Gandahar

René Laloux's third and last feature adapts Jean-Pierre Andrevon's 1969 novel about a paradise that starts finding its people turned to stone, for reasons buried in its own history. The production story is nearly as strange as the plot: the animation was farmed out to a studio in North Korea. When it reached the United States as Light Years, Miramax trimmed it, hired Isaac Asimov to write fresh English dialogue for prestige, and replaced much of Gabriel Yared's original score. It failed commercially in that form, taking under four hundred thousand dollars domestically. What survives is Laloux's design sense. Who it is for: viewers who love European science fiction animation of the seventies and eighties, odd creature design and unhurried pacing. Who it is not for: anyone wanting fast action and a clear hero.