Gandahar

Gandahar (1987), René Laloux's hand-drawn science-fiction feature, is available to watch online on iFILM. On the peaceful world of Gandahar nobody knows war or want — until people along the distant frontier start turning to stone. Prince Sylvain is sent out alone to find the source of the threat and travels deep into unmapped country.

Giant birds of prey ambush him on the way, and his rescuers are the Deformed — twisted survivors of old genetic experiments, outcasts the kingdom once threw away. Sylvain traces the danger to an army of metal soldiers obeying Metamorphis, a vast artificial brain. The real puzzle isn't how to beat it, but the way time itself runs differently on Gandahar.

Laloux, the mind behind the cult classic Fantastic Planet, again builds an alien world out of strange, fluid animation and unsettling creature design, here drawn from a novel by Jean-Pierre Andrevon. This is grown-up, thoughtful sci-fi rather than a kids' cartoon — one for anyone who loves 1980s French animation and surreal invented universes. Stream Gandahar (1987) online on iFILM.