I really want to like Battle for Terra, the 3-D animated movie where survivors of a destroyed Earth argue over whether to conquer the way-too-cute peace-loving aliens. But this new trailer makes it really hard.

There's a lot to like here, including super-splashy space battles that will probably look great in 3-D, and a dark storyline about a destroyed Earth. But the style of the animation, and the excessively loveable aliens, leave me a bit cold.

We reviewed Battle For Terra last May, when it was still called just plain Terra and it debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival. (The review is very spoilery, so be warned.) Short version: cute aliens, even cuter robot, but it gets super dark and weird with all the space battles, and the ending is hard to swallow. As we pointed out, this film is part of a mini-trend of movies where humans are the invaders and aliens are forced to defend their homelands from us.

It also seems like a very post-Wall-E movie: a grim post-apocalyptic future in which humanity is cast out into space, but somehow made palatable by extra loads of cuteness. [Giant Freakin Robot]

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