Titan spacecraft from Earth and into Hyperspace. The Drej prepare to fire the main weapon at Earth. Phaeton has the last missile, but it jams, so he flies his aircraft into the main weapon bay in a suicide attack, triggering a chain reaction that damages the mothership and causing the Drej to flee.

Fifteen years after the Neosapien War, the Exofleet alliance with the Pirate Clans are sent once again to search the Titan. Cale (Matt Damon) works in a salvage yard in the Tau 14 asteroid belt alongside Tek. Cale meets Joseph Korso (Bill Pullman), a human captain who requests Cale's help to find the Titan. He shows Cale how his ring contains a map to the Titan. It is genetically-encoded to Cale's father and will also respond to Cale himself, making him the only chance for humanity's future. Cale and Korso escape to Korso's ship, the Valkyrie as the Drej arrive and attempt pursuit.

Cale is introduced to the other members of Korso's alien crew; sly first mate Preed (Nathan Lane), astrogator Gune (John Leguizamo), and cranky weapons expert, Stith (Janeane Garofalo). The only other human is co-pilot Akima (Drew Barrymore), to whom Cale is immediately attracted. They travel to the planet Sesharrim, where the Gaoul, a race of bat-like creatures, helps Cale understand how to interpret the map and find the Titan, hidden in the Andali Nebula. The group is again attacked by the Drej, and Cale and Akima are captured with J.T. follows. The Drej eventually discard Akima, sending her off into space in a pod where she is recovered by the Valkyrie crew. The Drej are able to extract the map from Cale, but Cale escapes on a Drej ship and reunites with the Valkyrie.

The Valkyrie is able to reach the human drifter colony called New Bangkok for repairs and preparation for the trip to the Titan. Cale and Akima overhear a disagreement between Korso and the Drej Queen, and discover that Korso and Preed are working for the Drej to try to destroy the Titan in exchange for money. Korso thinks the human race is doomed anyway and there is no hope; Cale and Akima escape from the Valkyrie, but she is wounded by Preed. They are stranded on the colony as Korso and the rest continue to the Titan's location. With the help of the other humans, Cale and Akima repair and refit the Phoenix, one of the colony's derelict spaceships, and race off to find the Titan before the Valkyrie reaches it.

Amid the Andali Nebula's giant ice crystals, Cale and Akima find the Titan. While exploring the massive ship, they discover a holographic message left by Cale's dead father, revealing the true nature of Project Titan: The ship is able to create a completely new, Earth-like planet, and has stores of all the DNA of the animal and plant life that once lived there. This was the reason the Drej feared humanity's potential enough to destroy Earth. Cale's father also explains that, after humans and Neosapiens saved Earth, the Titan ran out of power and is unable to execute the recreation program. The Valkyrie arrives, and Korso and Preed board the Titan, leaving a bomb to kill Stith and Gune, both of whom are unaware of their captain's true intents. Gune detects the bomb and attempts to get rid of it, but it detonates and Gune apparently perishes in the explosion. As Korso and Preed corner Cale and Akima and interrupt his father's message, Preed turns on Korso, revealing a more tempting deal; Preed will live (and get paid for helping the Drej find the Titan), providing that he kills the others before they arrive. Akima manages to disarm Preed before he knocks her unconscious, but Korso sneaks up from behind and snaps his neck, killing him. Korso then tries to grab Cale's ring, but he falls into the depths of the Titan. However, he manages to save himself by grabbing onto a cable. The Drej arrive and begin attacking the Titan.

Surviving Preed's bomb, Stith shows up and the three work to defend the Titan from the Drej. Cale realizes that, by re-configuring the Titan, they can use the Drej to start the ship's reactor since they are pure energy. Korso, who had managed to climb back up and hide himself from the others, overhears this and realizes that he was wrong and that there is hope after all. Cale activates the circiut breakers, but only two of the three lock in place. The final one is jammed and fails to complete the circuit. Cale dons a space suit and goes outside to fix it. Outside, Gune, who also survived the bomb, uses the Valkriye's guns to fight the Drej.

As Cale reaches the breaker station, he is pinned by a Drej ship Gune shot down. Korso then appears before Cale with a large laser rifle. But instead of killing him, Korso blasts Cale free and says how they may be able to defeat the Drej after all. Korso tells Cale to get to the breaker while he provides him cover fire. Cale reaches the faulty breaker, but unfortunately, he still cannot fix it. As the Drej prepare for a final attack, Korso tells Cale to activate the ship and he will take care of the breaker. Holding his gun as a bridge in the breaker, Korso jumps the circuit and starts the reactor, although at the cost of his own life. The Drej are absorbed into the Titan's engines (J.T. outruns the blast), and the ship then uses the surrounding ice field to create a new planet.

As Cale and Akima step onto the new planet, Cale jokingly decides to call it "Bob." The film ends with Cale and Akima romantically embracing each other, the surviving crew of the Valkyrie flying off, and other ships with human colonies approach "New Earth" (aka Planet Bob) to start their new lives.