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French director Laloux began developing this animated feature in 1974, a year after the release of his FANTASTIC PLANET. What has emerged more than a decade later is a fascinating, but ultimately pretentious, arty jumble. The story takes place on the planet Gandahar, a perfect world of contented people. One day a village is attacked by an unseen enemy, whose weapons turn the fleeing citizens into stone. As the countryside is laid waste, Queen Ambisextra (Close) sends her son Sylvain (Shea) on a mission to avenge the attack. Plagued with a murky narrative, simplistic symbolism, and bland characterizations, the film is somewhat redeemed by its memorable surreal images. Isaac Asimov performs a workmanlike adaptation of the French script into English.