Kaena 2003

John McMurtrie, San Francisco Chronicle: The monsters are derivative, the attempts at humor are mostly feeble and the story, in the end, lacks a certain je ne sais quoi. Read more

Janice Page, Boston Globe: Derivative and aimless filmmaking by directors and 'writers' who know only how to craft eye candy. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: There are moments in Kaena that are absorbing, but too much of the time it simply becomes tedious. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: It's a valiant effort, if not quite successful. Read more

Gregory Kirschling, Entertainment Weekly: A creamy-colored yet derivative sci-fi fantasy with a few rip-offs so blatant ... that even kiddie fans not yet mentally agile enough to make sense of the loopy plot could pick them out. Read more

Angela Shah, Dallas Morning News: Simplistic writing and one-dimensional characters do in this animation film. Read more

Jon Strickland, L.A. Weekly: If Kaena's alternate universe isn't nearly as fully realized as Fantastic Planet's, the 3-D imagery is often gloriously turbocharged. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: The folks who go in for this sort of Asimov-ian blather will probably contort themselves reading allegorical meaning into it all. The folks who don't will drift off to sleep. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Feeling for all the world like an extended video game made by teenage boys with no girlfriends and a lot of free time, this sci-fi fantasy doesn't exactly make sense, but it sure looks cool. Read more

Dave Kehr, New York Times: Despite several striking images and a high technical polish, this picture is just generic fantasy. Read more

Mark Holcomb, Village Voice: With its hasty computer rendering and thin stew of New Age mysticism, Judeo-Christian messianism, and Dungeons and Dragons geekism, Kaena is better suited to a smaller, more forgiving aspect ratio. Read more