Boring

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

While Rene Laloux's Fantastic Planet is his most famous film, I consider Light Years his best. Like Fantastic Planet, it is extraordinarily imaginative and visually striking. There are all sorts of odd moments; swirling brain cells forming shapes, a woman suckling a strange creature, a tribe of misshapen people, each one different in equally twisted and disturbed ways.However, this movie has a much more engrossing story than Fantastic Planet. It is a weird tale of time travel and bizarre experimentation, with a hero who often seems more flukishly lucky than skilled.I saw the English-dub version, as opposed to the original French version called Gandahar. The voice acting is good, particularly Christopher Plummer. For some reason the American producers threw out the original score for a synth-heavy new score. I found the original on youtube and watched a little, and I would say the original score was better, but not by so much that it really effects the movie. Since the youtube video was in French, I can't tell if the story or dialogue are especially different.For me, this is easily the best of Laloux's three features (followed by Fantastic Planet).

Seen first when I was about 12 or so, Light Years (as it is known in the US) was a fantastic, dreamlike journey through a surreal Sci-Fi landscape. It's been one of my favorite animated films ever since.**Spoilers below**Though it may not be your particular brand of vodka (as the previous mixed comments suggest), it's definitely a well-done effort. The storyline itself is a bit complex, but the basic idea is fascinating. The 'Metal Men' who make up the army of the future, evil brain entity and their cities and surrounding world are appropriately detailed and well drawn. They give you are real feeling of inhumanity and implacable resolve. I particularly enjoyed the mutant race that appears in the future setting. A note to parents though, like an earlier comment mentioned, there is some partial nudity at a few points during the film. It is not sexual in nature and not really very provocative at all, but as a parent you should be aware. (Note, I saw it when I was 12 and wasn't emotionally or psychologically damaged by the animated breasts). If you have the opportunity, see it and decide for yourself.

I rented this film because I am a fan of 'adult' animation, and because it was directed by Rene Laloux, who also did 'Fantastic Planet'. And tho' there are a few impressive scenes, for the most part this is a very talky, very plodding movie. The animation is not that good, and the music is very cheesy. Skip this movie, and rent 'Fantastic Planet' instead.

I noticed this movie at a local rental place the other week and thought, 'What on Earth is THIS?'My dad has a book with 17,000 movie reviews--just reviews ranging from a sentence to a couple of paragraphs--and they gave it 2 1/2 stars--3 being good--so it was almost good (to them). They chastised the almost non-existent characterizations, which I agree; we're given a character, we're given about half a minute background on them, and then this is what the character has to do. I was surprised that they didn't mention the almost non-existent voice "acting" (note the quotes), as everyone just pretty much mumbled their lines...even such a big talent as Glenn Close (playing the queen) didn't help.However, please note these are VERY minor gripes. I would've given the movie three stars myself. It's not the typical sci-fi, with the stupidity of childhood geniuses and robots with feelings abound (and I don't think the stereotypes of "oh no, it's sci-fi AND a cartoon!" help either). It's very imaginative, but pretty dark and apocalyptic; probably not for kids under the age of 6, if not 8.And on a side note, there was some pretty good music in it, too, and a lot of it.